From: Jon Freivald <jaf@jaflrn.UUCP> Subject: Re: 16MB vs 66MHZ Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1993 17:14:38 EST
davec@ecst.csuchico.edu (Dave Childs) writes:
> Also, the company I am looking at is Compudyne, if anyone has
> experiences with them, please let me know.
This probably ain't the right group, but I'll reply anyway...
CompUSA just recently (~6 mos ago) opened a store right accross the
street from where I work. Since then, about a dozen folks from my shop
have bought systems from them.
Facts:
You'll look long and hard to beat the price/performance buying as
an individual and/or on a onesy-twosey basis.
1 guy had problems with a floppy - it was replaced (carry-in) free
of charge same day.
1 guy had a dead VGA (bad cable) - replaced free of charge but he
had to wait 3 days because they were out of stock on that model. (He was
offered a loaner of lesser quality, but turned it down.)
In the ~6 mos, there have been no problems with any of the other
systems that I know of.
You get MS-DOS and Windows, with manuals, BUT NO ORIGINAL DISKS!!
(instead of disks, you get some song & dance about oem licensing
agreements and "instructions in your book on how to make backup copies",
on top of which, if you want factory disks, you have to buy the full
package off of the retail shelf)
I've seen better documentation, but I've also seen much worse.
Impressions:
The keyboards on their notebooks are horrendous!
The overall "feel" of the machine is cheap/flimsy
They seem a tad sluggish compared to other systems of similar
configuration (Dell, Zeos, Northgate, etc)
They seem to be fairly reliable, but I don't think I'd bring one
up as a mission critical file-server on my LAN!
Summary:
Personally, Compudyne is far from my first choice in a system, but
if it were my only choice, it would be acceptable. In my "purchasing
agent" role at work, I have been able to find better bang for the buck
with better quality (apparent! - this is my own, personal, subjective
and probably predjudiced opinion!). I don't yet recommend them, as my
experience with them has not given them time to prove themselves in any
kind of production environment.
Jon
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Jon Freivald ( jaf%jaflrn@uunet.UU.NET )
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it.
PGP V2 public key available on request
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