Comp USA idiots, part 897:

[johns]

a) Computers draw volts, not amps.

Lord. That is hilarious. I guess he heard somewhere about
getting shocked, and tried to figure it out. Thing is, I hear this
sort of nonsense every day, and it amazes me that the average Joe
knows so little about the equipment they use. Maybe the schools
should restore the Industrial Arts programs.

b) Amps don't matter.

Even the so-called know-it-alls can't tell you how they do matter.
I've read through this thread, and nobody really had a clue.
Best most of them could do was talk about Watts ... ?? ...
You guys ever heard of magnetic fields Heh! Ain't none of
you got it. Don't feel by yourselves. You should see the awful
quality of the "electronics" taught to Physicists, Mechanical
Engineers, Civil Engineers. Not one of them could repair a
TV set.

c) Is this a desktop or a laptop? (power supply right in front of him)
d) The Mad Dog 350W can power anything.
e) But my lead technician would never buy one.

Gulp! I'm impressed.

johns

 

[John Doe]

The Real Bev wrote:
....

That 8 Amp spec is the maximum AC input current required. He
wanted to know the maximum currents of the several DC outputs (12V,
5V, 3.3V, etc.). You didn't know that he wanted that because you
aren't very familiar with the issues. O' course, that's not the
end of the world, but you are looking somewhat foolish to the
alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt regulars.

Changing the subject line looks a little foolish to me, considering
your post begins a brand new thread in the archives disjoined from
the original.

Not that it matters.

What I don't understand is why anyone would expect technical
information like DC amp ratings for each power supply output of one
specific power supply, from Best Buy employees.

No offense to the original poster, I like his semantics about "the
Best Buy manager "not knowing that he didn't know" (amusing), but
the suggestion of opening the box is about as good as he could
expect. I'm not arguing whether or not he should have been charged a
restocking fee for doing so.

Good that you know some things about electricity, but that wasn't
quite enough to answer the OP's question about building computers.

Why would he cross post to consumer groups if he was just asking
about building computers?

 

[John Doe]

John Doe wrote:

And miss out on all the free really cheap stuff that you can resell
on Ebay if you don't want it? Every CD writer, wireless router,
and 256MB DDR memory module I've gotten was free after rebate, and
every HD in the past two years has cost $55 or less, including the
200GB I bought last Nov. I once paid $25 for an Antec case w/ 300W
PSU, but that was stupid because a month later it was available for
$5 ($15 more recently).

In another post in this thread, you said you're mad dog rebate took
six months and then the check bounced.

Message-ID: <[email protected]>

 

[Scott en Aztlán]

Comp USA advertised a Mad Dog 350W power supply for free after rebate,
so I decided to check it out. Unfortunately neither the MD website nor
the product box listed anything about its amp ratings, and Comp USA
didn't have any I could look at without paying a 15% restocking fee to
open the box.

So I took the power supply over to an employee and asked about the amp
ratings, but he didn't know. He called his manager, who also didn't
know.

The manager called the head of the tech department, who not only didn't
know, but because he didn't know he didn't know, he confidently fed me
this line of bull:

a) Computers draw volts, not amps.
b) Amps don't matter.
c) Is this a desktop or a laptop? (power supply right in front of him)
d) The Mad Dog 350W can power anything.
e) But my lead technician would never buy one.

No wonder it's always eerily quiet at Comp USA.

Sounds like your local CompUSA is as well-run as the one near my
house.

CompUSA has this great feature on their web site which allows you to
find an item and see which stores have it in stock. I found a computer
bag I wanted to buy, checked the stock at my local store, and dropped
by to pick one up. I couldn't find any on display, so I flagged down a
clerk, showed him my printout, and asked him to help me find one. He
said he'd never seen that model of laptop bag before, but he looked
around anyway. He couldn't find one, either, and tried to tel me it
wasn't in stock. I told him that the CompUSA web site had said they
WERE in stock. He replied that the web site is often incorrect. I
asked him if he wouldn't mind checking his official store computer;
realizing he wasn't going to get rid of me easily, he reluctantly
agreed to do so. Sure enough, his computer showed two dozen of them in
stock. Since I was watching over his shoulder, he couldn't lie and say
they didn't have any, so e went back to the stockroom and looked. He
returned a few minutes later and said he couldn't find any, and that
his store computer must be in error. I asked if there was a manager or
other employee who might be able to find the bags. He disappeared
again, and this time, lo and behold, he emerged from the stockroom
with one of the bags in his hand.

Of course, the lazy **** never bothered to bring out the other 23 bags
- I know, because I've shopped in that store since and those bags have
NEVER been on display, yet they still show up as "in stock" on the web
site.

The same thing happened when I was looking for Dual-Layer DVD+R media.
The store has them in stock, but none are out on the shelf. Sorry,
CompUSA, but I'm not going to go through THAT crap again just for the
privilege of spending my money in your store. I'd sooner shop at Best
Buy than badger one of your lazy minimum-wage punk employees into
finding my items in the stockroom again.

 

[David Maynard]

Changing the subject line looks a little foolish to me, considering
your post begins a brand new thread in the archives disjoined from
the original.

Not that it matters.

What I don't understand is why anyone would expect technical
information like DC amp ratings for each power supply output of one
specific power supply, from Best Buy employees.

I don't know either but since the original post was titled "Comp USA
idiots" I doubt it matters much what might happen in a Best Buy.

No offense to the original poster, I like his semantics about "the
Best Buy manager "not knowing that he didn't know" (amusing),

That was the "head of the tech department" (at CompUSA). Who really should
know that 'amps matter', or at least know that he doesn't know.

but
the suggestion of opening the box is about as good as he could
expect. I'm not arguing whether or not he should have been charged a
restocking fee for doing so.




Why would he cross post to consumer groups if he was just asking
about building computers?

Just a guess but I imagine it's because he was posting a cautionary
warning, a 'consumer alert' if you will, about the CompUSA store he
visited, and the "Mad Dog" PSU, and not asking a question.

 

[o-chan]

Again... I usually just go check out retail store prices for a

laugh. There might be exceptions from time to time. I haven't seen
any recently. Usually even their sale prices aren't lower.

Sometimes I can find good sales, especially on things like optical media
and low-end hardware, but in the past couple years there's been a
disturbing rise in the use of mail-in rebates. Seriously, go into any
CompUSA and 4 out of 5 items that have some kind of discount on them,
it's through a rebate.

With few exceptions, I can't ever find a situation where a rebate makes
any sense . If the rebate is large, I don't want to spend the extra
$50-100 right now and wait 2 months to get it back. If the rebate is
small, it's just not worth my time to send it in anyway.

 

[Chrisj]

Who cares anyway it was free after "rebates" at that point he can do the
research and if it doesn't do the job
, throw it out. It was "free".

 

[Scott en Aztlán]

Hell, I just found it on the box at first try. May we assume that Bryan
does not realize that there is a relationship between amps and watts
even if the amp-rating isn't given, which it is?

A computer PS produces +5V, +12V, and -12V. While the overall power
output is 350W, there's no way to tell how that output is approtioned
without additional information. Good thing the current ratings for the
three output voltages are printed on the box.

 

[Scott en Aztlán]

Anyone who has even a basic level of PC building experience and
understanding knows what the 'amps' of interest are.

Oddly enough, I bought that exact same power supply, and I couldn't
have cared less about the current ratings. I was replacing a 250W PS
with the Mad Dog 350W unit, so I knew it had more than enough capacity
for my computer's needs.

 

[Bob Ward]

Changing the subject line looks a little foolish to me, considering
your post begins a brand new thread in the archives disjoined from
the original.

Not that it matters.

What I don't understand is why anyone would expect technical
information like DC amp ratings for each power supply output of one
specific power supply, from Best Buy employees.

No offense to the original poster, I like his semantics about "the
Best Buy manager "not knowing that he didn't know" (amusing), but
the suggestion of opening the box is about as good as he could
expect. I'm not arguing whether or not he should have been charged a
restocking fee for doing so.


Why would he cross post to consumer groups if he was just asking
about building computers?

That's odd - the rest of us were reading a complaint about CompUSA -
but you seemed to think it was Best Buy. Why is that?

 

[Bob Ward]

Who cares anyway it was free after "rebates" at that point he can do the
research and if it doesn't do the job
, throw it out. It was "free".

Apparently you know the value of your time.

So do I - I can't afford to do rebates - my real job pays me more than
I could earn doing "free after rebates" - and my other hobbies are
much more fun.

 

[bryanlove]

Who cares anyway it was free after "rebates" at that point
he can do the research and if it doesn't do the job,
throw it out. It was "free".

Some things are so bad they're not worth the price even when they're
free, especially with Mad Dog's track record on rebates and Comp USA's
return policies.

 

[Bryan Hoover]

Oddly enough, I bought that exact same power supply, and I couldn't
have cared less about the current ratings. I was replacing a 250W PS
with the Mad Dog 350W unit, so I knew it had more than enough capacity
for my computer's needs.

And hey, if it says Mad Dog, it's gotta be good. Pay no attention to
the lightening bolts, and howelling -- it's all a part of the
marketting.

Aw-Ooo-Ah! Mad Dog -- "Why settle for a *boring* power supply?"

Bryan

 

[David Maynard]

Oddly enough, I bought that exact same power supply, and I couldn't
have cared less about the current ratings. I was replacing a 250W PS
with the Mad Dog 350W unit, so I knew it had more than enough capacity
for my computer's needs.

Lot's of people couldn't care less, or don't know enough to care, but that
isn't the point. The point is that someone "who has even a basic level of
PC building experience and understanding knows what the 'amps' of interest
are" and, so, would not be confused when someone who does care asks aboutit.

 

[bryanlove]

What about "Input current 8 amps" and "Peak power 400 watts"
and "Nominal power 350 watts"?

It's printed on the box

It's a fairly useless and redundant rating that can be estimated from
amps = watts/volts, factoring the efficiency, and doubling the result
to obtain the fuse amps.

Instead I wanted the maximum amp rating for each output voltage, such
as "+5V: 35A, +12V: 20A, +3.3V: 25A," etc., as this would indicate
what CPUs, and video cards could be used with it, assuming the ratings
were accurate.

 

[Matt]

Why would he cross post to consumer groups if he was just asking
about building computers?

Who said he was just asking about building computers? Not me.

 

[Matt]

Changing the subject line looks a little foolish to me, considering
your post begins a brand new thread in the archives disjoined from
the original.

Not that it matters.

It doesn't seem to matter. Bringing up the subject of the archives
seems a little foolish to me. Turning around then and saying it doesn't
matter seems a little foolish to me.

 

[Jon Danniken]

And hey, if it says Mad Dog, it's gotta be good. Pay no attention to
the lightening bolts, and howelling -- it's all a part of the
marketting.

Aw-Ooo-Ah! Mad Dog -- "Why settle for a *boring* power supply?"

MadDog doesn't manufacture anything; they purchase discontinued merchandise
by volume, put it in a MadDog box, and sell it for cheap. The DVD burner I
got from them last year turned out to be a decent (for it's day) Toshiba
burner (with the original Toshiba label); works great for my purposes.

The only problem I see is that you don't know what's in the box, and their
rebates don't show up until well after the date they promise them. .

Jon

 

[bryanlove]

Matt wrote:

It's x-posted into misc.consumers (where I'm reading it) and
alt.consumers.experiences. I guess the OP didn't have all that
much faith in the expertise of the a.c.h.p-h people.

I posted to the consumer newsgroups because this was more a customer
service issue rather than a technical one.

He asked about amps. Period. That seems to be the rough
equivalent of saying "My computer isn't working. What should I do?"

I'd say 100 times as many people want to know the output amps instead
of the input amps because for supplies of any given power rating, the
input amp ratings are all about the same, but the output amp ratings
vary greatly. And why would I ask Comp USA employees for the input amp
rating when both they and I could read it off the box? BTW in the
store I worded my question very clearly: "How many amps can this put
out at plus 12 volts and plus 5 volts?"

 

[Bryan Hoover]

MadDog doesn't manufacture anything; they purchase discontinued merchandise
by volume, put it in a MadDog box, and sell it for cheap. The DVD burner I
got from them last year turned out to be a decent (for it's day) Toshiba
burner (with the original Toshiba label); works great for my purposes.

The only problem I see is that you don't know what's in the box, and their
rebates don't show up until well after the date they promise them. .

Yeah, that's right -- someone did say there were parts inside from a
reputable manufacturer.

Bryan