Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
extraordinarily good combination of competitive prices, wide product selec-
tion, good customer support, timely shipping, and fair return or replacement
policies. We know of no other direct vendor that even comes close.
NewEgg's prices aren't always rock-bottom, but they generally match those
of any other vendor we're willing to deal with. NewEgg runs daily specials
that are often real bargains, so if you're willing to consider alternatives and to
accumulate components over the course of a few weeks, you can save a fair
amount of money. NewEgg ships what it says it's going to ship, when it says it's
going to ship it, and at the price it agreed to ship it for. If there's a problem, it's
rectified. It's hard to do better than that.
Russian Dolls
One of our readers told us the story
of ordering a USB thumb drive from
Amazon. It arrived in its retail blister-
packed card, which was wrapped in
bubble-wrap, which was inserted in a
padded envelope, which was placed
in a box filled with packing peanuts,
which was placed in a larger box,
also filled with packing peanuts. By
the time our reader actually found
the thumb drive, he'd forgotten why
he ordered it.
In the last year or two, we've started ordering some computer components
from
Amazon
(
http://www.amazon.com
). Amazon's selection is not as wide
as NewEgg's for most items, but its prices are excellent. Amazon generally
ships quickly, and we consider it on a par with NewEgg for hassle-free order-
ing. Packaging is one area where Amazon has an advantage over NewEgg. Al-
though NewEgg has recently taken steps to improve its packaging, in the past
we have received components from NewEgg that were damaged in shipping.
Conversely, Amazon's attitude is apparently that nothing succeeds like excess.
In the past, Amazon over-packaged, to put it mildly. So much so that it's re-
ceived complaints about all the packaging material that needs to be recycled.
Fortunately, Amazon has responded to these complaints and now uses sane
packaging.
All of that said, if you buy from NewEgg or Amazon and subsequently your
goldfish dies and all your teeth fall out, don't blame us. All we can say is that
NewEgg and Amazon have always treated us right. Things can change over-
night in this industry and, while we don't expect NewEgg or Amazon to take a
sudden turn for the worse, it could happen.
Another Cunning Plan
If you buy from a local retailer, open
the box from the bottom rather than
the top. If you need to return a non-
defective item, that makes it easier
to repackage the product with the
manufacturer's seals intact, which
keeps the retailer happy and can help
you avoid restocking fees.
As for local retailers, we buy from—in no particular order—Best Buy, Target,
Office Depot, OfficeMax, and our local computer specialty stores, depending
on what we need and who happens to have advertised the best prices and
rebates in the Sunday ad supplements. Walmart, which used to sell only as-
sembled PCs, has recently started stocking PC components such as ATI video
adapters, so we'll add Walmart to our list as well.
Final Words
We've done our best in this chapter to tell you how to choose components
for your new system and where and how to buy them. The specific compo-
nents you need differ according to the type of system you plan to build. We
describe how to make component-specific decisions in the “project system”
chapters later in the topic. So, before you actually start ordering components,
you might want to read some (or all) of those chapters.
When the components arrive, restrain yourself. Don't start building your sys-
tem before the FedEx truck even pulls out of your driveway, particularly if this
is your first system build. Read or re-read the relevant project chapter first.
