In message <000801c67af9$168c59e0$0100a8c0@ivp2000>
          Jinx <joecolquitt@clear.net.nz> wrote:

> Some are going at very low prices, so I'll probably help
> them off the shelves, but it's a worry that DSE seem to be forever
> down-sizing the components section to make room for appliances

Maplin have been doing the same for years. Now they seem to be specialising
in cheap, tacky junk (like, for example, the talking Homer Simpson phones).

These days, I only ever go down to Maplin if something in my PC breaks and I
need a replacement ASAP. Even so, they rarely have them in stock. I've had
better luck with Farnell, and usually for the cost of the Maplin part, I can
buy the equivalent part made by a reputable manufacturer (e.g. Maplin stock
cheap and nasty fans, Farnell stock EBM and Papst fans for not very much mo=
re
than the Maplin cheapies)...

That said, the local computer shop have been very good - I once called in t=
he
morning and asked for a price for a hard drive. They didn't have one in
stock, but "could get one by 4PM". Certainly beats paying another =A310 on =
top
of the drive for P&P, and the price wasn't significantly worse than if I'd
ordered direct. Certainly beats waiting for a courier who may or may not
decide to turn up, or who might decide that shoving a "Sorry you were out"
card through the door is more productive than actually delivering the parce=
l.

-- =

Phil.                         | Kitsune: Acorn RiscPC SA202 64M+6G VF+UniPod
philpem@dsl.pipex.com         | Cheetah: Athlon64 3200+ A8VDeluxeV2 1G+180G
http://www.philpem.me.uk/     | Tiger: Toshiba SatPro4600 Celeron700 256M+4=
0G
-- =

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