Benefits of buying brand name POS components

Benefits of buying brand name POS components

Customers investigating new point of sale systems have many decisions to think over. One of the most important decisions they will face is the choice of hardware to use. At first impulse, many customers will choose to base their buying decisions on price alone. Although a consumer should have a budget in mind when purchasing a new system, the evaluation should be based on the total life-cycle costs of the component from purchase to end of life.

Why is quality important

Customers should consider the brand name hardware being offered to them, rather then the entry level selections as a quality component will pay for itself during its life cycle. “You get what you pay for” has never been a truer saying when you are considering your hardware purchase. Tier one components are engineered for the demands of retail wear and tear and last on average 5-7 years under normal use, many last much longer.

Tier one computer manufactures provide retail hardened features:

- powered serial ports which reduce the amount of power supplies needed
- rubber encased hard drives to absorb shock
- breakers on serial ports to prevent damage from power surges
- external power supplies and water cooled CPU chips to help reduce generated heat, which can reduce the
life expectancy of a computer.
- engineered fans to help ventilate heat from the systems.

Combined, these features make for a very robust computer that can withstand the day to day rigors of constant use, vibration and movement. “White box” off the shelf computers are not designed for this type of use and will generally show the wear and tear within a very short period of time.

An additional advantage of buying brand name hardware is the availability of parts in your components later years. Tier one suppliers will typically carry spare parts for a hardware device for 5 years after it stops making a model. A “flavor of the week” company may stop production next week, with no obligation to carry spares for any length of time.

Worthy of consideration as well is the manufactures warranty included with a piece of hardware. When you buy a complete computer from a company like IBM or NCR the warranty covers all parts that reside within the computer. White box computers may offer more challenges. The computer may have a warranty, although they are more than likely to require that each part be warranted individually from the manufacturer. This can make things complicated if a part breaks and needs repair.

Is all of this really that important?

When you consider for a cost of about 10-15% more per component you can increase the chances of your product lasting longer, your maintenance costs in years 2-5 will remain low and you can dramatically reduce the chances of your down time. It would appear that this is certainly worth consideration.