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I used to use NOVO OVUM until I got tired of getting stuff that did not work and having to pay freight both ways. Culminating in them shipping a monitor in an unsuitable for shipping box and then refusing to take responsibilty for it being destroyed in shipping.
SO I order some memory from AMAZON since I figure they will take care of these things better than the OVUM. Got it yesterday, install it and my machine no longer works. I send in a request for a replacement and the return tag is to the all too familiar address. I am dealing with those jerks again.
A bit of a notice - if you are about to buy a computer part and it is to fulfilled by PREMIER AUDIO AND VIDEO and if you, like me, have had enough of the OVUM beware.
So now that my whining is behind me - any suggestions on good suppliers?
Follow Ups:
Lately, most of my computer hardware buys are from Newegg, with Buy.com (now Rakuten) second choice and Amazon if the price is better.
nt
I buy there too but not online. If I need something in a hurry, as in 'right now', I'll get off my lazy ass and take a 15 minute drive over there. Otherwise I just have Amazon or Newegg deliver to my doorsteps within a couple days. ;-)
I think Microcenter delivers too.
B&H Photo in addition to Newegg and Amazon.
No problems with any of them.
my blog: http://carsmusicandnature.blogspot.com/
There's a Fry's about 15 minutes from your house.
They have a very limited selection.
Plus I am addicted to UPS!
And a Tiger Direct about 30 minutes away:
Which is the opposite for me in Athens. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.
Buying online is great but so is bringing the item back to a real store for returns.
Both have no hassle returns but Newegg has better prices on new stuff Tiger is better for a generation or two old components.
Less from Newegg but also with good result.
I love the music of ... ... Gustav Mahler
n/t
RAM, many hard drives etc etc...for Macs with a great tech support team that lives in North America and good warranty policy.
Gang,
I updated a MacPro ounce on a Friday night and had an issue with an SSD. They sent what we ordered, but we ordered the wrong bracket. Then the SSD died. So we called at like 8pm EST on a Friday night and the next morning BANG replacement SSD and correct bracket.
You actually talk to people who know what they are talking about.
For PC stuff I use to use newegg, but they have really gone down hill lately.
Thanks,
Gordon
J. Gordon Rankin
I love the fact that OWC has inexpensive complete tool kits with all the necessary items for disassembling just about any Apple computer.
Great choice for Mac specialty items and memory.
I've used OWC for Mac disassembly tools, special mounting brackets to install internal SSD in place of DVD drives, brackets and flex circuit cabling for doubling up on internal HDD/SSD in newer Mac Mini, Thunderbolt converters, etc.
But it looks like the OP is a Windows guy who can't seem to find a PC parts supplier that he likes. I've had excellent service from Amazon and Newegg as have others.
RAM upgrades can be tricky.
The last time I did one I had to be very explicit about certain details. Was it parity? I can't remember, but it turns out that RAM being offered as generic "one size fits all" often had make-or-break details that the seller was either unaware of, or just didn't give a damn about.
When I finally got the *specific* RAM I thought I needed it dropped in and sync'd up with the existing RAM just fine.
This was a ram upgrade from 1GB to 2GB on a 10+ year old XP machine.
I have no idea if more modern era RAM has complexities like this, but I imagine so.
Cheers,
Presto
Newegg and Amazon.
If buying from Amazon be sure to check if it's fulfilled and/or sold by Amazon.
If it's an Amazon partner, returns might be more of a hassle dependent upon the seller's T's & C's.
Newegg and Amazon.
But mostly Newegg.
"The problem with quotes from the internet is that many of them are just made up."
-Abraham Lincoln
Ha, Ha! Novo Ovum! I get it!
I agree with the other posters regarding New Egg and Amazon. Both are reasonably fast and have huge selections of parts. I've never had a problem with returns for either. I'm not sure what your problem with them could be.
Have you tried reseating your RAM sticks to be certain they are fully into the sockets? That may solve your current issue right there. Then again, even in this day and age bad sticks of RAM get out there. Swap your old sticks back in to be certain the failure didn't happen somewhere else in your PC.
For things like Monitors, you may want to go directly to Dell or HP or other vendors of components.
For things like sticks of RAM you may want to try someone such as Corsair.
Perhaps you could tell us what specifically it is you are looking for and folks may be able to give you more detailed advice.
for defective parts.
I have bought literally thousands of dollars of stuff from NOVO OVUM.
Two or three times I get something that does not work or is shipped improperly and they take no responsibility for anything.
I know they seem to carry just about everything but I do not want to do business with them and if AMAZON is just a front for them I am hoping for something better.
"I know they seem to carry just about everything but I do not want to do business with them and if AMAZON is just a front for them I am hoping for something better.
"
Amazon has nothing to do with Newegg.The retailer was probably not actually Newegg either. They just used Newegg as a distributor.
You wonder how anybody makes anything with so many hands in the pot?
Reminds me of BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES when the main character, a bond trader, is explaining how they only make "crumbs" with their transactions but there are billions of crumbs.
You wonder how anybody makes anything with so many hands in the pot?
Most of the components and subsystems are made overseas. And for commercially made PCs the manufacturers allow crapware vendors to load a bunch of their crap software onto the PC.... for a price. That's how they help subsidize the low price of PCs to the consumer. And then the consumer spends hours deleting the crap he doesn't want or need.
And after all that, the margins are still so thin that smart companies have gotten out of the business. IBM sold their PC business to a Chinese company called Lenovo many years ago. IBM is now selling it's x86 server business to Lenovo. Dell nearly went belly up before they went private and they still struggle. HP was on the brink but has a more diverse product portfolio and they're still around.
Apple has a different business model. They don't race to the bottom of the barrel cutting costs and price like the PC companies to gain market share. They add significant value and differentiation to their premium products. AAPL is back to nearly it's all time high stock price with a market cap of $568B (10x that of HPQ) and about $160B in cash - for returning dividends to stock holders and for acquisitions.
I wouldn't want to be in the "PC business".
Nope, better to be in the bling business.
Apple started out making toys. So did Radio Shack. The notion that you could actually use them for work was foreign in those mainframe days. I think more than anything else Visicalc changed our perception of what was possible. Suddenly the delirious thought that we could absolve ourselves of having to suffer the mainframe meatballs in their air-conditioned palaces and do truly useful numerical analysis at our desks was irrestable. And we could even type things with Wordstar! Farewell VT-100's...
But Apple, while greatly benefiting from Apple II business sales never lost their toy focus, hence the solid-state walkmans. The Lisa is what happens when a toy company tries to make a business machine by copying someone else's UI.
The IBM PC (and I started with the very first one) ran circles around the Apples for work because it wasn't intended to be a toy. But time has passed and now the toys have gotten good enough that for very routine work they are satisfactory. And as toys, they excel, hence my two iPads! But as tools, well the one's that mimic real computers aren't too bad...
Ol' Rick
Apple started out making toys.
Apple was actually the first to bring a truly "Personal" Computer to market and then IBM later brought legitimacy to "Personal" Computers with the IBM PC. I don't miss my VT100 at all... I just emulate it on my 'toy' Mac with the built-in in emulator:
But we've come full circle. While many PC companies have come and gone, Apple is still around. There's hardly anything that can be done a PC that cannot be done on a Mac.... even if that means running Windows on the Mac on those very few occasions for software that isn't ported to Mac.... like Visio which I run now and then.
Apple is hardly just a 'toy' maker today but some folks like to believe that's the case. And that's fine.
"Apple is hardly just a 'toy' maker today but some folks like to believe that's the case. And that's fine."
Toy is good. From my experience all great tools also have a high toy factor and the converse is also frequently true. I find the iPad to be a lot more living-room friendly than a laptop is. Really to a fault, I'll sometimes spend a lot of time doing something that would take minutes if I walked downstairs and used a PC.
They are perfect retirement computers / digitoys IMHO. Have I mentioned more than a thousand times how much I like not having moving parts?
And just to make you gloat, I totally screwed up my PC last week by innocently buying a 32GB USB Flash drive as an interim backup whilst scanning photos. Apparently it loaded some driver that was incompatible with my oldish system and I bet that my effective clock rate is now a historic 4.7MHz. Maybe not even that... Sigh. Fighting computers no longer holds much appeal for me. Maybe laziness or senility settling in. Maybe rationality...
I now do essentially all of my "computering" on a fondleslab and it's almost a perfect fit for what I do these days. In return for not being able to do PCBs, compile code or run FEA it's cute, cool and quiet. After 3 1/2 years of at least four hours a day of use the battery life is virtually the same as new and I've had no fan or hard drive failures... And the color convergence is still great, the yolk hasn't shifted a bit even though it's been dropped any number of times.
My new one has VPN capabilities so maybe, if I can get my driver? problem resolved, I'll be able to use it as a client and do fancier computing on my PC from the comfort of the deck.
Back to the toy issue, it seemed clear to me when I bought this device that Apple regarded it as just a puffed-up iPod (that's also what my local Apple specialist store told me.) and expected people to use it for music, movies, books, i.e. consummables from the iTune store and light email. I think they were blown away that so many people were trying to do real work on it. So they essentially created a whole new device class almost accidentally. Now of course it has evolved into that which folks thought it was in the first place.
And you know, it works pretty good as a terminal wirelessly SSHing into my RPi. A lot more comfy on the lap than a VT-100... Or if you'e really old, a model 33.
73, Rick
Nope. I'm probably not old enough to know of a model 33 but played on a VT-52 in the mid 1970's for a high school BASIC class. The VT-52 was tied to a school district computer called "Huntington Area Time Share". Once logged in, it would greet you with "HATS off to you". BASIC ruined me. I decided to become a 'hardware guy' instead. ;-)
> Toy is good. From my experience all great tools also have a high toy
> factor and the converse is also frequently true.
I'm having trouble with the idea of dentists' drills and colonoscopy cameras having a toy factor.
> Have I mentioned more than a thousand times how much I like not
> having moving parts?
I still have a few moving parts and don't want to give them up yet.
> And just to make you gloat, I totally screwed up my PC last week by
> innocently buying a 32GB USB Flash drive as an interim backup whilst
> scanning photos. Apparently it loaded some driver that was incompatible
> with my oldish system and I bet that my effective clock rate is now a
> historic 4.7MHz. Maybe not even that...
Sort of a flashback.
> I now do essentially all of my "computering" on a fondleslab and it's
> almost a perfect fit for what I do these days.
Now, this sounds more like a sex toy.
> And you know, it works pretty good as a terminal wirelessly SSHing into
> my RPi.
SSHing into a RPi seems wrong. The computer you connect to should be bigger.
> A lot more comfy on the lap than a VT-100... Or if you'e really old, a
> model 33.
I can picture an ASR 33 on a lap and it seems pretty painful.
Just to inject some audio content, a question. Are you using the fondleslab to play audio or as a remote control device?
my blog: http://carsmusicandnature.blogspot.com/
Maybe you could try the guys I've linked to below? When they have what I want at the price I want they get it to me incredibly quickly. Trouble is, their selection is limited, their prices may not be good, and searching the site is sort of a PITA.
The trouble you're going to have is that NE and AZ have gotten so big that they've choked a lot of the other e-tailers out of business and now they are getting complacent.
Good luck in your search, and if you do find a good place, please post back here with details!
JE
"The trouble you're going to have is that NE and AZ have gotten so big that they've choked a lot of the other e-tailers out of business and now they are getting complacent."
Part of the problem in the computer industry the margins are very low. Manufactures make it harder to return items so retailers sometimes have to eat returns. Another good place is B&H.
"Part of the problem in the computer industry the margins are very low. Manufactures make it harder to return items so retailers sometimes have to eat returns."You're right. On the other hand, when you consider what your money can buy today as opposed to five or ten years ago, perhaps it's best to chalk off the occasional irritation as simply a cost of doing business.
As for the OP and spending "thousands" at the hated company, the greater your business, the more likely it is you are going to have transactions that go sour. Unless every transaction is bad, in which case maybe you should think of a new business! ;)
JE
Edits: 08/06/14
I think if NEWEGG made it plain what their policy really is and the reason for such a policy then one knows where they stand at the beginning.
It is true, as any actuary would tell you, the more exposure the greater the chance of an incident.
Another reason to spread one's business around.
I certainly did not buy all of that stuff for myself - most of it for our business but it was all purchased within my account.
This started with the poorly packaged monitor (for the business) being damaged in shipment. They blamed it one me so I complained to the card issuer who did nothing. Funniest aspect they closed my online account so I could not go back and see what I had ordered previously. I think that is what really got me. Something so big retaining its ability to be petty.
I buy rom ebay UK often and have not had an issue except stuff from Korea, which I will no longer buy. I would even buy used, especially SLC ssds.
I will take a look.
Thanks,
Unless you know who you're dealing with on eBay, I'd just stand clear and work with reputable suppliers like Amazon and Newegg.
Not saying you can't get good deals on eBay. Just be careful who you're dealing with there. Sometimes it's not worth saving an extra two bucks. ;-)
"Unless you know who you're dealing with on eBay, I'd just stand clear and work with reputable suppliers like Amazon and Newegg.
Not saying you can't get good deals on eBay. Just be careful who you're dealing with there. Sometimes it's not worth saving an extra two bucks. ;-)"
You do have to know what you are buying and from who, but Ebay an Paypal do offer pretty good protection.
Protection is a good thing. Not having any hassles whatsoever is even better. If it's on Amazon I'll buy it there before even considering eBay.
Never had a problem with Newegg... When you buy from Amazon you can see who the vendor is. If it comes from Amazon proper or with Prime there is never an issue. YMMV
Newegg in my experience ships fast, does returns without fuss, and actually has in stock what they claim.
Less scrupulous vendors list as "in stock" stuff they don't actually have.
what do you do, as I mentioned in my post, when PREMIER AUDIO AND VIDEO turns out to be NEWEGG? I have gone back since and it is listed as some warehouse salvage something or other but I bet the address is for the OVUM.
I know now but did not then. Of course, now I worry that all of these "other shippers" of computer parts is some unknown tentacle of the OVUM.
I agree with Bob. Newegg has been very good over the years. I have also purchased from Amazon. Generally good when Amazon / Prime supplies the parts.
Just wait till something goes wrong and you will see how much they value your business.
I am happy for you that you have had good luck. I could have made the same post as yours a couple of years ago.
On eBay UK, I have only ever had to make 2 returns over may be 10 years; the latest one including postage for some PTFE cables that were incorrectly described. I have had many bargains.
Cross border buying can be tricky. I returned some Samsung memory to Korea and never heard from them since, despite a promise to replace. This was due to carelessness about the country of origin when buying. Buying from US is pretty safe but one must desist from paying ridiculous postage costs. Buying from China is safe although the post can take some while.
Germany is fine too.
It is necessary to read the descriptions carefully.
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