Laptops (Who Makes Their Own?)

[Jonny M]

Most laptops that are bought are made out of a barebones unit from someone like ECS. What laptop manufacturers actually make their own / don't buy barebones and add their own bits?

I assume people like Dell/HP/Sony/Samsung/Toshiba/Acer do?

[DR]

Right

Dell don't make their own it is outsourced.

Not many companies do

Most of them are design houses.

[sh4rk]

Just out of interest, can you order parts to make a laptop, like you can do for a normal desktop pc?

[BoB_DoG]

im sure you could, but I bet it would be far mor expensive than getting a similar system from someone like Dell

[DR]

Just out of interest, can you order parts to make a laptop, like you can do for a normal desktop pc?

If you order 10,000 yes... Clevo and the like will talk to you about buying a barebones chassis in...

If you buy more you can tell them what you want it to do

Some stores in TW will let you buy just one and mount cpus and the like.

[Stoo]

Did you know....?

The overwhelmingly vast majority of laptop computers are NOT MADE by the company you buy them from. As a matter of fact, the brands you have come to "know and love" really don't even want you to know this, and go to great lengths to keep this info from you.

Virtually none of the "Name" brands manufacture their own laptops, with the only exceptions being Twinhead, Acer and IBM (even these companies also outsource some of their laptops). That is why those three brands are so darn expensive !!!

All of the rest buy their laptops from what is called an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) and then install the Hard Drive (usually an IBM, Hitachi, Fujitsu, or Toshiba), Processor (Pentium IV, Celeron, Centrino, VIA or AMD) and System Memory(RAM).

They then put their label on it and market it.

These ODMs sell their computers to several different OEMs. OEM's are Dell, HP, Toshiba, Compaq, Flexnote, Micron, Gateway, Chembook, etc.

For example an ODM named Compal makes the FlexNote, the Dell Inspiron 5000e, the ChemBOOK 3015, the PowerPro III6, & some models of Sceptre Sound...and they are all the same laptop, just with different names on them! Compal also makes some of the Hewlett Packard line of laptops. Compal (www.compal.com) also makes the Toshiba 3000 and 3005, and the ChemBOOK 3020E and yup!...you guessed it - they are the same computer!!

We consider a machine that is made by Compal to be among the best. They almost never RMA. Besides Compal (www.compal.com), some of the other ODM's (actual manufacturers with links to their site) and some of the models they make:

Quanta - (www.quanta.com.tw) Makes "Latitude" for Dell, and "Viao" for Sony.
Inventec - (www.inventec.com.tw) Makes the Armada & Prosignia series for Compaq
Arima - (www.arima.com.tw) Makes the Presario line for Compaq.
GVC - (www.gvc.com/index.html) Contracts with Micron and others
Clevo -(www.clevo.com.tw) Currently holds the Sager contract

These are not exactly what you would call "Name Brand" manufacturers , and yet it is their laptops that end up with the most famous "Names" on them. And to further complicate issues, when CES comes around, the famous name manufacturers such as Dell, Compaq, HP, and others, will bid out their new lines of laptops to these ODM's, and all of the contracts could switch like changing partners at the dance. All of these ODM companies feature their product at CES (Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January), and entertain the Dell, Compaq, HP and other buyers. These Buyers weigh profitability and eye catching features as the ultimate decision in choosing the ODM, with quality and reliability way down the list of criteria.

Now you know why when you call Dell, Compaq or HP Tech Support, they "distribute" the calls based on models. As you can see from above, the Compaq Presario is not even made by the same company as the Compaq Armada or Prosignia.

This also means if you paid $500 more for the Dell than the FlexNote, you just gave Dell $500 to pay for their "Dude" commercials, because they are absolutely identical products. Even though Dell, Gateway, HP and Compaq would have you believe they are technology driven companies, they are basically marketing companies. You are selecting them for their "Name Brand" even though it is not really their "Name" on the laptop.

[Spud1]

interesting news tho if i was gettin a laptop i'd head straight for alienware anyhow

[[GSV]Myocardial]

Don't suppose even they make their own tho, I new that this is the way that laptops were made and then marketed but never looked up the companies.

Do those companies sell on their own or do they just manufacture ??

It's really very similar with most products you buy tho.

[Stoo]

nope, alienware and Sager are identical, and as above, both are made by clevo..

[Spud1]

still one main reason for alienware is the excellent support, and all the customised bits

[Stoo]

well, if you really want to pay the rather large premium on the top for it..

[Jonny M]

Very interesting. Is that from an original article? Got a link to it?

Thanks