Best Place To Buy Config'd Z63A

I was wondering of what the best sites are to buy and configure asus laptops, specifically, the Z63A. Also, which ones would be the cheapest. Thanks!

 

You can't go wrong with ISTNC, ProPortable, Geared2Play, and StarTech. All have very happy customers.

 

i dont work for Geared2play nor related to them but after seeing about 20 websites , both in US and canada ; checking e-bay for several days i think ill order from geared2play . why ? their prices are unbeatable and + NO tax woohoo!

 

... well you're not going to pay tax from any company that isn't in your state (or at least, legally you're not supposed to).

 

Well, are you looking for quality service or just the price tag. There are places where yoou can get the laptop for very very cheap, but their tech support suck. G2P and Proportable may cost a bit more but they have good service ^_^

 

I bought my Asus W3V at ProPortable instead of my normal online computer store, Newegg. They were very helpful during the whole ordering process, and I assume if anything ever goes wrong (knock on wood) will provide excellent support. I would get emails from them after midnight! I highly recommend them.

 

.... you better knock on wood! I don't know what it is, but in five years of business I've found the most unlucky people are the ones who superstitious. They always seem to be the *only* people who end up having problems.

 

Proportable is good but if u are looking to save money geared2play has awsome serivice and is cheaper the guy eddie there is a pleasure to do business with. no offence justin u are great as well but geared2play is cheaper and do a good job as well. i have purchased from both places.

 

Well, with that said, I did finally get to update the member discount program this evening......

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1110713#post1110713

 

SRD you opened a can of worms. We gradually raise our prices periodically to compete and lower them for the same reason. I have to grind my teeth everytime someone calls our prices cheap. It must be the name. OOh well. Someone reading this will prolly belive you and not look any further. Like aphirat said. There are a hundred places where you can get the laptop cheaper but there is only a hand full of vendors that know the product intimately. If you are a do it your selfer you may be nodding your head now but your only source of good information and help are the same dealers you did not want to buy from in the first place because they were more expensive.

 

And I thought I loved my Asus.

 

It's not even worth mentioning Eddie.... People are going to do what they want regardless and there are only a handful of people (usually an older crowd) that appreciate what we would consider service...... Most people may consider service after the sale "important", but they expect to get it for nothing....... there aren't many people who consider the fact that they're being provided with the information they need to make a decision, an actual "service". It's those who understand that who will appreciate it.

 

Lol not that intimate. But sometimes i find my self stroking the curves and touchpad before i say good bye

 

I'm still debating going a build-my-own route (probably MSI 1013, maybe a Z33ae if I can find somewhere I can buy a barebones and feel ok about it) vs just buying from one of you guys.

I'm curious about what it's like to build a laptop, I've always serviced my own desktops, and I rarely break electronics, so it's a very tough decision. I don't have a problem RMAing stuff directly to a dealer when I assemble systems from parts.

I definitely see the value though. For a couple years in high school I thought about building PCs for people in my town as a way to make a few dollers, but I decided against it because I didn't want to move off to college and be unable to support them. A few early experiences fixing peoples issues taught me that once you do work, people expect you to support it, even when the spyware/adware/virii are not your fault.

I'm very careful now about who I help...the guy down the hall still owes me a couple drinks for an extended de-spywaring session.

Eddie, I do the exact same thing with my camera.. I have an old Canonet rangefinder and every time I put it away I can't wait to use it again. Something about well-built machines... I guess that's why I'm in school to be an engineer

 

Building your self for your own use from a barebone can only lead to 3 things
1. Save a bit of cash
2. Have absolutely no support when you need it
3. Loose alot more cash when it breaks because of number two.
There are many reasons to build your self but there are twice as many not to. i ll give you an example. This is just one of many. A guy calls and starts asking questions about the m6n. Cool guy also from brooklyn as i gather by his accent. Starts telling me that his vendor will not support after warranty and he went to another vendor to fix it. They told him it would cost 500$ to fix his mobo on the m6n. No personally i would tell him to get a new notebook if it was anything else but it is an m6n and it is still a nice nb. For 500$ i told him he can have a "new" barbone just like his old. We do stock very few new m6n's for parts and such. Or he can have mobo replacement for 300$ with shipping included. Point being. If you want to keep your nb for a year and take your chances after then building your self is not such a crazy idea but nobody is going to offer extended warranty or tech for life for a barebone. Our warranty clearly states "if you buy a notebook without a cpu our warranty does not apply". That basically means you dont have to buy the rma and hd from us just the cpu to validate the warranty. Personally i want to take that down and change it to cpu ram and hdd but i am not 100% boss so i have to compomise. But the biggest drawback is for us actually. We get lots of buyers who just take the barebone and nothing else. Most of them call back for help and obviosly i am not going to refuse it so the warranty disclaimer turns out to be a load of nothing that dont even hold up. Building for others is a nice way to make a little money unless you are doing it full time but with it carries alot of responsibility. Like you said before you did not want to do it ecuse you were in college and rightfully so. Once you start you cant leave without killing your name and reputation. So make sure that becoming a system integrator is what you want.

 

I consider the price difference (which is actually quite small) as insurance. Are you the type that is willing to shell out a small amount of $ for security and peace of mind?

Just remember, price does not equal cost.

 

if it all works when you plug it together, what good is the warranty? if any part dies or is DOA, you can RMA it invidually from newegg or the mfr.. if you step on and shatter your screen, the warranty isnt going to help - but if i shatter my screen i'm going to be calling up one of the friendly integrators and see if they cant order that part for me, i see the screwholes, i can install it easier than calling buddy who works @ Quanta to see what he can dig up anways..

checked around places like ava/rawpower/xmeld and it was going to cost $200 more and still not get the network card or HD i wanted, and definitely no mirror of my desktop install to the hd before even putting it in the case..

i was a mac user all of my life, until OSX came out so ive only built one desktop and one notebook, and i can hardy solder anything without leaving a big glob that shorts out neighboring connections, but building the MSI was easy..easier than the Shuttle beacuse everything was open-face instead of having to stick fingers in between nooks of a metal cage, shimmy in RAM sticks with 1 mm of clearance below the PSU, slide drive-cage in at odd angle without upsetting ribbon cables etc.

 

I am a do someone that pretty much always builds things myself. I know how and i find it fun. i can save a couple hundred building a laptop myself but i dont see the point its worth it just for the service and warranty i would get from one of you guys. didnt mean to call your prices cheap eddie but they are good prices for the barebone systems you build. i would have to save about 300 or more before i feel its worth building myself. really depends i guess..

 

I’m not against building it yourself – I just think it depends on the individual. 2 hours of time is not always valued the same by everybody. I mean, heck, there are people in my state flocking to a notebook shop that offers lifetime service warranties w/ 1-day turnaround. The notebooks are $1000 MORE than if you bought it through the Internet, but like I said, some find value in that. You just need to decide…

For me, a couple hundred bucks to save at least 3 hours of my time AND get a warranty was well worth it.