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The Making of a Motherboard at ECS
sheiky writes "Hardcoreware.net has posted a look at the manufacturing process of a motherboard at a new ECS factory in Shen Zhen. Unlike most factories, they build boards from the ground up at one location, starting with the PCB all the way to a finished product. They also talk a little bit about the working conditions they witnessed in China."
As a frequent customer of Fry's I just like to add: Don't buy anything from Fry's, cheap or expensive. I *SWEAR* I have had more defective merchandise from there than all but one other store (A local place that used to be the big fish until Fry's came in). Ironically enough, all the ECS mobos I've gotten there have be dead reliable (I've had one fail, and that was due to running the CPU without a fan on it and incinerating the chip, which killed the mobo and PS.) In addition I had a client recieve a dead 875 motherboard, and ANTEC power supply a few months back (BOTH were bad, having tested them seperately using known good components.) In addition to which every other memory stick I've bought there has had to be returned due to bad chips.
:P
Basically expect to spend two trips returning stuff out of every 4 or 5 trips you make to buy stuff there... oh and *NEVER* get a Fry's warranty on a computer, at least in the case of HP, not only are they faster direct, but you can get a full accidental damage warranty for the same price as fry's, and get it returned round trip in ~2 weeks, wereas returning via Fry's is quoted at taking '6-8 weeks, and we can provide a loaner, assuming you're willing to have a 1500 dollar charge held against your credit cards'
P.S. Longest lasting laptop I had was one of those GQ Centrino laptops, lasted me 2 years with no PCB failures (the only thing that's EVER gone wrong with a single laptop I've had, usually 3-6 months before the warranty is up). Only died due to a run-in with the glass I was drinking while it was on my lap... ouch.)
- A Fry's customer by necessity only.