How to avoid the hardware upgrade rip-off

Posted by AccountingWEB PM | on Mon, 09/07/2007 - 18:17  8134  3 comments

Get a bigger bang for your PC buckTaking your latest PC apart as soon as it comes in the door isn’t for the faint hearted, but if you’re prepared to get your hands dirty, you could knock hundreds or even thousands of pounds off your next purchase. You might even learn a thing or two about computers in the process.

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Memory example sites ....

Anonymous | Thu, 12/07/2007 - 08:36 | Permalink

http://www.orcalogic.co.uk/asp/

http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.asp

A likely story

evanowen | Thu, 12/07/2007 - 15:24 | Permalink

Let's be having the spec of the machine so we can do a real world comparison.

Machine specs

sctwynham | Thu, 12/07/2007 - 16:59 | Permalink

Here are the specs for the examples given:

Notebook: HP nx7300 T5500 Core2Duo, 80GB 5,400 rpm HDD, 2GB RAM. Total cost was £412 including VAT and delivery - one month ago. Price compared with equivalent Dell Inspiron - same T5500 C2D, 80GB, LCD panel, Intel GPU at that time, including a free delivery offer.

Mac Pro: 8GB RAM, Apple online store price for 8GB = £1349.01, (4x2GB PC5300 FB DIMM), at other stores for £493.48. Apple online store price for 2 off Seagate 500GB 7,200 SATA 2 HDD = £418, available at other stores for £130. Total saving £1143.

Macbook Pro: Mid range 15.4" model, Santa Rosa spec 2.4GHz Core2Duo, 4GB upgrade at Apple online store = £480, 4GB (2x2GB PC5300 667 SODIMMs) from Crucial (today) is £164.49.

Dell have in the last few days shifted their models around a bit, but will still charge (for example) £95 + VAT to uplift a 1GB notebook to 2GB, when plenty of stores online charge around £50 for the whole 2GB of branded RAM, including VAT and shipping.

This price differential has another interesting side effect - of making models further up the chain look "cheaper" - as you "spec up" your lesser model, you end up with a price which is closer to the higher model's price - so end up buying that one.

I hope that helps!

Stewart

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