Laptops Why arent barebones/whitebox laptops a hit in india?

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greenhorn

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Juggernaut
I stumbled onto the fact that barebones versions of the laptop that I'm planning to buy ( MSI CR 400) are available for cheaper.

Given the fact that assembled PC's are a runaway sucess in india, why havent their laptop counterparts had not much sucess?
 
Margins are razor thin and not worth the hassle ?

-- in comparison to branded laptops.

Only big guys do the branded desktops not many smaller ones so there is more of a niche there for dealers to exploit with assembled desktops, the cost is also much lower in comparison to laptops so there is more business.

All guesswork and am willing to stand corrected on any or all of the above :)
 
only reason i could think of was service. assmebled laptops are bought with the assumption that the dealer who assembles it will take care of it.

the laptop market ( most of it) is bought by a more mobile market, and support all over india is needed, which you cant get from the typical assembler.

the typical laptop manufacturers probably makes the most margins on spares/parts like battery, RAM, HDD etc, which they might not be willing to surrender to the assemblers.

On the other hand, if they just supported the barebones stuff, it should drive down their inventory costs, since they just need to take care of the core components - mobo/display etc , and let the assemblers handle the common parts like RAM & HDD.

I hope once the indian market matures, we should start seeing them :)
 
On the other hand, if they just supported the barebones stuff, it should drive down their inventory costs, since they just need to take care of the core components - mobo/display etc , and let the assemblers handle the common parts like RAM & HDD.
Would it put downward price pressure on branded laptops ?

It appears its more of a manufacturer thing than whether any retailer wants to stock them.
 
blr_p said:
Would it put downward price pressure on branded laptops ?

It appears its more of a manufacturer thing than whether any retailer wants to stock them.

I suppose it would, but if their desktop brethren can cope with it, why not the lappies :)
 
Can you give some links to these assembled laptops you're interested in ?

How much of a price difference do you expect to gain with an assembled one. Then again if you go with premium parts you will be paying more than a branded one but I guess it would still be cheaper than its branded counterpart or there may not even exist a branded one for that particular spec.

Would be interesting to see how modular they are.

Do you get to specify individual parts like with a desktop ? I'm assuming yes.
 
here you go

CUSTOM NOTEBOOK MSI MS-1451-ID1 (CR400) Core™2 Value Notebook, 14" WXGA Glossy TFT LED LCD, NVIDIA® GeForce® 8200M G Graphics : AVADirect Custom Computer Configuration

Right now I'm being forced to choose between two configurations , because they're all thats available locally .

Something flexible like this would have been much better. Its like building a dell, but cheaper and with a much wider selection :D

the pricing is only ~ 100$ cheaper or so, but the flexibility is priceless.
 
What are you looking for that you can't get in branded already ?

Maybe choice of particular processor and your own custom colour(?) for the case.

Was surprised they offered a choice of 'thermal compound' to be used :huh:
Will this really influence your choice, so long as it works what difference does it make anyway ?
 
i did do some research to find out more about the msi cr400x when i was out looking for a laptop to buy. these barebone laptops can be bought through msi directly. i have their toll free number and the numbers of some of msi india's top brass. i wanted the 9 cell battery and the P series cpu(p8400,p8600,p8700) for my laptop. but the prices they quoted made me think again about conducting upgrades for my laptop.

but if you(@greenhorn) or anyone else can mange to get a 9cell battery for their msi cr400x do please let me know i am very keen on getting one myself.
 
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