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Starry Night · Aug 19, 2004, 11:37 PM

Aloha,
Does anyone know anything about OEM products? NewEgg has an 80GB Seagate Barracuda HD that I want for $66, including shipping to Hawaii. That's $25 - $30 cheaper than from traditional Mac places I've looked at.

Is ordering OEM products from NewEgg a good idea? Or is it best to stick to retail? I really know nothing about it.

Thanks,
John

macgfx · Aug 20, 2004, 12:11 AM

I've bought a few thing OEM from Newegg, they work just as well as retail. However you don't get boxing,cables,,manuals ect. Also warranty and tech support are less.

If your a "tech nut" and don't need the other things OEM all the way. From what I have gotten from Newegg and others have said they are a top notch outfit.

Starry Night · Aug 20, 2004, 12:17 AM

Originally posted by macgfx:
I've bought a few thing OEM from Newegg, they work just as well as retail. However you don't get boxing,cables,,manuals ect. Also warranty and tech support are less.

If your a "tech nut" and don't need the other things OEM all the way. From what I have gotten from Newegg and others have said they are a top notch outfit.

It's an internal hard drive, the retail version has a 5 year warranty, and New Egg claims their OEM version also has a 5 year warranty, so I don't think I lost out there. I'm not sure what cables I'd be missing out on, doesn't the Power Mac have all of the necessary cables already inside of it for installing a second HD?

Thanks.

wuzup101 · Aug 20, 2004, 02:41 AM

OEM is for people like you who know what they are doing.... it's just the bare drive... you supply the knowledge on how to install it, and the cables if necessary (yes your tower probably has an open IDE cable). Retail is a bit more "take me by the hand". There are usually detailed instructions in the retail packages as well as installation software that's often not needed one bit. Usually you can download this software via the company site anyway for free...

Zim · Aug 20, 2004, 08:36 AM

Newegg is great. And they usu ship Fedex Saver, which from west coat to east coast means I get it in 3 days vs. 7-10 when place ship UPS ground.

6-8 orders with newegg so far, never been let down.

Mike

Macola · Aug 20, 2004, 12:49 PM

I've bought most of my stuff at Newegg OEM, and it's been fine. My only (minor) quibble with their service is the high shipping charges on small items (for example, $4 on a $2.50 case fan!). However, I guess it's been offset by the free shipping I've received on some larger items.

Hydra · Aug 20, 2004, 05:42 PM

I've bought many an OEM hard drive from NewEgg and have never had a problem. The one thing to keep in mind, as stated by others above, is that an OEM drive will have no mounting rails and screws. You can buy these in many places, NewEgg has them pretty cheap btw for a whole lot of them which can be good for future purchases, but something like my G5 requires no mounting rails, has it's own SATA cable and even has special screws so the OEM deal was a no brainer. It all depends on what you want and need.

-Jerry C.

Luca Rescigno · Aug 20, 2004, 05:55 PM

Given the option of retail or OEM, always go for OEM. It's cheaper, and all you miss out on is some junk you don't need.

Starry Night · Aug 20, 2004, 09:30 PM

Originally posted by Hydra:
I've bought many an OEM hard drive from NewEgg and have never had a problem. The one thing to keep in mind, as stated by others above, is that an OEM drive will have no mounting rails and screws. You can buy these in many places, NewEgg has them pretty cheap btw for a whole lot of them which can be good for future purchases, but something like my G5 requires no mounting rails, has it's own SATA cable and even has special screws so the OEM deal was a no brainer. It all depends on what you want and need.

-Jerry C.

Thanks to all for the replies. Jerry, you make a good point and it's led me to dig into the PM G4 manual. Best I can tell, the PM already has the extra cable waiting inside for the HD. The manual specically says to use the Apple cable instead of whatever comes w/the HD. It also states that spare screws are waiting inside the PM as well. So all ok there. But I can't find anything mentioned any where about mounting rails!? Given the PM G4 manual says nothing about them, I guess it's safe to assume I don't need them. But I'll ask over at the PM forum just to make sure.

Btw, I received a deal alert from Deal Mac, Fry's Outpost has a 160GB Seagate Barracuda Ultra ATA HD (retail box) for $60 after the $50 mail in rebate. Pretty good deal, even though I don't need such a big drive. But Outpost gets really terrible ratings at resellerratings.com, hence I'll stick with New Egg.........

Hydra · Aug 20, 2004, 09:53 PM

Rails are used mostly in PC's. They are little metal brackets to mount the drive in a PC drive bay. My old dual 800 had a metal bracket and cable sitting inside the case ready for a new drive so I think you need not worry about these in a modern Mac.

-Jerry C.

Starry Night · Aug 20, 2004, 10:08 PM

Originally posted by Hydra:
Rails are used mostly in PC's. They are little metal brackets to mount the drive in a PC drive bay. My old dual 800 had a metal bracket and cable sitting inside the case ready for a new drive so I think you need not worry about these in a modern Mac.

-Jerry C.

Thanks Jerry, I think I'll be fine. I'm tempted to roll the dice on the Outpost offer, I'd get a 160 GB Seagate Barracuda (retal kit, w/rebate) for $60 vs. the 80 GB Barracuda (OEM) from Newegg for $65. Both come with a 5 year warranty. If Outpost screws up, worst that will happen is that I'm back where I am now, seems worth a try...........

Starry Night · Aug 20, 2004, 11:18 PM

Ok, I took the dive, and ordered from Outpost. I'm sure Newegg is great, but Outpost.com's deal was just too much to pass up. The 160 GB Seagate Barracuda (retail kit) for $109, minus a $50 Outpost/Fry's Seagate rebate, plus $10 for 2nd air to Hawaii, will comes out to $69.99 delivered. The same thing from Newegg would've been $130 + shipping.

We'll see how Outpost does........... Thanks to everyone for all of the help!

wuzup101 · Aug 22, 2004, 01:44 AM

Rails aren't even used that much anymore in PCs. It really just depends on who makes the case that you're using. They are both a good and bad idea depending on what you do. They usually allow quick removal of your drive for service/cleaning and USUALLY make it a bit easier to do the install in the first place because you just have to slip rails into a mount and they clip in.