It's a fair comment - I couldn't go too far wrong.
Or liquid cooled - probably getting a bit too expensive for me though! There's a lot to be said for good design though. Hard to judge just how it will work out space wise when looking at a plastic case and a motherboard separately ....
a
Look back in uk.comp.vendors, on Google Groups...
And with no due respect back ... FAQ off! With that kinda language and attitude ... do your parents know you're up using their PC at this time of night?
The topic says "O/T". This doesn't give me license to abuse a newsgroup, but I don't feel I am as I haven't just breezed in here and randomly posted. I know from the regulars here that PCs quite often come up in conversation and there is knowledge among them. Much more refreshing knowledge than your average nerdy PC builder's NG. As I quite regularly post here and have had many entertaining and lengthy debates on all sorts of topics (even with IMM no less!!), I respect many of the opinions voiced here on many different topics.
If you want to vent your pent up aggression, scroll down a bit and have a look at the massively cross-posted flame-war rubbish that's being going on for the last few days. They'd like you there - full of your type!
a
Good point ... *dumb grin* ... Telewest don't cache a great deal of postings ....
a
You would be liable to excise duty on the PC, plus VAT on top i.e. you pay VAT on the cost plus duty total. Then an admin charge by the carriers.
IMHO it isn't worth the hassle and potential problems with goods damaged in transit.
Build your own from quality components, making sure you go for a top quality case and PSU. Look at cases from Supermicro amd PSUs from Enermax. With some, if not all, motherboards, the amount of RAM you can slot in decreases with speed. e.g. one I saw let you have 3Gb at DDR266 but only 1Gb at DDR400.
Regards.
I wonder would they do as a good lime substitute? I mean they do kinda ooze when you squeeze them ...! Prescott of course already has the sharp sand in his cheeks ready to go ...
a
That's expensive for shipment.
I would consider buying the more expensive and lighter weight components in the U.S. and cheaper, heavier stuff locally.
Regarding importation costs, there is certainly 17.5% VAT, but there is no duty.
If the supplier uses somebody like DHL or Fedex, they will generally contact you when the goods arrive in the UK and ask you for a credit card number before clearing and delivering the goods. If you use them more than a couple of times, they will set up and account for you and you will simply receive an invoice for the VAT some time after the goods are delivered.
On anything coming via a courier firm, items will not escape VAT.
In terms of on-line suppliers in the U.S., I have had good success with
Another thing that you could consider is to make a shopping trip to the U.S. Airfares are currently very cheap - for example, I had an email from Virgin today offering a promotional fare to New York or Washington for £179 and San Francisco for £219.
If you were to do that, you can bring back goods personally and on entry to the UK, you have a duty and VAT free allowance of £145. One note is that you can't put this towards a more expensive item - it has to be smaller items or item coming together to this figure. So for the purposes of a PC you would need to buy it as bits. Over and above that you pay VAT. In practice, I have found that if you have not gone hugely over the figure and haven't brought booze or tobacco then they will let it all go.
If you do the sums on that, you can actually do a trip, take in some tourist stuff if you want and buy computer pieces and pay the same or less than having it shipped.
One thing to bear in mind is that you don't get all the consumer protection legislation and returns are going to be harder. On the other hand, you can take a view on that on the argument that no one single item in the machine is likely to cost more than £100-150 and take a risk. I've done that for a few years and have not had significant problems. I had a dud motherboard once, value about $80, so am not too concerned. Obviously it pays to buy well known products.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
There shouldn't be duty from the U.S. to the EU on computers IME.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
My local company is
I am sure they will shp whatever you want assembled, tested and OS installed at a lot less than 2k.
Look at
The Athlon64 is already available, and runs 32bit code quite happily from what i`ve read. When 64bit code becomes more widely available, it will probably start to cut a wider path from the 32bit field.
Try
He's always like this al - ignore him.
Thanks for the link - they look quite good, but they don't seem to allow you to choose very high spec components or to drop the monitor. Might try emailing them later. Their cases look a little plain too :(
If you're putting PCs into businesses, then good service and cheap prices for reliable machines is invaluable. They look like this is their main market though, rather than the high end.
a
Yes, just saw that while browsing around.
That's true for complete systems. Incomplete systems and parts attracted 20% last time I looked.
Look at the price list. You can pick'n'mix anything you want. I agree cases are plain, but they last teh course. I have a 7 year old rack mount case here under my feet...its so extraordinary if I ever get burgeld, chances are it will get left behind.
Not sure what the highest spec motherboard is - as I said, check the price list.
You mean a combined rate including VAT?
I've brought in parts quite regularly, personally and have always declared them as such. Sometimes I'm asked if they are for personal use. Either way, I've never paid other than the VAT.
With tools, sometimes I've had to pay about 1.7% duty and then VAT...
On one occasion, I had some computer items for business purposes. Theoretically you are supposed to do a Merchandise in Baggage declaration and procedure for that, but I simply told them what I had and what it was for. The customs person asked if the business was VAT registered (it is) and then just let the whole thing go saying that there was no point in creating paperwork - had I had to pay, VAT would have been reclaimed as input tax anyway.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Interesting, as I have bought a lot of stuff from them over the past year and always found them to be fast, reliable and good value.
Colin Bignell
The most expensive bit is usually buying the latest chip. If you go the true d-i-y route and use a good motherboard, you can get quite a lot of life out of a build by replacing the CPU once in a while. Few games need the very latest chip to work and, by the time most games need that chip, it will have dropped a lot in price. For example, the P4 3.2GHz 800FSB chip has dropped from over £400 + VAT to about £250 +VAT since the P4 EE chip (£590 + VAT) has come onto the market, but I don't have any games that won't work happily with a £175 + VAT 3.0GHz 800 FSB P4.
Colin Bignell
Even going for the latest chip but the 2nd fastest speed can give a huge drop.
Years ago I wanted to get an AMD K6 233MHz which was the fastest K6 chip at the time. It was priced at about £250 at the time but in short supply. I ended up getting the 200MHz one for just over £150 I think.
The same principle was there when I got my 1.13GHz Athlon (which I'm still using!).
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