My new computer was delivered broken.

[BrokenBoy]

My dad bought an 500 USD desktop PC on the 1st and I was asleep when it was delivered. My dad said he heard the sound of the box being dropped heavily down infront of the door by the deliveryman. The computer was broken. Me and dad are upset. We're gonna try to figure out what to do.

Goddamnit, I really just wanted to play some game on this new PC last night, now I have to wait even longer. I wanna scream. I keep having to wait more and more nowadays.

 

[oregano]

File a claim and complaint with the shipping company, describing what happened and that it was likely the delivery person's fault that it was broken. You will also have to contact the seller and explain what happened and try to get a replacement. It's difficult for auties to stand up for and advocate for ourselves, since we've usually been told our whole lives that we are worthless and that we deserve all the bad stuff that happens to us, but you and dad need to pursue this, since the delivery person is the reason the PC was busted.

 

[Kevin1968]

Not sure of what rules apply where you are from, but often your dispute is entirely with the seller, who then can pursue the issue with the shipping company.

 

[Judge]

Whomever the seller is, I hope you can be refunded 100%. I've never had a problem returning small and big ticket items with sellers like Amazon or Newegg. One time I never even received an item while the USPS insisted that it had been delivered. The retailer (Amazon) credited me the amount.

These days $500 won't get you much of a new computer if you're really focused on gaming. Where a low-end video card alone will likely cost you $400 or much more just to meet nominal requirements of so many more sophisticated games these days. Make sure the performance requirements of whatever game you want to play is in the ballpark of the desktop computer you have. Otherwise you'll just be disappointed all over again.

Incidentally, purchasing a computer with a Solid State Drive (SSD) makes more sense as well when it comes to shipping, apart from dramatically improved speed. Unlike conventional hard drives, they have no moving parts- no heads to park. Where an unexpected impact to the box could otherwise ruin a brand new computer.

Really attractive computer prices these days may actually involve those systems with anemic video capabilities (GPU integrated into the CPU) as well as slower and fragile conventional hard drives.

Sadly because of the pandemic, this isn't the best time to buy a computer. Mostly given the cost of certain components $kyrocketing, such as high-end video cards that hardcore gamers live and die by. I still recall the sting of paying around $250 for what was considered a high-end video card some 20 years ago.

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Sorry about all that, try and focus fwd. Likely you will get a new one, folks are pretty good about shipping damage these days

 

[Misery]

Well here's hoping someone gets a good firing, then. Any delivery guy who does that with someone's packages should A: be fired, and B: be forced to work at McDonalds for the next 6 months as a janitor in a clown suit.

Whomever the seller is, I hope you can be refunded 100%. I've never had a problem returning small and big ticket items with sellers like Amazon or Newegg. One time I never even received an item while the USPS insisted that it had been delivered. The retailer (Amazon) credited me the amount.

These days $500 won't get you much of a new computer if you're really focused on gaming. Where a low-end video card alone will likely cost you $400 or much more just to meet nominal requirements of so many more sophisticated games these days. Make sure the performance requirements of whatever game you want to play is in the ballpark of the desktop computer you have. Otherwise you'll just be disappointed all over again.

Incidentally, purchasing a computer with a Solid State Drive (SSD) makes more sense as well when it comes to shipping, apart from dramatically improved speed. Unlike conventional hard drives, they have no moving parts- no heads to park. Where an unexpected impact to the box could otherwise ruin a brand new computer.

Really attractive computer prices these days may actually involve those systems with anemic video capabilities (GPU integrated into the CPU) as well as slower and fragile conventional hard drives.

Sadly because of the pandemic, this isn't the best time to buy a computer. Mostly given the cost of certain components $kyrocketing, such as high-end video cards that hardcore gamers live and die by. I still recall the sting of paying around $250 for what was considered a high-end video card some 20 years ago.

Hm, to some degree this can be true, but yet it also isnt necessarily the case.

Go back to the early 2000s, and PC gaming was a wildly different beast, typically requiring a high end machine and various complicated aspects that were a hard sell for many users.

But these days? Thing is, both major publishers and indie devs have realized one universal fact: You cannot sell a game to someone who cannot run it. The wider the range of machines your game works on, the better it will sell... that's the rule. Most games will run on most modern machines. Of course, you may not be running them with the graphics settings maxed out, but still... they'll run. I have friends who typically always have the weakest little things (or bad laptops, which are pretty much the same thing) and MOSTLY they can run everything. Wont be super great, but they can run it. Games these days are VERY widely adjustable, they really are. After all, those big publishers want that sweet cash...

Though it is best to avoid an integrated graphics card, if that can even be called a "card".

But yeah, PC gaming is easier to do than ever. Downside: Comes with Windows. Other downside: Still comes with Windows even if you yell at it a bunch. I already tried that, it doesnt stop it.


Also yes these shipping companies can suck sometimes, cant they? The worst to me is Fedex. It usually is like this:

 

[Judge]

Of course, you may not be running them with the graphics settings maxed out, but still... they'll run. I have friends who typically always have the weakest little things (or bad laptops, which are pretty much the same thing) and MOSTLY they can run everything. Wont be super great, but they can run it.

Exactly. Which for many people spoils the experience altogether. No differently than purchasing an expensive product that does not live up to how it's advertised. Leaving many either frustrated with a game, or their computer. Or both.

If you're serious about playing better games on a computer, don't waste money buying one that functions below the high bar the gaming and hardware industries create. An industry I once worked in, for a corporate name everyone here knows.

 

[oregano]

@Judge, the big problem is a SEVERE shortage of computer chips, which nowadays are simply called "semiconductors" which annoys me to no end because I always think of a "semiconductor" as an old school individual discrete transistor like the kind used in those little AM radios of the 50s and 60s. Anyway, there are so few chips that some production lines, especially for autos, have been shut down completely for the last two months or so because there is no way to get the computers the cars rely on. GM hasn't manufactured a Camaro since early March. Anything that requires a computer chip is on the verge of not being made at all because there are so few chips.

A regular midrange desktop is around $800-900 at Costco last I looked. A gaming rig is probably around $2000-if you can find one.

 

[Judge]

@Judge, the big problem is a SEVERE shortage of computer chips, which nowadays are simply called "semiconductors" which annoys me to no end because I always think of a "semiconductor" as an old school individual discrete transistor like the kind used in those little AM radios of the 50s and 60s. Anyway, there are so few chips that some production lines, especially for autos, have been shut down completely for the last two months or so because there is no way to get the computers the cars rely on. GM hasn't manufactured a Camaro since early March. Anything that requires a computer chip is on the verge of not being made at all because there are so few chips.

A regular midrange desktop is around $800-900 at Costco last I looked. A gaming rig is probably around $2000-if you can find one.

Yes, the chip shortage at the moment is well known. But even when the pandemic ceases, can it be expected to see all the major players producing Radeon and Nvidia video cards as well as the fastest memory chips to dramatically drop their prices?

I wouldn't count on it. But then the same goes for so many grocery items. Lots of potential headwinds for those anticipating falling prices once the pandemic is truly over.

So far just to build from scratch a decent gaming desktop leaves me around the $1422...using some of the best components available for an i7 based system. But I still won't shell out the maximum cash for the fastest video card or RAM. (I still build all my own computers.) But I rarely play games any more. It's always been a pipe dream of mine to build a really high-end machine...though at this point I really have no need for one either.

 

[Misery]

Exactly. Which for many people spoils the experience altogether. No differently than purchasing an expensive product that does not live up to how it's advertised. Leaving many either frustrated with a game, or their computer. Or both.

If you're serious about playing better games on a computer, don't waste money buying one that functions below the high bar the gaming and hardware industries create. An industry I once worked in, for a corporate name everyone here knows.

Problem is though, if you're REALLY fixated on the high-end stuff.... which I'll reiterate is not actually necessary... you're going to be paying out the nose for it. Shortage or no shortage, it's gonna hurt. Right now most people cant pony that up. And even for those who can... that doesnt necessarily mean it's a good idea.

The only people who should really be dishing out that kind of money are those who intend on using the machine for gaming a lot. And I mean *a LOT*. If you're the sort that maybe plays/buys like one game in a month, that sorta thing, or just doesnt have much free time for it... a big PC like that is a giant waste. Ya aint gonna get your money's worth out of it. Particularly when you consider the differences between each game. Just because a PC can technically do a thing, doesnt mean the game in question will do it at all. Like, right now, everyone is constantly rambling on and on about all this raytracing stuff. Which sounds all super duper, but 99.99999% of games wont use that. Heck, my machine can do it, but I've never seen it done, because even with all the games I have and frequently buy, none of them have such a function (although it is my current opinion that every horror game should have raytracing, if only to get rid of the "stupid little circle" flashlight mechanic that horror devs are so inexplicably fond of).

And that goes for a lot of other aspects too.

AND, you have to consider your monitor. All that crazy 4K resolution your PC has bragged about aint worth squat if the monitor cant live up to it.

The advice I always give people when starting out on PC gaming (or even just upgrading from some old thing they already had) is simple: Functionality first. Get a lower machine, but one with room to easily upgrade later. Get a KEYBOARD THAT DOESNT FREAKING SUCK seriously I cant overstate this. Everyone's all like "OMG grafix grafix grafix" but then they later realize there can be other, bigger issues. And, even more than the keyboard, get a mouse that wont ruin your arm. I made THAT mistake years ago. I regret it daily. DAILY. Heck, I'm regretting it right now as I type this. Dont cheap out on the control gizmos. Consider them more important than anything else, because they're the parts that can determine how much freaking pain you end up in later. It's nice to have a decent PC, but I tell ya, it's even better to be ABLE to actually freaking use the PC, decent or otherwise.

And then, see just how often you are using the thing for gaming, and what sorts of specific games you find that you like. You can determine from there where to go with upgrades.

I'm using a hyper-high-end machine myself... loopy thing cost around $4000. But then, this thing is specifically meant for VR, and certain unusually intensive programs such as MS Flight Sim or the various fractal art programs I use. The price matches the machine's core purpose, but also matches the fact that I knew I'd be using it for those things *very* frequently. If I were one of those VR "users" that only dusted the thing off like once in a month for 5 minutes, it would have been a hideous waste (I dont know why people buy these headsets if they're never going to use them).

As I've learned over way too many years of A: my own PC gaming use, and B: the PC gaming use of everyone around me who always need help with their machines, it's better to UNDERestimate what you need and be capable of upgrading later, than to OVERestimate and... be able to do absolutely bloody nothing about it aside from weeping in a corner while watching the thing collecting expensive dust.

It's like that old adage that I'll probably quote incorrectly: Just because you CAN, doesnt mean you SHOULD. Every potential PC buyer needs to keep that in mind at all times.

 

[Judge]

It's like that old adage that I'll probably quote incorrectly: Just because you CAN, doesnt mean you SHOULD. Every potential PC buyer needs to keep that in mind at all times.

Agreed, but then how many people who actually own a computer truly understand such dynamics?

They don't. And if they learn much of anything, they inevitably do it the hard way. People like you- or myself are the exceptions.

Most are just users of applications without any understanding of the relationship between hardware and software. In a world where the market creates excessive demand for that which isn't necessary. Or what I prefer to call, the "2.0 era". All exacerbated in a consumer society where deficit spending is encouraged and accepted. Where common sense and product longevity have been tossed into a trashcan to enhance profits. -Predatory retailing.

 

[Misery]

Agreed, but then how many people who actually own a computer truly understand such dynamics?

They don't. And if they learn much of anything, they inevitably do it the hard way. People like you- or myself are the exceptions.

Most are just users of applications without any understanding of the relationship between hardware and software. In a world where the market creates excessive demand for that which isn't necessary. Or what I prefer to call, the "2.0 era". All exacerbated in a consumer society where deficit spending is encouraged and accepted. Where common sense and product longevity have been tossed into a trashcan to enhance profits. -Predatory retailing.

Aye, well put.

Particularly that last bit.

I dunno about everyone else here, but I tend to be in the habit of using things until they fall apart. Often literally. Not because it's practical or cost-effective, but just out of sheer stubborn spite for the companies that do so much to trick people.

And now I must resist the urge to go on a rant about electronic gizmos that either dont work right or are just designed by drunken monkeys / greedy corporate snotballs in the first place. It is a very long rant but I dont wanna fill up this topic with that. Maybe I'll just go shout at a tree or something.

 

[Judge]

I dunno about everyone else here, but I tend to be in the habit of using things until they fall apart.

You're in good company there. But yeah, that's also indicative of a bygone era.

Reminded of it each time I boot up Photoshop 5.5 into Windows 10. A tiny victory, but still a victory.

Or when I turn on Sony STR-AV900 to listen to my Boston Acoustics T830 speakers.

 

[BrokenBoy]

Though it is best to avoid an integrated graphics card, if that can even be called a "card".

But yeah, PC gaming is easier to do than ever. Downside: Comes with Windows. Other downside: Still comes with Windows even if you yell at it a bunch. I already tried that, it doesnt stop it.


Also yes these shipping companies can suck sometimes, cant they? The worst to me is Fedex. It usually is like this:

The PC is supposed to have an intergrated graphics card. Though, stop performance isn't what me and dad had in mind while trying to get a PC. We wanted a simple base that we could upgrade and build off of later.

And yes FedEx were the company making the delivery.

 

[Misery]

And yes FedEx were the company making the delivery.

As if it'd be any other, screwing up that bad.

I used to have to use them a lot. You know, they never once completed a delivery? They would somehow ALWAYS manage to get there at the wrong time and just leave a dumb slip, OR, they'd get there at the RIGHT time but fail to know what a doorbell is, and leave a slip. They would do this even if specifically instructed to just put the blasted package on the step when they got there.

So every time.... every freaking time!.... I would have to drive out to their stupid little facility and pick it up myself. Every. Time. I'm not good at remembering things, but the location of that facility is permanently burned into my memory.

Just ridiculous. A delivery service that cant do the actual "get the box to the destination" part! This is why I'm sooooooo glad that digital stores for gaming are a thing these days: Because what I was usually buying and having delivered were import games (PS2 and 360, at the time). These days though, no need for discs of any sort. No need for Fedex!

 

[BrokenBoy]

As if it'd be any other, screwing up that bad.

I used to have to use them a lot. You know, they never once completed a delivery? They would somehow ALWAYS manage to get there at the wrong time and just leave a dumb slip, OR, they'd get there at the RIGHT time but fail to know what a doorbell is, and leave a slip. They would do this even if specifically instructed to just put the blasted package on the step when they got there.

So every time.... every freaking time!.... I would have to drive out to their stupid little facility and pick it up myself. Every. Time. I'm not good at remembering things, but the location of that facility is permanently burned into my memory.

Just ridiculous. A delivery service that cant do the actual "get the box to the destination" part! This is why I'm sooooooo glad that digital stores for gaming are a thing these days: Because what I was usually buying and having delivered were import games (PS2 and 360, at the time). These days though, no need for discs of any sort. No need for Fedex!

Amazon and E-bay works better in my experience. Especially Amazon. They're fast.