OEM or not ? what do you think?

[E3Art]

So what do you think about OEM?

And what do you think about the companys that sell OEM products, that arnt exactly upfront about telling you that the product you are buying is OEM. A lot of companys do come right out and tell you OEM or Retail but I recently bought an OEM version of the Radeon 8500 without realizing it. Mabey i just wasnt paying enough attention, but i have been noticeing a lot recently that you really have to look hard to find out if your buying an OEM product.

 

[SaturnX]

I buy OEM majority of the time, I have no need for manuals, colourful boxes, etc.. that only add to cost. As long as the OEM part is equivalent to the Retail counterpart, I'll take OEM anyday. Though, I haven't had any trouble with retailers labelling, or not, OEM products etc.. most of the time they're just labled OEM/White Box/Brown Box etc...

--Mark

 

[stingbandel]

I usually buy OEM product if the price different between OEM and Retail are too much. Otherwise, I get the retail one.



Darno

 

[Grendel99]

Well it depends. If it comes to CPU's and the price isn't that big a difference, I will get Retail. But on floppies, cd, cdrw and other components, OEM all the way.

 

[ViperMagic]

I just buy whatever is cheaper....

 

[aka1nas]

It also depends on what the item is. If it is something I dont care about, like a zip drive, or sometimes even a PSU, then definately go OEM. For stuff like Hard drives, I prefer retail. Less chance of getting screwed.

 

[Mem]

Hmmm lets think,I`ve had these OEM products,T-bird, Modem,harddrive,soundcard,DVD rom,floppy drive and they are all going strong still ,so yes if the price is right or if I`m on a tight budget.

 

[Bahelion]

Depends on the product. MBs and HDs come with everything needed, except maybe utils/patches, when you get the retail box. Sometimes this includes better warranties (CPUs) and ability to RMA. For other devices the box is just one more thing to find a place to store. If you are gonna bump drivers or product is not Bleeding Edge, the money you save will feed the hole in your pocket. Leaves more money to upgrade.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

Sometimes retail comes with nice software like in the case of mobo's, video cards, soundcards and CDRW's, but for the most part OEM is the way to go. Especially if it's a CPU and unlocking it will void the warranty.

 

[DN]

I usually prefer to buy retail especially when decent software is included or the warranty is better..

 

[flexy]

i buy and bought everything oem - except my radeon 8500

 

[MustPost]

I usually buy OEM especially in hardware.
Although, under certain circumstances I will buy retail.

 

[Mitzi]

Every piece of hardware in my machine at the moment is OEM. I don't need the pretty boxes and driver CDs which come with retail hardware because the first thing I do before installing hardware is download the latest driver from the net anyway.

The last piece of retail hardware I got was a Pentium III 850 and thats because the retail version cost £2.00 more and included a 5 year warranty (or was it 3? I cannot remember).

 

[Kingofcomputer]

everything in my computer is retail except Radeon LE (no retail LE in the US),
with coupon and e-tailer promotion, all were at better price than oem at the buy time.