On 2/3/2011 11:30 AM, Keith Wright wrote:
From: Jason Couture<plaguethenet@gmail.com>
I was considering reviving my PC business by selling computers with linux preinstalled. Does anyone have any distro suggestions aside from Ubuntu and mint? Do any of you know anyone who may be interested? Well, good luck with that (sincerely).
I had that idea about twelve years ago.
http://www.free-comp-shop.com/
As it worked out, I was fronting thousands of dollars for parts and working for a day to put it all together for a profit of a few dollars. You can't ask much money for doing a simple thing that the people smart and knowledgable enough to want can do for themselves.
I decided to give it up when one company that bought about $3000 worth of computer decided to return it. That was my main computer for several years, but if I had designed it myself I would have built something a bit cheaper. I sure didn't need another one.
-- Keith _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
I have also been trying out the numbers on such a venture and have come to the same conclusion (as Keith). If you can come up with a special niche market, like a car/boat/RV computer or a DVR/HDTV computer for a particular market that has some kind of Television access problem, then you may find a way to profit. It is very hard to go up against the low-end and sale machines at the stores. If you are a great seller, you may be able to talk your way into some customers. In Florida, there are a couple of small companies doing neighborhood wifi internet access for a great price, but even they depend more on the internet charges and the computer service calls than on system sales. Service and training seems like the most profitable part of the picture to me. Still, I hope you find a way to do this. I hope I don't sound too negative. I'm just a regular guy without any strict training or a business degree, so I'm certainly not the last word on the subject. DaveC -- David P. Connell "Watch where you're going; remember where you've been." Hey, Sorry for not chiming in sooner. I remember while working on my MBA trying to work out how to run a small for profit local PC and support business aimed at home consumers and an occasional small business. The short answer at the time was the advent of the "shiny new $450 PC" made computers toaster-ish (breaks - put in basement/closet - buy another). In the ensuing decade plus since I have confirmed two things IMHO: 1) The price of entry level PCs are going even lower. I haven't looked but I bet there are refurbs out there for $200-ish. This fact makes it harder for a consumer to pay even $25 for someone to work on their (likely 2 to 6 years old on average) PC whether in a shop or in the home. The business person's reasoning is "good money after bad". Not sure why home consumers do this, but they do. 2) Most non-IT geeks have a small closet/basement pile of PCs somewhere in their house if they haven't moved within the decade. Moving of course drives people into momentary sanity with "Why am I keeping / saving / moving all this useless junk?" Geeks of course re-use them as personal firewalls / coffee warmers / Myth boxes / ways to communicate with aliens / ... App won't install... Printer cable won't connect... Adware and viruses got you slugging along... Bad device driver killing your uptime... Your 18 long hair cats packing the case with a fur effigy with expected heat & reboot issues... Consumers answer to all is: "Buy a new PC!" Ask around to non-geek friends/co-workers. You will be amazed. A family friend is on their 4th brand new computer in 3 years. I assure you the scope of work has not changed (web browsing, e-mail, facebook, etc). I am now wondering how do you get these closet PCs for cheap/free then image them to get them useful again. Obvious start is to get referrals from moving companies that quote household moves, then call offering to remove their unused PC's for free. Somewhere there must be a support group for home consumers who have their own Dell rep on speed dial. I am not bashing Dell here, merely using their name in the examples to make a point, Joel