Prices are sliding: one Pentium 4 is down from $325 to $145 and the AMD 4400 X2 is down $250. This week, I look at the best deals from PC stores in Melbourne (as well as which of them deliver nationwide!)
The priciest components - CPUs and LCD monitors - are dropping rapidly in price, according to PC shops in Melbourne that I spoke to this week.
Melbourne's PC shops compete more vigorously against each other than possibly any other state in Australia.
Couple their razor-thin profit margins with sliding wholesale costs from Intel and AMD, and you get the impression that now is a very good time indeed to be upgrading your PC.
“CPUs just dropped half their price in the last two weeks,” says Long Luong, purchasing officer for Melbourne’s Computer Parts Land. As an example, the AMD 4400 X2 (939 pin) had dropped “$250 in three days.”.
While out of stock at time of writing this article, Luong said CPL had been doing good business on the AMD 4400 X2 at $397. “Two or three weeks ago they were $600 to $700.”
Yogan Murugesu, co-owner of Melbourne chain store Landmark Computers, said the slashing of CPU prices had flowed on to its LMC branded systems.
One system, the LMC Predator had dropped $300 in price.
In the wake of Intel’s new Core 2 Duo hitting the market, Murugesu said shoppers can expect competitive pricing on processors from rival AMD.
For example, Landmark’s ASCEND desktop, consisting of an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ AM2 Dual Core processor, with 1GB DDR2 RAM, 250Gb SATAII 16Mb Hard Disk Drive, DUAL DVD Burner, 19” Samsung LCD screen is priced at $1595 (including GST).
The price on Intel’s older microprocessors have also come down, said Murugesu. “One Pentium 4 processor dropped from $325 to $145 two weeks ago.”
Will prices drop further?
Gartner's principal research analyst for PC, laptops and handheld devices, Andy Woo, says that while recent price drops on key components including processors and LCD monitors were sweetening the market for buyers, they probably shouldn’t expect prices to drop much lower on PCs.
“Particularly for entry level PC systems, there’s only so much further the price can drop before the manufacturers and vendors lose their profit margin.” For example, he said, mobile PCs have already broken the $800 barrier. “We’re probably seeing as good as it gets.”
But Woo also sounded a warning particularly relevant to online shoppers in seach of a bargain. “Price is not the be all and end all. Services and warranties also contribute to the overall total cost of ownership.”
For example, while some notebook makers only include the bare-minimum 12 month return-to-manufacturer warranty, other vendors offer up to three years with courier pick-up and return.
Where to buy in Melbourne
For buyers who want the cheapest possible price and aren’t concerned about support, Melbourne swapmeets such as those listed at www.comtrader.com.au/swap/ have traditionally been a popular destination.
But buyers who like to shop online have a number of options for finding cheap deals.Shoppers outside of Melbourne may not have heard of geek shopping favourites CPL (Computers and Parts Land) or Landmark Computers but both will ship interstate to their customers. CPL doesn’t have a full online store, but it lists its stock online and you can order via email and pay by direct bank deposit. They offer shipment via Australia Post (or you can organise your own courier).
“CPL has a great range of the really top end stuff that swap meets generally don't have, and they are about the cheapest,” says one APC reader Lachlan Smith. “They don’t offer support though, but you get what you pay for.”
Competitor MSY Technology is another retailer which updates its online price list weekly, however you must be able to attend one of its Melbourne shops in person to collect the goods, or arrange a courier to collect them yourself.
Other Melbourne-based online shopping sites include PC Case Gear which offers all kinds of case mods and case hardware and Mr Gadget Australia which specialises in USB devices, keyboards and mice and flash memory.
Online shopping can incur hidden costs including shipping and services costs, so remember to factor these in to the prices quoted online. For example, there's no point buying a product that's $2 cheaper at one store if the postage is going to cost $5 more than the next cheapest store.
If you are buying a PC system, check whether you will be expected to pay shipping if it needs to be returned for service (it can cost $100 or more to pay for a PC to be sent interstate by courier), or whether you’ll be able to take the system somewhere local for servicing.
(It's important to note that we can't endorse any of the above stores personally; caveat emptor -- do your own research on their reputation before buying!)