Electronic Retailers Are Screwing Their Customers

First things first - lets talk about some supplies, the goods, what we’re looking for. Everyones heard of ram and memory, but did you know there are multiple types of memory? What about processors? AMD & Intel, right? Here’s where the big retailers screw their customers. The Sunday flyer from your paper has this amazing looking Pentium ZX1056 6000 (that doesn’t exist, yet) with a 400 gIgAhErtZ (and neither does this, yet) processor that’s guaranteed to perform all the essential functions your family needs! What they fail to mention is the front side bus. How can you overlook the speed at which data travels to and from the processor? Thats the most important part!

Electronic utopia’s sales reps will never explain how you’re getting the best bang for your buck, because most don’t know. I decided to provide some evidence to my claims, and with a little know-how (google), the results are in.

Observe figure 1a:

Ok, ok, I hear you. “But Nullamatix, there’s not enough room in the paper!” That’s a valid claim, but I guarantee if you were to ask a sales rep or a minimum wage nerd squad tech, they wouldn’t know the answer. Since I’m too lazy to make the 1.8 mile voyage, I decided on chatting it up with an online technician working for a well known and respected electronics manufacturer.

Online Tech: Welcome to Total Care for Desktops. My name is Online Tech. How may I assist you today?

Nullamatix: hello

Online Tech: Hello Nullamatix, how are you doing today?

Nullamatix: I’m interested in the m7580n

Nullamatix: however, I’m unable to locate the detailed specifications

Nullamatix: can you assist me?

Online Tech: Sure, I will provide you detailed specifications.

Online Tech: Nullamatix, would you like to purchase it now?

Nullamatix: no - I’m still shopping. The detailed specifications are necessary to arrive at a conclusion .

Online Tech: Alright.

Online Tech: Nullamatix, would you mind, If I give you a suggestion?

Nullamatix: not at all

Online Tech: Nullamatix, if you wish I can arrange a call back from my supervisor, who will let you know the specifications of different latest models or you also have options to configure and place an order for a PC as per your requirements. You can place an order order with him after configuring your own PC or for an existing latest model. Is that okay with you?

Nullamatix: No - not at all. I’d like to see the detailed specifications of the machine so I can make an informed decision myself. The [web-site] address for the computer I’m looking at has NO information. This is not acceptable, and why I am now speaking with you.

Nullamatix: [unnecessarily long web-site address]

Nullamatix: click on “Product Information”

Nullamatix: it’s in the menu on the left. the document “Product Information” points to a blank template.

Online Tech: Alright, shall I provide you product specifications of HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7580n Desktop PC now?

Nullamatix: For the third time, yes. I’d like to know the model # of the motherboard, the front side bus, # of pci/pcie slots, etc…

Nullamatix: full detailed specs please.

Nullamatix: My girlfriend’s birthday is on Halloween

Online Tech: That’s great to hear, Nullamatix.

Online Tech: Media Center M7580n has NodusM-GL8E motherboard.

Nullamatix: alright

Online Tech: It has Athlon 64 X2 (W) 4600+ 2.2 GHz 2000 MT/s (mega transfers/second) Processor.

Online Tech: Motherboard contains GeForce 6150 LE chipset.

Online Tech: The computer is shipped with 2 GB PC2-4200 MB/sec 240 pin, DDR2 SDRAM.

Nullamatix: What’s the maximum supported front side bus for that particular motherboard?

Nullamatix: Google returned 5 results… most from directdial.com (which contain no information)

Online Tech: Let me check that for you. Please be online for 3 minutes.

Nullamatix: ok, no problem.

Nullamatix: take your time

Online Tech: Thank you, Nullamatix.

Online Tech: Nullamatix, please be online for 3 more minutes as I am looking for the information. Thank you for your patience.

Nullamatix: No problem - I’m hangin out.

Nullamatix: I’ve located the processor’s front side bus, but that’s well known on AMD’s web-site. But the processor’s FSB isn’t good if the motherboard isn’t of equivalent value.

Nullamatix: you also mentioned the FSB of the processor earlier, which I do appreciate.

Nullamatix: I’m going to step away for 2-3 minutes. Thank you for YOUR patience..

Online Tech: Thank you for staying online.

Online Tech: Nullamatix, Media Center TV m7580n Desktop PC has 2000 MT/s or 1600MT/s (determined by processor).

Nullamatix: so the motherboard NodusM-GL8E supports either or?

Nullamatix: 2.0 or 1.6?

Online Tech: Yes, you are right. It supports 2000 MT/s or 1600MT/s. Since the processor has 2000MT/s, it supports 2000MT/s.

Nullamatix: very good..

Nullamatix: any PCI/PCIE or AGP slots available? And if so, how many each?

Online Tech: It has 3PCI and 1PCI Express slots available

Nullamatix: ok, thank you for your time

Do I need to reiterate the fact the fourth thing this guy said to me was, “would you like to purchase it now?” I’m not going to sit here and dissect every line, but you get the point. A simple question turned into.. well, the tech having to get up from his chair and asking another tech. After he finally told me the model # of the motherboard, a Google search soon followed. The results? 5. Don’t believe me?

Check it:

(click for larger view)

 

What really set me off was the lack of information available on their corporate web-site. That’s the reason I even started talking to this eager to sell tech in the first place. This is what our swindling company had to say about the detailed specs on the particular PC I was looking for:

(click for larger view)  There are possibly hundreds of different specifications to choose from. Another spec. that usually goes unmentioned is the “cache” on the processor itself. Cache is usually measured in kilobytes or megabytes and aids the main memory (ram) with its essential functions. More L1 and L2 cache on the processor significantly increases the speed at which memory is accessed. Latency is important when dealing with almost any area of computing: playing games, downloading videos, installing software, streaming audio/video, and even browsing the web. To sum up, the lower the latency, the sooner your computer responds, the better.Large corporations aren’t here to aid you, give you the best deal, educate or help you. They exist for the purpose of making money, and lots of it. Management is lower to middle class, sales reps are paid minimum wage, some 12 year old in Malaysia is paid ¢0.03 per built computer, all while the owners and/or executive’s rake in the cash. Sounds fine and well, praise the successful business man, but there’s more to the situation. Simple economics tells us a few large companies controlling a particular market weeds out small business, and widens the gap between rich & poor. This is quickly turning into a political rant, but to conclude, sales reps are paid minimum wage, therefore there’s no desire to know any more than what’s required. At least with small business you were able to speak to someone who knew what the hell they were talking about.