The Name Brand Hardware Question

I frequently hear the question "What kind of computer should I buy? IBM? Dell? Compaq?".

My response usually is: "Don't buy a name brand."

I've never really had a good reason to give people, without getting very technical, but now I do.

I did some work for a research lab at a prominent university, and they received three name brand computers with two different pieces of lab equipment. These computers are all the same make, and also have the exact same model number. One would expect at least the two computers (Systems 1 & 2) that came together as part of one purchase would be identical. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I originally didn't name the manufacturer of these systems, but then I got to thinking....why should I shield them from their own poor products?

These computers are relatively new Dell systems. It might be assumed that they are from Dell's low-end home system line. They aren't. They are, in fact, Optiplex GX150's, which are part of their mid-range, business oriented line. If this is the kind of quality control they have for this type of system, I'd hate to think what they put into their systems targetted at home users.

These are the specifics of the 3 computer systems in question:

Peripheral	System 1	System 2	System 3
Case type	Full tower	Full tower	Mini tower
Memory manufacturer	Infineon	Micron	Toshiba
Hard Disk	IBM 40 GB	Seagate 40 GB	Western Digital 10 GB
CD/DVD	NEC DV-5800A - 16X/48X DVD - not DVD-RW or DVD+RW compatible - 100ms access	Lite-On LTD-163 - 16X/48X DVD - compatible with DVD-RW and DVD+RW - 120ms access	Lite-On LTN-486 (48X CD-ROM only)
CD-RW	LG CED-8080B - 8X4X32 CD-RW - 110ms access - 2MB buffer, < 1MB usable - overburn capable - no buffer underrun protection	NEC NR-7900A - 24X10X40 CD-RW - 80ms access - 2MB buffer, 1.3MB usable - no overburn - buffer underrun protection	none (no extra space in case)
Floppy drive	TEAC	Sony	NEC
Video card	generic card - nVidia chipset	ATI Rage	Intel 815 onboard (shared RAM)
CD burning software	Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.02d_d5	Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.1 Basic	None

One of the biggest complaints I've had from people regarding clone computers is "You never know what you're getting." Well, as this table shows, you don't know what you're getting when you buy a name brand, either.
Also, when Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.02 needed to be re-installed on the computer it came with as a result of a Windows re-install, it didn't recognize the CD-RW drive included with the system. This was Dell- provided software, from their own CD, complete with the Dell logo stamped all over it, and it didn't recognize the hardware that they sold it with. A patch had to be downloaded from the internet before this software could even be used with this computer.

When you buy a clone system, you're getting high quality parts, which are recommended by the guy at the store down the street, or which you can actually specify yourself. You can say "I want an Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 80GB drive," or you can trust the person behind the counter to give you a good 80 GB drive. When you buy a brand-name system, you have no say in what brand of parts go into it. If you've ever looked at their web order forms, you see:

Hard Disk

40 GB HD
Upgrade to 60GB
Upgrade to 80GB

There's no option to select brand, there's frequently not even an option to select rotational speed. You get whatever they happen to have at the time. And contrary to popular belief, no name brand computer company manufactures their own drives, with the exception of IBM. Most of them contract out their entire component manufacturing to the same companies who manufacture clone components. Then, on top of that, if something does go wrong, you don't have someone you can talk to face-to-face, and all your correspondence goes on through e-mail, or possibly over the phone. What kind of service is this?

Dell, Optiplex, and probably GX150 are trademarks of Dell Computer Corporation. They are used without permission.