<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >Questions You Should Always Ask Your Vendor</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="The Unix Hardware Buyer HOWTO" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="How to Buy" HREF="howtobuy.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Things to Check when Buying" HREF="mailtips.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="sect1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" >The Unix Hardware Buyer HOWTO</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="howtobuy.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="mailtips.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="sect1" ><H1 CLASS="sect1" ><A NAME="questions" ></A >9. Questions You Should Always Ask Your Vendor</H1 ><DIV CLASS="sect2" ><H2 CLASS="sect2" ><A NAME="warranty" ></A >9.1. Minimum Warranty Provisions</H2 ><P >The weakest guarantee you should settle for in the mail-order market should include:</P ><P ></P ><UL ><LI ><P >72-hour burn-in to avoid that sudden infant death syndrome. (Also, try to find out if they do a power-cycling test and how many repeats they do; this stresses the hardware much more than steady burn-in.)</P ></LI ><LI ><P >30 day money-back guarantee. Watch out for fine print that weakens this with a restocking fee or limits it with exclusions.</P ></LI ><LI ><P >1 year parts and labor guarantee (some vendors give 2 years).</P ></LI ><LI ><P >1 year of 800 number tech support (many vendors give lifetime support).</P ></LI ></UL ><P >Additionally, many vendors offer a year of on-site service free. You should find out who they contract the service to. Also be sure the free service coverage area includes your site; some unscrupulous vendors weasel their way out with <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"some locations pay extra"</SPAN >, which translates roughly to <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"through the nose if you're further away than our parking lot"</SPAN >.</P ><P >If you're buying store-front, find out what they'll guarantee beyond the above. If the answer is <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"nothing"</SPAN >, go somewhere else.</P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="sect2" ><H2 CLASS="sect2" ><A NAME="documention" ></A >9.2. Documentation</H2 ><P >Ask your potential suppliers what kind and volume of documentation they supply with your hardware. You should get, at minimum, operations manuals for the motherboard and each card or peripheral; also an IRQ list. Skimpiness in this area is a valuable clue that they may be using no-name parts from Upper Baluchistan, which is not necessarily a red flag in itself but should prompt you to ask more questions.</P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="sect2" ><H2 CLASS="sect2" ><A NAME="quality" ></A >9.3. A System Quality Checklist</H2 ><P >There are various cost-cutting tactics a vendor can use which bring down the system's overall quality. Here are some good questions to ask:</P ><P ></P ><UL ><LI ><P >If you're buying a factory-configured system, does it have FCC certification? While it's not necessarily the case that a non-certified system is going to spew a lot of radio-frequency interference, certification is legally required — and becoming more important as clock frequencies climb. Lack of that sticker may indicate a fly-by-night vendor, or at least one in danger of being raided and shut down! (For further discussion, see the section on <A HREF="basics.html#rfi" >Radio Frequency Interference</A > above.)</P ></LI ><LI ><P >Are the internal cable connectors keyed, so they can't be put in upside down? This doesn't matter if you'll never, ever <EM >ever</EM > need to upgrade or service your system. Otherwise, it's pretty important; and, vendors who fluff this detail may be quietly cutting other corners.</P ></LI ></UL ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="howtobuy.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="mailtips.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >How to Buy</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Things to Check when Buying</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >