Do company's like HP just charge higher prices for the name brand here's an example?

Question

a Gateway laptop stats = Gateway Notebook with AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-52
Model: MX6453
AMD Turion™ 64 X2 mobile technology TL-52; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; 15.4" widescreen; 160GB hard drive; 2GB PC4200 DDR2 memory; Windows XP Media Center; 4-in-1 media manage

Price = 849.99



HP = Hewlett-Packard Special Edition Notebook with AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-56
Model: dv6125se

AMD Turion™ 64 X2 mobile technology TL-50; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; 17" widescreen; 100GB hard drive; 1GB DDR2 memory; 5-in-1 media reader; Windows XP Media Center; LightScribe labeling

Price= 1,049.99

I mean I am not like a computer whiz or anything but the Gateway appears to be the better computer with 1 more Gig of ram and 60 more gigs of hard drive space. What's the deal how can HP be selling an inferior computer for $200 more, do they just mark up because of the HP name? I guess the HP has a bigger screen but other than that the stats are very similiar - the ram and hard drive space.

Answer 1

Usually. The brand name commands higher prices because of the name recognition. Think about this: the corner gas station called Joes's Service Station that is run by Jack charges $2.07 for a gallon of gas. The Exxon station across the street charges $2.21. Do you really think there is an oil company called Joe's Oil Company (JoCo) that delivers gas only to that one Joe's Service Station? Of course not. Joe probably gets it from Exxon, so the gas in both gas stations is the same but one has the Exxon name on it and sells for a higher price because of that. Another thing, almost every food product you get is made by Beatrice Foods. So when you go to the supermarket and buy a bag of Crumblies you have a choice of a naionally known brand name for $1.89 or an obscure store brand for $1.49. But guess what? Both are made and distributed by Beatrice Foods; the only thing different between the two bags of Crumblies is the bag and the price. What's inside the bag is the same.

Now, I have heard it alleged that if you go to Home depot and buy a Toro riding lawn mower it is not the same construction as the same model number you get by going to a lawn and garden center and buying a higher-priced version of the same model, but I have never confirmed this. This theory alleges that discounters like Home Depot have a secret agreement to sell shoddy versions of name brand items at a far lower price than would be available elsewhere. An example of this would be Wal-Mart, which could sell for significantly less than other retailers a cheap, made-in-China version of a Ging-Zhee Grabbler that is produced in China using inferior parts and workmanship. This theory has not been confirmed, but might explain why cheap versions of things fall apart almost immediately. Items made by forced slave labor in a communist country are not likely to last very long. The Gateway items might be made in a Chinese concentration camp by prison inmates for all you know and then dumped in the US, where they function only briefly before being relegated to a landfill.

If I have a choice of buying a Chinese-made adjustable wrench for $8.99 or an American-made one for $14.99, I will take the American one every time. The Chinese use inferior steel loaded with holes and impurities that does not hold up under use. The Chinese rely on small, individual backyard smelters for much of their steel production, where peasants who were former prisoners and Enemies of the State melt down old cooking pots and their old handcuffs and hammer it into sheets of goat-dung riddled sheets of low-quality steel.

Answer 2

Support is the name of the game. Try to get support for a cheaper brand name computer, that is the latest and greatest, and try to get support from HP .. you will see the difference on the first try.. I prefer supported PC's since I have been buying from first Compaq and now HP for the past 15 years.. I would not own a Gateway.. enough said.

Answer 3

There's always some skew around pricing for similar items, depending on factors like where you are purchasing it, what promotions are in effect, what warrantee is in effect, etc. All of the name brand PC companies (HP, Dell, etc.) have products at similar prices...none of them can consistently charge an extra $200 just for their name. I think the example you cited is Best Buy's online pricing; they have the gateway listed on sale for $150 off, whereas the HP is not on sale in part because it includes a special DVD writer than can write labels on the disks too.

You might see that type of price differential on a store brand PC that doesn't have the same level of support, advertising, etc. Sometimes those can be good bargains, e.g. check out Microcenter if there is one near you.

Answer 4

In general you get what you pay for. I have never ordered from Gateway, but HP not only sells a solid product, but the support offered and the guarantees are worth the difference.

Answer 5

Well do you search with Google and you will find that Turion laptops are produced from well know Taiwan company, which sell them without name to Big Fishes - HP, DELL, GATEWAY :):)
So
answer of your question is

YES you pay for NAME :)

Sometimes and for support also :):)

Answer 6

hey man its simple if the name is good the more they sell it for . all the branded pc have higher rates when compared to the other but the advantage with hp and other branded pcs is the they provide free service when we need it if ur good at assembleing the computer and u know the parts of computer well enough i suggest u to assemble a new pc its a lot cheaper.

Answer 7

you have to compare apples to apples
BTW Gateway and HP are both brand names
and the HP is built w 17 inch monitor