Announcement

**life0riley** · Dec 20, 2013, 09:56 AM

Thanks for the link! It's getting harder to find computer stores that offer more than the usual preconfigured packaged junk.

**Feathers McGraw** · Dec 20, 2013, 10:41 AM

Brilliant, thanks!

**Rod J** · Dec 20, 2013, 06:17 PM

Good news!

**woodsmoke** · Dec 20, 2013, 08:52 PM

well this is getting boring.

good link GG.

I will contact them about a motherboard which for some obtuse reason certain hardware suppliers cannot seem to be able to provide.

calmness here.....calmness.....calmness....

woodremainingcalmsmoke

**harel** · Oct 25, 2014, 03:45 PM

Hi..I'm wondering if you or if anyone at all, has ordered from CurrentBuild...do you have either, any personal knowledge about CurrentBuild, or else, know of any online reviews (other than on the website itself..I could not find any others by web search)) from former customers, or else know any people who have bought to can vouch for its quality being at least "ok?

Condensed background: I wrote to CurrentBuild with a few questions and got a friendly reply by email, and a voicemail message as well from him (from Kamil Rehman). Maybe two days later I followed up by email and asked a few more questions. I did ask a few more technical questions (because he seemed to volunteer so much advice likere commending Mint over Ubuntu when I did not ask him to recommend which) but I said to save him time they are not critical...that my main questions were about reviews of his page, I was not able to find any ratings, reviews, etc, on the web.

I also asked two other simple questions - it is a one man operation and how many years he has been in business. Now I expected a typical business/professional reply (perhaps informal but professional) and it would have been O.K. if he said "I have customer quotes on my website but I am not aware of reviews on other websites"

Instead he wrote: "Hi Harel,

"Brother, you are a cautious guy, sometimes you've got to take a risk, or not! On the other hand if I was as cautious as you, I would be a rich man today! Harel it is what it is on the website, you have to make your own decisions based on what's there I can't do too much more to convince you one way or the other."

He did not reply to my questions about one-man operation, and not about how many years in business, and did not say if there are any websites with customer reviews, just gave a link to his own website with what we will have to trust etc.

I have not (not yet) given up on that website, the technical background and the affordable prices are there so it is not to complain, just "general background" FYI.

My main question to you is just the above (first paragraph above) which would reassure me (or not reassure me :-) since I'd hate to have to rely on nothing except his own website's list of "happy customer emails" (which is on CurrentBuild on one page) there must be some review..somewhere? ... or else personal or indirect experience to get a sense of how trustyworthy CurrentBuild is (I mean for quality/dependability)...I am not worried about "complete scame" but about decent quality etc ...Thanks,
Harel
P.S. I asked this question of the author of the listing linuxpreloaded website, where I found out about CurrentBuild but he said he has no knowledge, cannot vouch for etc, this CurrentBuild (but he does list it in his "smaller" but not his "marginal" sellers section...so he has some informal gut feel that it's ok, I guess..) There must be a customer who bought from them somewhere on the entire web...who can share their experiences of buying a 300 machine from CurrentBuild...

**GreyGeek** · Oct 25, 2014, 06:20 PM

I made the first post last December on CurrentBuild but never checked it out.
First, do a whois on "currentbuild.com" and see its registration info.

Domain Name: currentbuild.com
Registry Domain ID: 1004706027_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.melbourneit.com
Registrar URL: http://www.melbourneit.com.au
Updated Date: 2014-05-31T20:00:29Z
Creation Date: 2007-06-01T00:49:47Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-06-01T00:49:47Z
Registrar: Melbourne IT Ltd
Registrar IANA ID: 13
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@melbourneit.com.au
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +61.386242300
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: KAMIL REHMAN
Registrant Organization: KAMIL REHMAN
Registrant Street: PO Box 61359
Registrant City: Sunnyvale
Registrant State/Province: CA
Registrant Postal Code: 94088
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.5105952002
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: contact@myprivateregistration.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Admin PrivateRegContact
Admin Organization: KAMIL REHMAN
Admin Street: PO Box 61359 registered post accepted only
Admin City: Sunnyvale
Admin State/Province: CA
Admin Postal Code: 94088
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.5105952002
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: contact@myprivateregistration.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: TECH PrivateRegContact
Tech Organization: Yahoo! Inc
Tech Street: PO Box 61359 registered post accepted only
Tech City: Sunnyvale
Tech State/Province: CA
Tech Postal Code: 94088
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.5105952002
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: contact@myprivateregistration.com
Name Server: YNS1.YAHOO.COM
Name Server: YNS2.YAHOO.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned

His business address is on his website. Do a GoogleMaps search for 1934 Idaho Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403 and look at the street view. It's a one man show he is running out of his apartment, even though Manta reports:

Our records show it was established in 2010 and incorporated in California. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of 130000 and employs a staff of approximately 2

His tweet nickname is @muslim55. An Indian, he is probably as smart as a pistol and very talented.
I've done business with a one-man whitebox builder before, out of Georgia, and it worked out OK.
Seller supplied testimonials are generally suspect, and I found no other reviews or comments about his service or products. His google listing begin after June of last year, and are not very numerous. I cannot find an independent review or testimony.
Buyer beware.

**harel** · Oct 25, 2014, 08:12 PM

Thanks for this input GreyGeek...

I had not thought about whois. But 9 days ago when I got his email with http://www.currentbuild.com/reviews-...c-desktops.php I did a google maps and yes it's a 1 person operation judging by the address given in this url, "1934 Idaho Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403"

That's ok (1 person operation) sometimes even excellent..but there needs to be some independent way to verify quality, responsiveness if problems arise, etc. I do not think it's a scam...reverse searching the image on the above url (and he didn't even have to include a face image) does not turn up any other match, so it's not a face picture stolen from an obvious place...neither that, nor the willingness to talk by phone, nor the street address (not P.O. box) nor that it's a ton of work to create a website with so much detail, NONE of those things guarantee it's not a scam, but I doubt it (I even used the Internet Wayback machine to see if the "reviews" page was just created when I asked..no there is a snapshot from August 2014 with one fewer positive reviews...if 10% of buyers are enthused enough to write a positive email then that's 10 sales every 2 months, or pretty close to what I'd guess..) I even have a credit card, so I could reverse charges etc..no, my bigger concern is not a scam but quality, and as I said, how responsive he would be if an issue came up...

(I had not thought of whois...interesting: including the Australian registrar...though it was registered in 2007 so maybe he was living in Australia before moving to California...)

I suspect he's not only very intelligent but also a nice guy..but not answering my question directly (he could have just said, "no, there are unfortunately no independent review pages, at this time, that I know of..") and avoiding a direct answer..plus the "Friend, ..." etc I quoted above...Makes me agree with your "buyer beware"....

It could be cultural differences, why he did not answer that directly and why he was so personal in his reply..."personal" can be nice...one can reasonably criticize much of the west for being too "professional/formal"...BUT when someone sends an email with concerns like I did...the right thing to do is to give the more direct answers possible without calling the customer "Brother" or "Friend" (his closing which I did not quote)...

Too bad because he is probably knowledgeable and honest and the machines are probably good..but I'm not ready to risk 300 plus shipping without any outside references...

It's *also* too bad because under 300 for a basic machine is hard to find..in fact I cannot find it elsewhere...

Meanwhile even a laptop at walmart is 300 for a basic model even after you add the windows Tax.... so you get a laptop for 300 and pay no shipping...I'm willing to pay 300 for a linux machine which doesn't have the windows tax, and willing to pay shipping and handling on top of that...but seemingly impossible to find elsewhere, other than at his website..

I had installed linux on my own machines before, previously with success, but the last time I did it, it was a disaster (long story don't ask..)...so from now I want linux preinstalled...

I think I may have one other option, which is to buy that (Windows) laptop at walmart (given the issues with my now dead laptop, got in 2013, my first laptop...I almost prefer desktop but WMT no longer offers desktops locally) and then with that windows laptop from WMT for 300, well, if there is a local, trustworthy linux expert small business to install linux for me and guarantee it (free fixes etc)....but I'd need to research that before buying of course :-)

While I'm thinking out loud, here's another sad fact: in 2006 or so I got a linux pre-installed machine from walmart's website...it had a "Xandros" linux I did but I was able to put ubuntu on it to replace it...but it was affordable, no windows tax, and it was a good machine..cheap and other than one issue (which is why I need to replace it) still working, mostly working, in 2014...

Now why walmart's online web site in 2014 which is eight years later will not include a linux preinstalled machine I don't know...you'd think we'd be moving foraward, not backwards... (LinxPreloaded site points at an Amazon for Asus computer but that link is out of date, it says they are out of stock and no known date to get it again...and I searched Amazon directly, seemingly also not a source for affordable linux-preinstalled machines)

Anyway, I really do appreciate the input and thoughts...if I find new info (or a great or even good solution to linux preloaded for 300 or so) I will post a followup :-)

**Qqmike** · Oct 26, 2014, 02:32 AM

(1) It's not difficult building a desktop PC yourself (say from Newegg parts), but the $300 price point would be hard to match.

(2) As an exercise, for comparison, for info, you might drill into this site; and I believe Dell would install Ubuntu. Check what is included (e.g., maybe the monitor is extra).

Inspiron Small Desktop 3000 Series
http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-36...23098073120560

**harel** · Oct 26, 2014, 03:29 PM

Qqmike,
If would be wonderful if Dell would preinstall linux....the website url you gave does not seem to mention that option (from my skimming, and search-within-page attempts so far...it's a big page) but they do have an 800 number in a pop up message and I can certainly call and ask them if they can do it for me...Just in case their answer isn't just "no" but "what the #$^# are you talking about, where have you heard of that??" ;-) when I ask them by phone...may I ask where you first heard that "Dell would install ubuntu"?

**Snowhog** · Oct 26, 2014, 03:50 PM

Pricey for a 13", but it comes with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS as the OS. The specs are impressive.

XPS 13 Laptop™, Developer Edition with 4th Gen Intel Processors

**Qqmike** · Oct 26, 2014, 03:53 PM

I would use that 1-800 #.
You can tell them you heard it from Qq @ Kubu, and Qq heard it from an expert at another hardware forum.
And, cite their talk/support for Linux, like:
http://linux.dell.com/
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/linux-solutions
http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/omsa.html

I had heard they would install Ubuntu, actually, upon which you could install the KDE desktop (post that issue separately, here). Or, perhaps, you could simply talk them into doing it for you.

**Rod J** · Oct 27, 2014, 02:19 AM

Yes, Dell will install Ubuntu, click on the Ubuntu tab:
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/h...ystem-consumer

On that page: "Dell offers the Ubuntu OS on select products as an alternative to commercial operating systems."

**GreyGeek** · Oct 27, 2014, 08:24 AM

Amazon offers a lot of laptops with Linux pre-installed.

Unfortunately, the only laptops Dell seems to offer today with Ubuntu preinstalled are two versions of the XPS 13, in their "Business" section. Those two machines are moderately powerful but very pricey. They feature an Intel HD 4400 graphics GPU, which should give great results, as does my HD4000 chip. They are also as expensive, or more so, than similar hardware running Win7 or Win8.

In the past Dell was very careful NOT to put Linux on hardware identical to what WinXP was running on, to make price comparisons more difficult. Their Linux boxes had a reduced set of peripherals available to them. The message was clear. For the best deal, $$$ wise, pay the MS tax and then install Linux next to or on top of WinXP. If you bought the Dell box most similar to the Windows box you wanted you ended up paying more for the hardware and that destroyed the price advantage of the free OS, which Dell did not install, by the way. You had to. And, they offered NO support, telling you to rely on open source forums. That was OK, however, because online free open source support forums, like Kubuntuforums.net (which wasn't around at the time), were better and more timely sources of technical info that Dell's support center. In my experience with RedHat support for our licensed RH servers, open source forums were better than RH tech support as well, and MUCH quicker in response.

**harel** · Oct 27, 2014, 07:19 PM

Appreciate all the leads....but I have to say that $250 Dell machine looks less appetizing after reading some of the (many!) 1-star reviews...

As for Amazon...what it lists there, started as a big list, but then looking for somethingaround 300 or even up to 350, far less...plus, it included chrome OS (not linux, as well as, forget having sizable GB on disk...but that's besides the piont, which is linux is not preinstalled, chrome is)...that leaves Used (I'm looking for new) and...not much else...

It does include (Amazon still) this:
Acer Laptop NX.V7PAA.018;TMB113-E-2812 11.6-Inch Laptop

which is for 324.99....linux preinstalled...ok so far so good...."1 in stock"...not so good but ok...how about reviews?

Reviews? For that one? The answer is: "Be the first to review this item"

Meanwhile a local small business will isntall an os for "50 and up" says their website..I will call them this week, maybe tomorrow, if it's just 50, and if includes "if OS crashes, we will fix" for 24 months or more, I'll take that and the 300 Walmart laptop...total price 350 (a bit more for tax) and 500GB, 2 to 4 GB RAM etc...

But I'll give another look to some of these other options before making final decision..including the Dell...though I praise them for installing linux, their page you cite Rod says "Dell offers the Ubuntu OS on select products as an alternative to commercial operating systems.".....so installs on "select" not all it seems...but if Dell looks more attractice than other options (including walmart basic model plus local shop installs linux) then I may just call them and see if I can "talk" them into including the model I want among their, ahem, "select" models that they agree to do it for ;-)

"In the past Dell was very careful NOT to put Linux on hardware identical to what WinXP was running on, to make price comparisons more difficult. Their Linux boxes had a reduced set of peripherals available to them. The message was clear. For the best deal, $$$ wise, pay the MS tax and then install Linux next to or on top of WinXP. If you bought the Dell box most similar to the Windows box you wanted you ended up paying more for the hardware and that destroyed the price advantage of the free OS, which Dell did not install, by the way"

Sounds like a textbook case of "anti-competitive behavior" ..not free market competition...any atty general listening? ;-)
It's good to see others notice these things though...over time if people stay informed and press for change, then, maybe things will get better...

Anyway thanks to all :-)

Announcement

Another Linux PC seller!

Another Linux PC seller!

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment