Buying computer in Switzerland
I was inspired to write this post after having tried several companies in Switzerland in terms of computer staff. First thing you notice in Switzerland is that:
1. The prices usually are higher than in US or Canada (difference is quite big)
2. There are only few companies where you can assemble machine from pieces (I mean to buy separately pieces and assembly machine on your own)
3. Microsoft operating systems are everywhere , and usually you cannot get rid of XP or Vista
4. Working staff does not speak English, or speaks but very bad :)
A good place to compare prices for hardware in Switzerland is to visit toppreise.ch and have a look at prices. You will notice main key players on the marked: Dell, HP, stegcomputer and a few more.
Dell (www.dell.ch)
Between companies above, the cheapest will be Dell in terms of price/quality. But you cannot order Dell machine without OS. You also don’t know the exact configuration of Dell machine as they specify only CPU, amount of memory, amount of HDD and the type of monitor. Specification for the most important machine unit: motherboard is missing at Dell website. Why motherboard is so important for me? Because motherboard should allow further upgrade of machine with-in few upcoming years. What is the reason to buy machine at Dell and later when you would like to put more RAM to discover that your motherboard is limited to 4GB of RAM only?
I tried to communicate with Dell regarding what kind of motherboards they do use but the staff spoke French and not English. So I gave up.
HP (http://welcome.hp.com/country/ch/fr/welcome.html)
Too expensive. The same problems as with Dell.
Stegcomputer (http://www.stegcomputer.ch/shop.asp)
You can buy hardware and assembly machine from pieces. But the total price is quite high. Personal does not speak English (I checked in canton de Vaud). Big queues at office. No prices for small things like cables, RJ45 connectors, etc in the office which forces you to stay in the queue and wait a lot just to ask the price.
The main web site is not translated into English. Actually, there are 3 languages in Switzerland, and the main “shop” page is available in German only, not even in French. That’s strange for a company which did 99 millions of euro in 2007 year (http://www.stegcomputer.ch/fr/ueberuns/index.php?active=3) and is unable to translate own web site into 3 or 4 languages :)
Given above, I was desperate to find a good place to order machine without any OS pre-installed with quite low prices. After searching a lot I found this place: http://pcdesigns.ch/. So I gave a try and contacted Robert Mckinnon at support@pcdesigns.ch . After some communication I concluded that:
- The prices are low. Lower then the prices of Dell, HP, stegcomputer and others in Switzerland
- Service can be done in English as well as in other languages
- Support is excellent (I got replies even at late evening)
- Possibility to adjust machine configuration depending on what you want
My requirements were quite special as I wanted machine to run Linux, be powerful and cheap. I need a machine which will be able to run virtualization software and do a lot of compilations and debugging at the same time. Machine having not less than 4 cores and minimum 4 gb of RAM with powerful motherboard and wide monitor. And I was completely satisfied with http://pcdesigns.ch/!