Computer dealer recommendations wanted (Bay Area)
Keith Woolner
I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
with any of the following???
Laitron Computers
Now Electronics
Central Computer Systems
ASA Computers
UMiracle Microsystems
NCA Computer Products
Central Computer Systems
Any comments (positive or negative) on these vendors
or suggestions for other well-regarded dealers) are appreciated.
Thanks!
Keith Woolner
kwoo...@oracle.com
Keith Woolner
Roderick Simon
James Chiu
Keith Woolner <kwoo...@oracle.com> wrote:
>I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
>considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
>with any of the following???
>NCA Computer Products
A good place to buy, *IF* you know exactly what you are buying. Sales staff
(at least in my experience) are not very knowledgable, and when they can't
answer a question, would lie out right. The only redeeming value of this
place is that from time to time they would have some very good deals on
varies things; I got a five pack Maxell DC2120 tape at $10 a tape a while
ago, or Quantum 340MB IDE for $239... So in summary, good place if you
know what you're buying.
Eric P. Lee
>considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
>with any of the following???
>
>Laitron Computers
>Now Electronics
>Central Computer Systems
>ASA Computers
>UMiracle Microsystems
>NCA Computer Products
>Central Computer Systems
I'm also in the market right now, but for a 486/66 VESA/ISA system, also
to run OS/2. In addition to the above, does anybody have any experience
with the following dealers?
Pixel USA
Art Computer Tech
Sonic Computer
Computer Express
Thanx in advance...
eric
le...@soda.berkeley.edu
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James L. Coffey
: I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
: considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
: with any of the following???
: NCA Computer Products
A friend of mine purchases his hard drives, tec from NCA and is satisfied
with their price and service. I'd decide what I wanted and compare
prices. most local vendors will price match. CompUSA (on El Camino) has
good prices and I've always had good luck in my dealings with them.
Jim
Cameron Spitzer
> experiences with any of the following???
NCA has always treated me fairly and the counter staff have
been relatively knowledgeable. Cheap, too!
OTOH, "Art Computer Tech" (formerly doing business at the same
location as "Computer Art") did the following:
1. Delivered a system with DRAM SIMMs that were one grade
slower than the motherboard required. It ran "DOS" but was
unreliable in Unix. Denied there was any problem. I found
out this was the problem by calling OPTi for the "chipset"
manual. Returning to the store, I found a little kid in the
back with a plastic pail of DRAM SIMMs, trying one after another
to see if any would boot an open machine on the bench.
(This technique is called "cherry-picking.")
Generic motherboard manual did not specify speed required,
nor identify board designer nor manufacturer.
2. Promised to test everything and "burn in" for three days
before delivery. Delivered system with defective floppy cable
and video card. Helper confirmed no "burn in" was performed.
3. Promised (and charged for) Orchid ProIIs video card.
Delivered generic ET4000 card with incompatible clock generator.
Refused to make good till I picked up his phone and asked
for police number.
"Bay Computer" and "Itech" appear to be managed by the same
guy as "Art Computer Tech." All are in Milpitas.
Cameron in San Jos\'e, speaking for nobody but myself.
--
Cameron Spitzer, San Jose CA c...@truffula.sj.ca.us
Pierre Uszynski
>I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
>considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
>with any of the following???
>
>Laitron Computers
(for any place, and in particular this one, call before going
there. Caught stuff advertised with great prices, but not
available).
>Central Computer Systems
(same as above, also video monitor test setup present and helpful, but
deficient in many ways)
>ASA Computers
(helpful, including with "compatibility" returns for cash)
>UMiracle Microsystems
(extremely helpful with meaningful video monitor tests, one of the
only stores that allowed that, and with board compatibility tests,
allowing me access to a workbench to test add-on boards on-site, after
I ran into some compatibility trouble)
>NCA Computer Products
(very crowded :-(
At all the stores, if you are building a system yourself, instead of
buying a package, you cannot count on anybody, and need to know
everything yourself. If you are not ready for that, buy a package. Even
when buying a basic package and building up from there, you will run
into endless compatibility problems.
Disclaimer: the above is based on more than one call and visits to
each of these places while building a high-end Linux system piece by
piece, but your experience will vary both ways depending on salesperson,
and weather.
Pierre Uszynski.
pie...@shell.portal.com
>
kwoo...@oracle.com writes:
>I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
>considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
>with any of the following???
>
>Laitron Computers
>Central Computer Systems
>ASA Computers
>UMiracle Microsystems
>NCA Computer Products
>Central Computer Systems
>
>Any comments (positive or negative) on these vendors
>or suggestions for other well-regarded dealers) are appreciated.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Keith Woolner
>kwoo...@oracle.com
Keith,
I would go with either UMiracle or NOW Electronics. From the little
investigation that I have made, I get the strong impression that they
understand high-end computing. I like the way that they assemble systems and
the components used as well. But whatever you do, don't buy on price alone,
PLEASE! Too many folks in the Bay Area are setting up shops that add NO
VALUE whatsoever. I am personally of the opinion that if these folks have
never heard of Windows NT, OS/2 or NEXTSTEP I just keep on walking... Hope
this helps!
---------------------------------------------
Stephen Gibson, Office Automation Specialist
Sonoma State University
eMAIL: gibs...@sonoma.edu
Stephen...@sonoma.edu
Gibs...@aol.com
Don Freeman
: In article <KWOOLNER.94...@edsun1.oracle.com> Keith Woolner,
: kwoo...@oracle.com writes:
: >I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
: >considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
: >with any of the following???
: >Now Electronics
For about a year now, I have been purchasing PC's from NOW Electronics for
the City of San Mateo (at least 20 so far). They have been very responive to
any problems that have popped up and the price is very competitive. The one
drawback is that their warehouse is in San Jose so we usually have to wait a
couple of days for any components ordered.
Another vendor that I have had good experiences with is Belmont Systems
in San Carlos, a very knowledgeable tech support staff.
-Don
Lawrence Brown
>
>I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
>considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
>with any of the following???
>
I've done business with them on many occasions and they have always
been competitive with pricing, offer lifetime tech support, and
back up everything they sell.
See May or Donna. They are honest dealers.
408-261-2695
--
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* Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. *
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Lawrence H. Brown HW Release Lab Admin. lbr...@cisco.com (415)688-4487
NewPhone: 408-744-0162 NewPager: 408-485-2831
Keywords: VideoToaster!, Champs, Dolphins, Mechforce, Networks, Probe
Jason Freund
>In article <KWOOLNER.94...@edsun1.oracle.com> kwoo...@oracle.com (Keith Woolner) writes:
>>
>>I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
>>considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
>>with any of the following???
>>
lowest on about 75% of the items. For the rest of the 25% of the components,
we second sourced them and they beat those prices too. They're knowlegable,
fast, friendly, and courteous. We've bought 4 very high-end systems from
them in the past 2 months.
Frank
United MicroSystems, Inc
180 miraloma way, suite L
Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA
408-737-8267
737-8268 (fax)
Jason Freund
Pure Logic Software
--
Cari D. Burstein
Jason Freund <fre...@cis.uab.edu> wrote:
>In article <2m32ht$o...@cronkite.cisco.com> lbr...@cisco.com (Lawrence Brown) writes:
>>In article <KWOOLNER.94...@edsun1.oracle.com> kwoo...@oracle.com (Keith Woolner) writes:
>>>
>>>I'm in the market for a 486/66 VESA/EISA system to run OS/2 and am
>>>considering several local (Bay Area) vendors. Has anyone had experiences
>>>with any of the following???
>>>
> We priced everything from Shopper and MicroTimes and they were the
>lowest on about 75% of the items. For the rest of the 25% of the components,
>we second sourced them and they beat those prices too. They're knowlegable,
>fast, friendly, and courteous. We've bought 4 very high-end systems from
>them in the past 2 months.
>
> Frank
> United MicroSystems, Inc
>Pure Logic Software
>--
Well, I called them for a quote on the system we got- 486DX2-66 VLB, and
their price was somewhat higher than the place we finally bought from.
We got our system from American Computer Research for a very good price
(the best out of the 50 places we called from Computer Currents) and we've
been very happy with it.
We got a 486DX2-66 VLB
1M VLB SVGA Video Card
8M RAM (1 72 pin SIMM)
340M IDE HD (13ms)
14" .28 NI SVGA monitor (70 MHz refresh)
1.44 FHDD
14.4 US Robotics Data/Fax Modem
keyboard and mouse- for $1722.
They even gave us a 1.2 FHDD (which we didn't ask for) for free.
I think they did that by mistake, but maybe the guy was
just being nice.
The place was in San Jose, and we had a hell of a time finding it, since
we've never been to San Jose before, but all in all I was pretty impressed
by how helpful they were and the price they gave us.
If you haven't gotten your computer by now, you should check them out.
Their phone # is 408-257-8998
They're in Computer Currents.
-Cari D. Burstein
cda...@soda.berkeley.edu
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