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From: rzahavi@gateway.mitre.org (Ron Zahavi)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Why do magazine's review mail-order PC brands
Message-ID: <102409@linus.UUCP>
Date: 13 Mar 90 20:54:55 GMT
References: <1990Mar6.024915.1295@cs.dal.ca> <1592@starfish.Convergent.COM> <6829@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Sender: news@linus.UUCP
Reply-To: rzahavi@gateway.mitre.org (Ron Zahavi)
Organization: The Mitre Corporation
Lines: 36

In article <6829@hydra.gatech.EDU> gt0159a@prism.gatech.EDU (LEVINSON,MARC LOUIS) writes:

>
>I find that PC Magazine's reviews give a certain credibility to the 
>vendor/clonemaker's claims, or disprove them.  No I don't take their word 
>for the absolute truth, but I do use it as one of the measures of 
>comparison.  PLEASE NOTE:  PC Magazine makes every effort to list the
>exact components used in the box, therefore, tey review the parts as well.
>

I agree with what most have said about PC Magazine's reviews.  Unfortunately
PC Magazine often provides credibility when none is due, and vice versa.
Case in point, a few years ago there was a clone maker in Northern Virginia
that lucked out and sent in a good machine (probably spent hours making
sure the thing worked properly).  Because of their price and relative good
construction, they were voted Editor's choice.  The result was that the 
company was swamped with orders, their quality dropped and so did the company.
I know of someone who purchased a machine one day, found out it didn't
work and came back the next day to find that the company went bankrupt.

My suggestion is -  build your own PC, learn the components and provide 
your own warranty, or buy from someone that provides extra or 3rd party 
warranty.  I have seen enough of the above cases to know it's worth the money. 
A buyer must ask him/herself the question "if the company is gone tomorrow what
happens to my several thousand dollar investment?  Was it worth the money
I saved by buying a cheap clone?"
 
 -- Ron --



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      Ron Zahavi  (703) 883-5637                 Mitre Corporation
      rzahavi@gateway.mitre.org                  7525 Colshire Drive
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