wordproc@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU (wordproc) (04/12/90)
/* ---------- "PC BRAND Mail Order experience" ---------- */ > If anybody out there has had a positive experience with these guys, > please post it. It might help restore my faith in them. PC BRAND > advertises heavliy in BYTE and PC Magazine. I have not heard any > thing about these guys on the net. > -- > // Mark M. Fisher > // fish@gemed.ge.com > // {uunet!crdgw1|sun!sunbrew}!gemed!fish I purchased a PC BRAND system in May 1989 (almost a year ago). The ordering procedure went flawlessly; they told me on May 9 that my check had been received and that they would assemble, test and ship my system as soon as possible. I received the machine eight days later. 80286/20-MHz system Toshiba 110MB hard drive, 5-1/4" and 3.5" HD drives, Two megabytes of RAM, NEC 2A SVGA monitor, 16-bit "D-VGA 16" video board. MSDOS 4.01 I/O board (P/S/G) Paid about $3100 in May 1989. If I had to buy it today, I'd probably spend half that -- ain't it disgusting?!!? :):) Order service? Everything the system was supposed to be tests out fine with every various utility I can put on it. That is, the 110MB drive really is a 110MB drive, although I was supposed to get a Miniscribe 28ms 110MB drive and ended up with a Toshiba 25ms 110MB unit. The access time actually tests out to more like 24ms, so at least the rating is reasonably accurate. Norton and a couple other utilities say that the system really is running at 20 megahertz, and I really do have two megabytes RAM, and so forth. Reliability? The system has functioned in an extremely pleasant and flawless manner since Day 1. I'm running MSDOS 4.01 and have the drive set up as a single 110MB C: drive, and everything functions flawlessly, without a glitch. I run Windows/286 2.0, Pagemaker, Ventura, Q&A, Harvard Graphics, JANUS/Ada, Turbo C, Quickbasic, Fitted Modula-2, etc., etc., etc. The system is extremely fast running DOS applications (which is all I run), especially with the 64K extended memory set aside for Windows and 960K set up as a disk cache for MSDOS 4.01's SMARTDRIVE. I never have glitches with the hard drive -- nary a lost chain in all the time I've owned the unit. I run Norton's Speed Disk disk optimizer every couple of months to keep the big drive running optimally. I have Norton Disk Doctor run a test on the drive on every cold boot. I read, write and format high-density and double-density 3.5" and 5.25" floppies all the time, and other machines have no problem reading disks my machine has formatted (and vice-versa). The clarity, resolution and color of the NEC 2A with the 16-bit graphics adapter is excellent. Warranty service? Well, the I/O board died toward the end of the year. Coincidentally, a couple of stereos in a couple of other rooms in the house died at the exact same time, as well as the phone extension in the den where the computer was sitting. The phone was hooked to the computer through a modem directly into the I/O board, so I'd say one of our Florida thunderstorms sent a spike into it. The rest of the computer was unaffected. I called PC BRAND about the fact that the I/O board had failed (LPT1 seemed to be dead). Their tech people suggested I check a few jumpers on the board. When I called back and said they were fine, they gave me a repair order number and suggested I ship the board back to them via UPS, and that they would reimburse me for the UPS shipping. I didn't care about the couple bucks shipping charge and just sent it to them. They promptly shipped a brand new board to me which I installed and have been using ever since. Based strictly on my own experience with the company, PC BRAND is outstanding and I would heartily recommend them to anyone desiring to purchase a quality computer system at a rock-bottom price. At this time, I definitely feel I will be purchasing my next system from them. ___________________________________________________________________ _________ / Marcus Clenney, WD4GQM ___ ___ /___ ___/ ________ / U. of Central Florida / | / | / / / ______/ / Dept. of Computer Science / /| | / /| | / / / / / Orlando, FL 32816 / / | |/ / | | / / / /_____ / wordproc@ucf-cs.ucf.edu /_/ |___/ |_| /_/ /_______/ / ____________________________________________________________/