Tea
Storage? I am Storage!
Cases are something of an issue for us at present.
Traditionally, we have carried 3 lines:
Try as we might, we simply can't find a replacement for them. The new model from the ame manufacturer is $5 or $10 cheaper and shoddy. Very thin and wobbly, no badge mount, crappy card cage with a hole and a screw-on cover for it that gets lost.
Every other case we have tried by way of replacement (bar two - see below) has been the same, or even worse. They are cheap enough, but crap, crap, crap. Many of them have stupid colours or flashing lights or other useless crapola, and none of them are well enough manufactured to use as our mainstream system case. My wholesale sources tel me that the case manufacturers are feeling very squeezed on price and have had to cut costs to compete.
The whole market seems to have gone mad! You can get cases with holes, cases with windows, cases with 6 fans, cases with black fronts, cases with glowing lights, cases with illuminated fans - everything except cases that actually function tolerably well as computer cases.
The two exceptions are both from A-Open. The first is a smallish but well-made and well-designed unit which has no front USB and only a 250W PSU, but costs about the same as the old Nokia cases, maybe a fraction less. (We called our old Omni ones "Nokias" because the front panel looks like a mobile phone.) The A-Open 250W jhas enough oomph to power the vast majority of our systems, and is every bit as good as the Omni 400 we were happy with. Nice cases, but the lack of front USB makes them unsuitable for mainstream use. The second A-Open is excellent, and fits our requirements very well. But it costs about the same as our Bliss premium case and doesn't look as nice, so why bother?
So, at present, we are reduced to carrying just one case, the Bliss midi-tower which, at $75 plus tax and freight, retails at over $100. They are a superb case, plain beige with no fancy crap, excellent 300W PSU, not as much room as a Nokia but room enough, very solid build and a clever dual tool-free/screw-in system which lets you use screws or solid no-slip plastic clips as you prefer, a case fan pre-fitted, badge slot, front USB ... we really like them. But they cost too much for everyday use.
Anyway, I've checked out nearly all the cases from nearly all our wholesalers, and short of signing on a new supplier (which I don't like doing - too much duplication takes too much time and money) there is nothing else to be done bar putting up our prices and telling our customers that they are getting top quality whether they want it or not.
I'm not actually looking for advice or anything here - I'd be very reluctant to take on yet another supplier just to get hold of cases - just providing a report on the state of play in this stupid industry.
Quality is out. Crapola is in. Especially if it glows in the dark.
Traditionally, we have carried 3 lines:
- A premium case. Quality PSU, moderately expensive. Slow but steady seller.
- A standard case. Cheap as we can get without sacrificing too much - i.e., we can't put up with shoddy build quality, too much flex, crappy mounting hardware, or power supplies that don't function with tolerable reliability. These are maybe 70% or 80% of our volume.
- A cheap case. Sometimes we stock these, sometimes we don't. These are for second-hand systems and repairs and sale as spare parts to people who don't want to spend any more than they absolutely have to. We still try to avoid the very botom of the barrel.
Try as we might, we simply can't find a replacement for them. The new model from the ame manufacturer is $5 or $10 cheaper and shoddy. Very thin and wobbly, no badge mount, crappy card cage with a hole and a screw-on cover for it that gets lost.
Every other case we have tried by way of replacement (bar two - see below) has been the same, or even worse. They are cheap enough, but crap, crap, crap. Many of them have stupid colours or flashing lights or other useless crapola, and none of them are well enough manufactured to use as our mainstream system case. My wholesale sources tel me that the case manufacturers are feeling very squeezed on price and have had to cut costs to compete.
The whole market seems to have gone mad! You can get cases with holes, cases with windows, cases with 6 fans, cases with black fronts, cases with glowing lights, cases with illuminated fans - everything except cases that actually function tolerably well as computer cases.
The two exceptions are both from A-Open. The first is a smallish but well-made and well-designed unit which has no front USB and only a 250W PSU, but costs about the same as the old Nokia cases, maybe a fraction less. (We called our old Omni ones "Nokias" because the front panel looks like a mobile phone.) The A-Open 250W jhas enough oomph to power the vast majority of our systems, and is every bit as good as the Omni 400 we were happy with. Nice cases, but the lack of front USB makes them unsuitable for mainstream use. The second A-Open is excellent, and fits our requirements very well. But it costs about the same as our Bliss premium case and doesn't look as nice, so why bother?
So, at present, we are reduced to carrying just one case, the Bliss midi-tower which, at $75 plus tax and freight, retails at over $100. They are a superb case, plain beige with no fancy crap, excellent 300W PSU, not as much room as a Nokia but room enough, very solid build and a clever dual tool-free/screw-in system which lets you use screws or solid no-slip plastic clips as you prefer, a case fan pre-fitted, badge slot, front USB ... we really like them. But they cost too much for everyday use.
Anyway, I've checked out nearly all the cases from nearly all our wholesalers, and short of signing on a new supplier (which I don't like doing - too much duplication takes too much time and money) there is nothing else to be done bar putting up our prices and telling our customers that they are getting top quality whether they want it or not.
I'm not actually looking for advice or anything here - I'd be very reluctant to take on yet another supplier just to get hold of cases - just providing a report on the state of play in this stupid industry.
Quality is out. Crapola is in. Especially if it glows in the dark.
