1TB/4GB multimedia PC with 21" screen for £600. Where's the catch?

[MOCAŠ]

Does anyone here have any experience with Medion PCs or a shop called Aldi? Is Medion their own brand?

Reason for asking is that I saw an advert this week for a 21" touch-screen PC with Intel T4500 processor, 4GB SDRAM, 1TB HD and bulit-in TV/DVD/webcam, etc... for £600. With a 3-year warranty! This is it here.

Seems too good to be true. The only obvious catch I can see is that while the screen is full HD (1920 x 1080), the TV and DVD are not, and I can't see any way of upping the spec to Freeview HD and Blu Ray. Ho hum... still seems like you're getting a lot for the money.

I'd never heard of Aldi or seen them advertised before, but it seems they've had a few mentions on the forum, and having checked their website I see they have a few branches dotted around London. Grateful for any advice/experiences from forum members.

 

[Nibbo]

Aldi do this from time to time and as far as I am aware there have been no quality / reliability issues. 3 year warranty anyway!
That does seem like a fantastic deal; tempted to drop mine while the wife is out with the dogs so I can get one!
The only problem you may have is getting hold of one; the last offer they had like this ran out in a few hours.

 

[iscaboy]

It's actually a pretty bog standard spec, you could build something yourself to that spec for that money if you felt like it.

Where you always fall down on these bargain basement computers is when you want to upgrade them, lack of a decent branded mainstream motherboard for starters...

Treat it like a laptop (essentially non upgradeable, which isn't actually true, but is practically for most users) and you'll be happy with it, but given that you are talking about upgrades before you even start I'd suggest walking away and building a bespoke unit.

YMMV, HTH etc

 

[MOCAŠ]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

I decided to head down there on the off-chance before they closed at 4pm and managed to pick one up. Have to say it was quite a surreal experience, like entering a parallel universe where the shelves were stocked with brands I'd never seen before – I'm guessing it's all imported from mainland Europe. And some of clientele seemed to be dressed for the beach... I know it's hot today, but really!

Nibbo – thanks for your quick response. Seems I was quite lucky to find one.

iscaboy – many thanks for the advice; wise words, I'm sure. Have to say my approach to PCs is much like my approach to cars: I'm happy to spec them up when new, but I leave the building to the experts and tend not to get my hands dirty with subsequent modifications. I've had a VAIO notebook for the past five years and it's served me well, but it cost twice what I've just paid for this, and its spec now seems terribly weedy by comparison. This new one should do me for a good few years – assuming it goes the distance.

 

[Colin_b]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

I decided to head down there on the off-chance before they closed at 4pm and managed to pick one up. Have to say it was quite a surreal experience, like entering a parallel universe where the shelves were stocked with brands I'd never seen before – I'm guessing it's all imported from mainland Europe. And some of clientele seemed to be dressed for the beach... I know it's hot today, but really!

Nibbo – thanks for your quick response. Seems I was quite lucky to find one.

iscaboy – many thanks for the advice; wise words, I'm sure. Have to say my approach to PCs is much like my approach to cars: I'm happy to spec them up when new, but I leave the building to the experts and tend not to get my hands dirty with subsequent modifications. I've had a VAIO notebook for the past five years and it's served me well, but it cost twice what I've just paid for this, and its spec now seems terribly weedy by comparison. This new one should do me for a good few years – assuming it goes the distance.

It won't be any more of a problem than any other brand. Pretty much industry standard, not a bad deal at all. Not an outstandingly good deal, but not bad, either.

The thing with Aldi is to be selective. Some of their stuff is excellent, and very good value. Some isn't

 

[Wizeng]

I'm reading this on a Medion Quad core, 3gb ram 1Tb hd etc etc of course it's upgradeable, medion only put the bits into a case, anyway it goes like stink, and I couldn't have bought the bits cheaper.

 

[iscaboy]

I'm reading this on a Medion Quad core, 3gb ram 1Tb hd etc etc of course it's upgradeable, medion only put the bits into a case, anyway it goes like stink, and I couldn't have bought the bits cheaper.

<sigh>

Yes, technically it will be upgradeable, but not as well or as easily as if it were based on a major brand name motherboard etc, such as A-bit or Asus or Intel etc.

There is a *huge* difference between a 30 quid foxconn mobo and a 90 quid intel one, even though on paper both have exactly the same "short" spec.

You *could* have bought the bits cheaper too, you may not personally know where to, but it isn't any big deal.

The *SINGLE* "component" of a modern PC that the average guy in the street simply cannot buy (legitimately) at anywhere near the discounted levels that OEM's pay is the Microsoft Windows Operating System.

For example you'll have a hard job paying less than 75 quid for a copy of Win7 Home edition, but a decent sized OEM will pay just under a tenner for it, right there you have 10% of the purchase price of the box in question that the OP was interested in, and the profit margin.

1TB hard drives are less than 60 quid, including the VAT (which medion don't pay either, the end user does)

4 GB of memory can also be had for 60 quid.

I'm not trying to knock you or the OP, there is a strong analogy here to the guy who paid £x00.00 to MB to have a £5 oil filter and £5 fuel filter changed, he might be quite happy with the deal, but that doesn't mean that MB took a loss on it, or that nobody else could match it or do better.

 

[ajs37]

The *SINGLE* "component" of a modern PC that the average guy in the street simply cannot buy (legitimately) at anywhere near the discounted levels that OEM's pay is the Microsoft Windows Operating System.

For example you'll have a hard job paying less than 75 quid for a copy of Win7 Home edition, but a decent sized OEM will pay just under a tenner for it, right there you have 10% of the purchase price of the box in question that the OP was interested in, and the profit margin.

this is why I gave up building computers for joe public - I couldn't compete with that. Shame really - it was a nice little earner (on the side) at the time.
Andy

 

[iscaboy]

this is why I gave up building computers for joe public - I couldn't compete with that. Shame really - it was a nice little earner (on the side) at the time.
Andy

That's why I still build hardware (computers & servers) for Joe Public, OEM's can't compete against me with Open Source and Free Software..

 

[ajs37]

your joe public must be brighter than mine! they all wanted MS!

 

[iscaboy]

your joe public must be brighter than mine! they all wanted MS!

My Joe Public aren't all that common, not common enough, so I have to earn a crust doing other less enjoyable computery things for people who think computers are smarter than they are...

My favourite is...

me > "So, your data on this computer is really important? Yes?"

them > "Oh yes!"

me > "That's GREAT!"

them > puzzled "huh?"

me > "Well, since your data is so important I don't have to worry about it because you have incremental verified backups stashed already... I *love* working for people like you."

them > "uuuuuuh..... welllllll......"

me > "You know that 2 hour job I quoted you, well you can forget that sunshine..."

them > mumble mumble pissy world geek squad

it's called cherry picking your customers, I don't have many, but I don't have any bad ones...