----- Original Message ----- From: "Thane Sherrington (S)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "The Hardware List" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 12:25 PM Subject: RE: [H] AMD CPU question
I agree with Chris. When you decide to be a small computer place, you take on the challenge to be better than any of the big, uncaring stores. Getting the best product for your customers, even if it means a lot of work for you is just part of the job.
Slow sales of new computers means less overall experience for me and dramatically increases the situations where motherboards and CPU's become obsolete on my shelf before I sell them. I am hammered with competitive pricing of the overall computer. When somebody researches my prices, line by line, my prices win everytime. I am further seeing the need to build an economy AMD computer with video onboard. I was a SoundBlaster PCI 128 and Live diehard back in those days of Windows 98 and Me. I let myself be forced to audio onboard. Am I now facing the same situation with video onboard? If 10% refuse to buy from me because the video is onboard, but I double my sales by lowering the overall price of the computer, I come out ahead. I just may have to compromise. Many of you say that I am killing my gains of using video cards by using Intel CPU's.
I am seeking a larger computer business who is not in competition with me to give me advice. Since each computer shop has a different approach I am sure I can offer some beneficial ideas in exchange for their help. No matter how large or how small a computer shop is, the technician(s) have unique approaches to things others do not have. The exchange of information and advice may appear to be one sided, but both can offer helpful information. I have found that giving support to my customers via phone and in person makes me do research. I am seeking advice from a computer business that is located in the U.S. since I have unlimited long distance phone service here. I learn a lot from this. I often have no specific method to offer that is known to be better than another. By offering ideas to try I get the feedback and learn what worked and what did not work for things I do not practice in my shop as I have no need to.
I would be more willing to take the plunge and try some AMD's and perhaps even video onboard if I had a mentor I could just pick up the phone and call for advice etc. That mentor would have to be somebody who felt I could give them some useful information from time to time in exchange for their assistance. For some, if they are truly proud of their success, they want to share it with others who are not in competition. I am seeking one of them.
Is there any one of you who has known me for years interested in providing telephone guidance to assist me to produce a better product than what I am building? Many of your ideas (Wayne's for example) look real good in letters but I do not have the resources to experiment. I have always said that Intel has never failed. The CPU did not burn up, but it could very well be Intel that has kept my sales in the toilet.
I have had many customers that came here for an Intel and would not accept an AMD. Let me toss this at you. They did not come here for any Intel. The Pentium 4 drew them here. They accepted the Celeron if they demanded a price lower than the Pentium 4, but still, in their minds, they had bought Intel. I will still have to stock Intel for those, but I will replace the Celeron with the AMD, not the Pentium 4. I need to continue as I am now, having an economy box and a premium box. On the premium side, I see that adopting AMD will most likely cause me to have to stock both Intel and AMD premium components, making me offer 3 boxes, 1 economy AMD, 1 premium AMD and the premium P4. I am seeking one technician who loves to brainstorm on the phone.
Chuck
