pcmicroworks sale

I just ordered a 9262 from pcmicroworks - they are having their incredible sale this weekend and I am wondering now if anyone knows if they also sell additionall 8800m cards for later SLI upgrades? If not, will others like xotic or powernotebooks sell them to you?

Thanks!

 

yep they sell you can buy any parts from them letter

 

Excellent, thanks! I didn't think of it until after I placed the order, such was my excitement!

 

You wont be dissatisfied, the D901c is a gert NB and PCMW are great resellers.

 

I would note one slight difference between xoticpc and pcmw that, depending on your pick of odds, tends to even out the cost issue a bit - both xoticpc (as well as, e.g., powernotebooks) and pcmw have a thirty-day return policy; however, pcmw deducts a 15% restocking fee from your refund (see "return policy" on the terms webpage, the second-to-the-last paragraph at the bottom of the page), whereas, to my knowledge, xoticpc does not (nor, AFAIK, does powernotebooks). Assuming an average pricing of $3,000, that means you're going to be paying $450 for the "privilege" of returning a system to pcmw under the 30-day policy, e.g., if you didn't buy the Zero-dead-pixel coverage and you end up having enough dead pixels to bother you, but not enough to make a warranty claim for replacement of the LCD.

Now, depending on your tolerance for risk, those two dollar amounts will obviously get discounted differently (i.e., the less likely you think you are to end up with too many dead pixels for comfort but not enough for a warranty claim, the higher the discount you'll apply to the dollar amounts to arrive at the true risk-weighted cost of getting such a harsh dead-pixel situation on a pcmw system); however, it's probably fair to say that the risk of having to pay $450 to return a system to pcmw is probably reasonably risk-weighted at at least $100 to $150, if not the full $200 charged for the 0-dead-pixels policy.

What that means is that in terms of actual economics, the pcmw system actually costs you at least $100 to $150 more than the dollar figure you get quoted when you go to the checkout webpage. Now, when I go and price a D901C on both websites (pcmw and xoticpc), admittedly not with the Q9450/9550, since xotic isn't offering them (yet; however, the number of CPUs available has narrowed recently, which is frequently a harbinger of the imminent approved release of those CPUs by Clevo/Sager); nonetheless, a basic system, with the E8400, 1x8800M, 4GB RAM, 200GB/7200rpm HDD, Glossy WUXGA+, bluetooth, no OS/Software, and either xotic's 3-year parts/labor warranty or pcmw's 3-year coverage, the stated prices at checkout (not taking any discounts into account, e.g., xoticpc's 3% discount for cash or cash-equivalents) are:

• XoticPC:..$2,884
• PCMW:....$2,838

or, a difference of $46 in PCMW's favor. If we add to that $100 for the true risk-weighted cost of the chance that I might have to "pay" PCMW a 15% restocking fee for a return (which would be about $425), then the true economic cost of a system slightly favors XoticPC.

To be completely fair to PCMW, however, I have to point out that I also didn't take into account the present value of the other rights PCMW provides under it's basic 3-year Diamond Protection Plan, including upgrades at cost. Once that additional value-added is factored in, I would conclude that there is little or no difference, price-wise, between XoticPC and PCMW.

Also, another point that should be made clear is that PCMW is offering the Q9450 at a price that is about $90 more than the equivalent that XoticPC is charging for the Q6600 (which PCMW doesn't offer, at least on the XR5), and the Q9550 at a price that is about $240 more than the equivalent that XoticPC is charging for the Q6700 (which PCMW also doesn't offer, at least on the XR5) - in both cases, measured by the price differential each company is charging for the respective CPUs over the base price for the E8400. For example, XoticPC doesn't state a separate charge for the E8400, adds $35 for the Q6600, and $125 for the Q6700, whereas PCMW charges $110 for the E8400, $235 for the Q9450, and $475 for the Q9550. Thus, XoticPC's prices are $0, $35, and $125, whereas PCMW's, with the price of the E8400 "normalized" to $0, are $0, $125, and $365.

Here again, however, the true economic cost of a system from PCMW with either the Q9450 or, especially, the Q9550 must take into account the higher risk that you'll have problems with the system due to potential bugs in the BIOS that may not be discoverable or show up for a while, and, for the Q9550, the fact that you won't actually get the system for quite a while since, on the PCMW configuration webpage, availability of the Q9550 is still flagged with an "ETA" date of 5/16/2008, which, since it hasn't been changed, suggests to me that actual availability of the Q9550 from PCMW is still at least a few days in the future.

Bottom line is, pricing is almost equivalent, once the risk-weighted values of certain of the PCMW terms and conditions are taken into account, and the only real difference, other than purely subjective items, comes down to whether or not it's really worth it to you to have the Q9450/9550 before anyone else on the block and, in fact, before Clevo/Sager finally say that support for those CPUs is official.

 

You forgot the cones.....

 

:laugh: Ooops!

Done! Sorry, my bad!:SLEEP:

 

rep for that post....

 

Oh man, my eyes bleed
But well said sir. Making the configs myself, I concluded that honestly,if you want to take the less risky way,I`d go with XoticPc again.
Even if the Diamond Plus blanket thingamagig sounds nice.

 

I tried to work their web site's cart paying by credit or check to see if there is a difference in price and when I selected check it said I purchased the item and they are waiting for payment to process. I still have questions regarding the warranty, configuration and upgrade options that need to be addressed prior to making a final decision. I sent them an email in this regard and hopefully I will be able to work things out with them? Seems like a really good offer unless something amazing comes out with the Montevina release in June: 5793 or another make? Still wondering about the specs for screen options that PCMW offers glossy vs matte. Anyway looks like I have a configuration I may or may not want at the sale price awaiting a check to be received and processed

 

I agree. The Diamond Blanket program sounds rather tempting; unfortunately, I think it sounds better than it really is given the reality of limited upgrade potential on notebooks - I wonder if anyone who bought the original NP9260 from PCMW got a significantly better deal on the mobo/GPU upgrade required to go from 7950s to 8800M than the deal that everyone else was offered through Sager. Also, I tend to be one of those a-bird-in-the-hand-is-worth-two-in-the-bush types, and would take greater comfort in the 30-day return policy sans a 15% (i.e., ~$450) restocking fee as a way to deal with the too-many-dead-pixels issue than having to be forced to wager $200 (cost of zero-dead-pixel-policy) that I won't be one of the unlucky ones who ends up with an almost-bum LCD; of course, that's mostly 'cause, as a most gracious gentleman once said:

 

What'd you spec out? If you got committed, and decide you don't want it, you may be able to assign your agreement to someone else (with a bit of a hair-cut, of course ).

 

Or they may just have to wait a long time for that check--ordering via their website is not very seamless, they state somewhere that they offer a discount for non-credit card purchases and also states that they " 'may' charge a restocking fee" in one area. Considering the purchase price for this item they need a CSR available 24/7 to clearly answer their specific policy to your potential purchase/configuration. Ambiguity regarding a $2500-$4000 purchase doesn't help anyone.

 

All reasons why im just going to wait for Xotic and the 9550. Best of luck with the PCMW deal though and either way we are both going to have great systems!

 

They do offer a 3% cash discount on non-weekend sales.

They do charge a 15% restocking fee for 30 day returns and this ended up killing the deal for me. Not to mention that their warranty options are expensive and offer less support for the money than similar warranty options from xoticpc or powernotebooks. Told them to nullify the order. I'll wait on buying a new notebook to see what other re-sellers will offer in the near future and if Clevo updates the chassis at all in the near future.

 

I ordered from PCMicroworks. First off anytime you order anything over a 1000 dollars, CALL A HUMAN. So even if its from sager or xoticpc, i still would NEVER use their online system. Its alotta money. AND u may just get a deal over the fone.... hint... Anyway, they are a very good company to work with. U SHOULD NOT NEED the restocking option/ return option anyway. If you did your research you should know THIS IS THE COMPUTER you've always wanted... it was for me. And if there is anything wrong with it, you can send it back under warranty, or get a new part for free from them.

 

Unfortunately, there may be instances where the only available option to deal with something such as dead pixels on the LCD is the 30-day refund period; i.e., when there are too many dead pixels for your personal taste, but not enough in the right places to qualify the LCD for replacement under warranty. With XoticPC or powernotebooks (or, I suppose, RJTech), for example, that problem can be handled, at least one time, by using the 30-day refund without having to pay for either the Zero-Dead-Pixels policy or a 15% restocking fee; however, with PCMW, you're SOL unless you either paid $200 for the ZDP policy, or you pay about $450 for the 15% restocking fee.

 

I would call this into disagreement Shyster1. I bought an original 9260 from them. i.e. Revision 3.x motherboard and all. I bought their diamond plan, i.e. 3 year warranty, that came with the 'no dead pixel' policy. My system didn't have any bad pixels when it arrived.

I'm curious to the new upgrade to the new 9800's and their 'buyback' policy. I'll let you know what my experience in dealing with them is and if its worth it to even bother.

 

It will interesting to see how worthwhile the upgrade & buyback policies are, in particular what the net economics come out to (which was largely the point I was getting at, because, ultimately, the question is whether the net present value of the amount of markup - i.e., what they add on top of their wholesale cost - that one avoids under the upgrade/buyback program is greater than the upfront cost incurred in paying for the program).

 

They offered me 80% credit of the worth of my lappy ($3247 at the time) towards a purchase of the m860tu when it comes out........

 

^^^ thats actually not bad at all.. imo

 

Yea, its a pretty good offer.

After A week that my 57ru came, I saw the m15x and was attracted to it. I called them up to see if I can return this , they told me about the 15% restocking fee, so I didnt. However, I called them up again a month ago about the m860tu, they said that they were going to get it, and i can exchange my m57ru.....

Dont know if im gonna do that yet though or not...........

 

I also ordered a Black Hawk from PCMW, but I ordered it on the first weekend sale (I actually ordered it on May 10th). It's already been a week and a half with my order still saying 'building', so I gave them a call to find out if there was a delay. As it turns out, the rep I talked to said their last shipment of 8800m GTXs all arrived dead. So, they had to ask their distributor to rush out another batch. He said they got them in today, and they will start with the orders that have been in delay. The other problem is the approaching holiday weekend, so my lappy probably won't ship until next week. I was hoping it would have arrived before the holiday as that would have given me 4 days to play with my new baby. At any rate, it looks like anyone who ordered from PCMW in the last week or so will have to wait a little longer.

 

I was told the same thing in an email today. I ordered mine on the 14th and they said it should ship by Friday ( crosses fingers ). Meat which processor did you order?

 

Dont worry, theyll get it to ya soon. I actually got mine 3 days early

 

You're ahead of me, corvetteking; I didn't even get that. As to my processor (and the rest of my order):

Model name: Black-Hawk XR5

Parts:
Intel® Core2 Quad Q9450 (2.66GHz/45nm/1333MHz/12MB)
4096MB Ultra Speed DDR2 800MHz Extreme Performance Memory + Heat-Spreaders
400GB @ 14,400RPM SATA300 Storage RAID 0 (2 x 200GB 7200RPM)
No External Storage
Standard 8X High Speed DVD-RW / CD-RW DL Burner
nVIDIA Geforce 8800M GTX 512MB DDR3 EXTREME GPU
17" HD WUXGA+ 1920x1200 Ultra Resolution Matte Non-Gloss Wide Screen Cinema Display
8 Channel Advanced SRS WOW Surround Sound System
High Speed 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Networking Adapter
Internal High Speed V90k Dial Up Modem
**SALE** Built In 802.11AGN 300mbps Ultra Speed Wireless Adapter
Integrated Advanced Bluetooth v2.0 Wireless Adapter
Advanced Digital / Analog Hybrid TV Tuner + Remote Control
Microsoft® Windows Vista Ultimate + XP Dual Boot Config
Included Car Power Adapter
3 Year Diamond Blanket Protection Advanced Coverage