Don't Worry Inc. sells both name-brand desktop workstations and generic desktop workstations with Intel system boards. We well them in a ratio of about 80% generic and 20% name-brand. We are often asked, "which is better?" We don't have a strong opinion either way, although we have tended to favor the use of the generic systems over name-brand systems in our installations over the past fifteen years. Instead of making the decision for you, we have decided to give you the benefits of our experience, in case you want to make the decision yourself. We have assembled a list of the advantages and disadvantages of owning a name-brand PC. Name-Brand PC's - The Advantages: Some name-brands are famous for quality.
Those computers whose manufacturers pride themselves on quality
are physically well built, and the QA process employed, due to mass
production coDon't Worry Inc.red with custom hand-build systems)
is superb. The most obvious benefit of this is that we see fewer
failures during the first week or so of operation. We have found name-brand PCs to be less
flexible, particular with regard to upgrades. Most components are
built onto one system board, so adding additional components can
sometimes create conflicts. The cases are generally smaller, so
you can put fewer items into them (tape drives, zip drives, special
video cards, etc.). If you want a large tower case that would have
more flexibility, there is normally a premium cost involved. Here's one example of how this can be a problem: Let's say that a hard drive fails. The manufacturer's technician is called and they come to replace the drive. They will take the old drive with them and you will lose all of your data (if any was potentially recoverable off of the bad disk). And the technician is obligated only to replace the part. You will have to call Don't Worry Inc., and our consultants will come to re-install and re-configure the workstation software. This means a 2-3 day turnaround on a system that might have been fixed in one day. The manufacturer of our generic PCs has service contracts available, too, but we generally don't recommend them to our clients for the same reason described above. However, if you own generic PC's, Don't Worry Inc. will obtain a replacement part the moment we've determined which part has failed. In some instances, if we suspect which part has failed, we can arrive on site with part in hand. We can replace the failed component, restore software and data from your most recent backup tape, and you can be up and running within a day. Hardware service with another vendor sometimes
leads to finger pointing problems. For example, the hardware vendor
says the system if fine and our people say it is not. This sort
of issue tends to take time to resolve. And the substitution of
parts is NOT one of the ways we can solve them, so the best logical
troubleshooting process, part substitution, is one resolution path
not open to us.
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