New clients with old computers!

[Revenant]

Just wanted to give everyone a little update on the home business!

It seems I now have +1 official loyal client! I just ordered some ram for her old ass dell I'll be picking the computer up before she goes out of town tuesday, installing the ram and returning it the following monday when she gets back from her vacation.

I wanted to get some input on my price. I've decided for basic hardware installation "not including processor and motherboard" I would charge 20 dollars. Sound reasonable?

Also I might be building a computer for one of her friends and I want to do it for cheap so I can guarantee the possibility of having a returning customer! I was thinking the way I would charge is I would find out exactly what kind of computer she would be looking for and find a dell or hp computer to base it off of...

Say the computer for comparison came to 1,000 dollars and I was able to get all of the hardware + the OS for 600 dollars I was thinking I would go halfway between the computer I build and the comparison computer to be the ultimate price. Meaning her total would be 800 dollars saving her 200 dollars from buying the comparison computer. Sound reasonable? or should I charge more or less?

 

[Veronica]

hmm.. considering you can buy a pretty decent computer for 300 dollars nowadays, it might be alittle expensive.. but Im no pro. Ive had my stuff for over 2 years now and never had any problems with it. Of course, i have all the good programs to keep the bad shit off my computer.

 

[Revenant]

hmm.. considering you can buy a pretty decent computer for 300 dollars nowadays, it might be alittle expensive.. but Im no pro. Ive had my stuff for over 2 years now and never had any problems with it. Of course, i have all the good programs to keep the bad shit off my computer.

Ahhh but we aren't talkin about pretty decent computers xD In most cases I've run across people always believe they are better off buying most high end dells... Plus I'm good at convincing them the more monies you spend the longer your computer will be worth a damn.

That was just the basic idea anyways... Chances are she won't want any huge deal computer... But I can still manage to build her one for 300 bucks and charge 100 maybe a bit more if she decides on a new monitor...

I'm pretty good at convincing people that having me build the computer is the way to go xD especially the more money they are looking to spend the more I can save them

 

[!]

$20 is not bad is that just labor? Ram is cheap

 

[kelvin070]

People here will charge $100 but it took me just 60 seconds to expand my RAM on my notebook and I am no computer expert

 

[sophie]

I'd totally pay $20 to get more RAM on my lappy. In fact, are you in Sydney? Damn you're not. I was going to get you to add more RAM to mine.

 

[pinkporridge]

id pay 20!.. i had an old dell.. just replaced the ram b4 it got stolen... cos it was the day of my flight and it was running soooooooo slow i had to go to a shop to buy it..instead of buyin it on line.. cos me £40 for 1gb

 

[ConTRo13R]

yoru going to spec your computers of dells or hps?

jeez do you not know your computer hardware? find out what there uses of the pc is, then spec around that, if there just going to be watching films, listening to music, surfing the net and emails then a quad core cpu is going to be complety and utterly useless to them

 

[Revenant]

yoru going to spec your computers of dells or hps?

jeez do you not know your computer hardware? find out what there uses of the pc is, then spec around that, if there just going to be watching films, listening to music, surfing the net and emails then a quad core cpu is going to be complety and utterly useless to them

Don't act like I'm an idiot... I'm A+, MCP, MCDST, and MCTS certified... I've been building computers for 5 years now... I know my hardware!!!

I decided the way I would charge is by comparing with dells... I wouldn't always pull the exact parts from the dells... I would just take the dell to compare especially compared to price... In most cases I would be able to find out what they are using it for and piece it together from there and charge just what I think would be right...

I'm not charging 20 bucks to install ram... I'm charging 20 dollars for my labor it will cost different for different people her ram is Old as piss it's for a dell demension 4300... 512mb is thie highest this stick gets... 29.99 for the stick + 20 for labor...

 

[kelvin070]

You can be certified abcdefghigh......A kid can do the job (how many components you have in that stupid box and its no big deal)

 

[kelvin070]

LMFAO....you dont need to be a rocket scientist to build a computer.

 

[ssl]

but let us hope a rocket scientist can build a computer...

----

revenant:

a) just because you are certified does not mean much these days. it is more about who you know, than what you know. after my buddy gets into the police force, i could just walk in and probably get a job doing something with the pd's technology; i am not a+, network+, et cetera. i can still do it, and have done so on occasion, more specifically: i did a little networking and troubleshooting for my mother's church about a year ago.

b) what type of memory is that? (i could do a little online searching, but i r layZ)..

c) the price is reasonable, leaning towards the higher side of the labor price spectrum, although i do not know your specific labor charge per unit time (hour, day, et cetera) nor do i know how long it takes you to install the memory (which, really, is case-by-case basis... literally and metaphorically speaking).

overall, sounds good. just make sure you get good components, not cheap components.

 

[Revenant]

but let us hope a rocket scientist can build a computer...

----

revenant:

a) just because you are certified does not mean much these days. it is more about who you know, than what you know. after my buddy gets into the police force, i could just walk in and probably get a job doing something with the pd's technology; i am not a+, network+, et cetera. i can still do it, and have done so on occasion, more specifically: i did a little networking and troubleshooting for my mother's church about a year ago.

b) what type of memory is that? (i could do a little online searching, but i r layZ)..

c) the price is reasonable, leaning towards the higher side of the labor price spectrum, although i do not know your specific labor charge per unit time (hour, day, et cetera) nor do i know how long it takes you to install the memory (which, really, is case-by-case basis... literally and metaphorically speaking).

overall, sounds good. just make sure you get good components, not cheap components.

I'm not sure there is such thing as cheap ram... It's not like your ram will ever crap out on you... You don't need to talk to me as if I don't understand this field... I have these certifications and because I have no contacts and I'm only 18 not a single place will hire me... In most cases I don't charge by the hour unless there is a software problem that I'm not already sure how long it will take to finish the fix.

 

[Revenant]

You can be certified abcdefghigh......A kid can do the job (how many components you have in that stupid box and its no big deal)

LMFAO....you dont need to be a rocket scientist to build a computer.

This whole thing is really confusing me, how people are talking like I'm a fucking idiot that doesn't know damn about computers... Did you not fuckin read when I said I've been building computers for 5 years!?!? I was 13... I was a fucking kid... I only recently got certified so I have paper to back up what I know...

and I'm sure you're thinking exactly how I think that this whole computer thing is common sense...

But realise... It's not. Just because you've been dealing with it for a long time and it's second nature to you doesn't mean a little kid would know you can't put a pentium 4 processor in a socket 939 motherboard...

There are specifications that any day people wouldn't understand.



For everyone else reading this thread STOP TALKING LIKE I'M A FUCKING IDIOT!!!! I didn't start this thread for people to bash me... Even though I know more than you could believe you're acting like I'm some fuckin idiot that doesn't know what I'm doing

 

[ssl]

I'm not sure there is such thing as cheap ram... It's not like your ram will ever crap out on you... You don't need to talk to me as if I don't understand this field... I have these certifications and because I have no contacts and I'm only 18 not a single place will hire me... In most cases I don't charge by the hour unless there is a software problem that I'm not already sure how long it will take to finish the fix.

you cannot claim to understand this field if you succumb to continuing to support an outdated platform. even the three generations before the current generation of memory currently available to consumers topped 512 mib on a stick.

but do not take my word for it, as i am only a 22 year old programmer. i have no idea upon which i base my statements on.

 

[kelvin070]

At 18 its normal for kids like you to brag like wat you are doing now but at least you hav picked up some skills at such an young age and thats good for you. As you go along and mix around I bet you will learn alot more besides the technical skills. Job skills alone is not enough, you have to think about the human aspects too.

 

[Revenant]

you cannot claim to understand this field if you succumb to continuing to support an outdated platform. even the three generations before the current generation of memory currently available to consumers topped 512 mib on a stick.

but do not take my word for it, as i am only a 22 year old programmer. i have no idea upon which i base my statements on.

Dude... If I don't take the business that's offered the customer will easily find someone else to take care of their needs... This customer is an elderly lady... I'm not going to talk her into buying a new computer just so I don't have to add SD Ram...

And you're right you must have no fucking clue what you're talking about it amazes me that you could even assume that 512mb would be the max per module because it's not the current generation
Kingston 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory KVR667D22GR at TigerDirect.com
Notice DDR2, this is a 2GB stick...

You're clueless don't act like I don't know what I'm doing. I would think a programmer would know a thing or 2

 

[Revenant]

At 18 its normal for kids like you to brag like wat you are doing now but at least you hav picked up some skills at such an young age and thats good for you. As you go along and mix around I bet you will learn alot more besides the technical skills. Job skills alone is not enough, you have to think about the human aspects too.

I'm not bragging at all I'm happy about something that is going good for me so I'm sharing it with people that I had hoped would respect what I have to say but I guess I'll stop sharing seeing as how you think it's cool to talk shit to an 18 year old "kid" about what he's got going for him...

I'm not going to claim to be a master at what I'm doing but thanks to my dad for being so good at what he does I picked up a lot at a young age and learned much more by myself... Getting my certifications have boosted my knowledge a lot more...

The only way I could describe any of your behavior is jealousy but I don't understand why anyone would be jealous of something so simple... Because you think you know more you have to try and make me seem like an idiot when you know nothing about my knowledge... Go take the tests I've taken, tell me your scores and I'll be more than happy to rub your fuckin nose in my score reports...

No I guess I don't know much about "the human aspects" seeing as how I haven't dealt with customers that much but that's something picked up on the job and I haven't been able to get a job yet due to this "economic crisis" as some call it... But it's cool I'll quit updating everyone... Thanks for being such a dick

 

[kelvin070]

I'm not bragging at all I'm happy about something that is going good for me so I'm sharing it with people that I had hoped would respect what I have to say but I guess I'll stop sharing seeing as how you think it's cool to talk shit to an 18 year old "kid" about what he's got going for him...

I'm not going to claim to be a master at what I'm doing but thanks to my dad for being so good at what he does I picked up a lot at a young age and learned much more by myself... Getting my certifications have boosted my knowledge a lot more...

The only way I could describe any of your behavior is jealousy but I don't understand why anyone would be jealous of something so simple... Because you think you know more you have to try and make me seem like an idiot when you know nothing about my knowledge... Go take the tests I've taken, tell me your scores and I'll be more than happy to rub your fuckin nose in my score reports...

No I guess I don't know much about "the human aspects" seeing as how I haven't dealt with customers that much but that's something picked up on the job and I haven't been able to get a job yet due to this "economic crisis" as some call it... But it's cool I'll quit updating everyone... Thanks for being such a dick

There is much left to be desired from you really. You are still young and you will learn in due course.

 

[Revenant]

There is much left to be desired from you really. You are still young and you will learn in due course.

Of course I will learn like I said I'm not claiming to be a master at what I'm doing but throughout this entire thread it seems people are trying to say I don't know what I'm doing... Everyone is trying to school me on what I should be doing or saying I'm doing something wrong...

My business is my business I'm trying to share the experience not ask advice on anything but how much I should charge I know what I'm doing I promise... If I don't I will soon learn this by finding that I'm not getting any customers... Seeing as how I just fixed this clients computer and she called me right away looking to speed up her computer and the only thing I can think of seeing as how I'm not going to search for such an outdated processor I would add ram, she only has 128mb so I'm adding 512... Sounds like a plan...

My father teaches A+, CCNA, and many more certifications across the country and he even says this would be the best thing to do...

If he's wrong then please go to town trying to school him on his knowledge...