Can someone explain to me OEM in personal experience with buying OEM?

[macsrules]

I posted earlier about buying an internal hard drive for my Mac Pro and G5. I have been doing research on the Net and gone to sites that have done Benchmarks on the different drives. I have narrowed it down to the one I want to buy. Here is my question.


1. What is OEM? Can these Drives be trusted? Are they made by some third party in China and slapped a label on them from the manufacture? Are the internal parts the same as the Manufactures that sell them? Where do they come from? How do people that sell OEM Drives on Ebay get them from? Am I taking a huge risk buying an OEM drive?


There is such a huge price break between OEM and Retail, have you had experience in this area?

 

[tersono]

OEM drives are exactly the same as retail - with the exception of the packaging. They're manufactured in the same factory by the same company - the only difference is that they're intended for sale to computer manufacturers (both large and small) who will purchase in quantity - hence the packaging is not the glossy 4-colour printed affair you'll get from a major retailer, and the price tends to be rather lower.

 

[macsrules]

Have you had personal experience with buying OEM?

 

[digitalnicotine]

I've purchased OEM items for years, and have no complaints. Saves money, same product without the fancy packaging.

 

[macsrules]

Okay, I will try OEM and see what happens. The price is really good.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[ChrisA]

1. What is OEM? Can these Drives be trusted? Are they made by some third party in China and slapped a label on them from the manufacture? Are the internal parts the same as the Manufactures that sell them? Where do they come from? How do people that sell OEM Drives on Ebay get them from? Am I taking a huge risk buying an OEM drive?

No one knows where some guy on ebay got the stuff he sells.

About OEM drives. Mostly these are made under contract in the same factories but some times if you order enough drives you get to specify that some changes be made.

Look at the warrenty period. Almost all retail drives have a 3 year or 5 year warenty period where if the drive fails they swap it for a new drive. Many times when the drive is sold at steep discount there is only a 30 day warenty period. Seagate typically offers 5 years. I buy those.

Why even worry about this? In the paper today, I notice Fry's has 1TB SATA drives in the retail box for $199. What are you going to save by going to ebay? $10?

 

[macsrules]

Yea, I don't really like buying on Ebay myself because I have been burned a couple of times, However, I sold some stuff recently and have money in my PayPal account that I want to use. Normally, I agree, the risk of Ebay is not worth the reward. Fry's, I will go check out there site on the 1TB.

 

[tersono]

Have you had personal experience with buying OEM?

I manage a large mixed Windows/Mac network for a living, so certainly I've bought OEM hardware and software - for that matter, you don't think that a large corporate visits PCWorld or Best Buy every time they need a new hard drive, do you?

Incidentally, you already own OEM hardware (OEM stands for Original Equipments Manufacturer) - the computer you're using now - you don't believe Apple made the hard drive, LCD panel or other components in it, surely...?

Note, however, I'm not talking about eBay. What you buy on eBay is only as good as the seller you buy from - there's both good and bad to be had on there... you pays yer money and you takes yer chances...

 

[macsrules]

I looked at the Fry's 1TB for 199 and unless I am missing something, it is a Maxtor Internal that you referenced. When doing research this brand did not pop up as one of the one's competing to be the best.

Does this drive stack up to the Seagate, WD, Spinpoint, Hitachi?

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/55...voe3+Mk4A**.node2?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

 

[hotzenplotz]

Here are some tests performed:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/IDE/1TB_HDs_MacPro/1TB_hard_drive_tests.html#storytop

 

[Angrist]

When it comes to buying hard drives, optical drive, or other random computer components ... I (almost) always buy OEM versions from newegg. The difference between an OEM part and a retail part (as mentioned above) is mostly packaging. Keep your eyes out though, sometimes the retail package will include handy things like cables, which if you need them, will justify the extra couple of bucks.