<div dir="ltr">All,<div><br></div><div>There is a wide spectrum of qualities and specs when it comes to IT equipment</div><div>Overall you generally get what you pay for -- that said the OEM's replacements while more expensive are generally not much different than the aftermarket well-known brands and the store brands at places like Best Buy or MicroCenter</div><div><br></div><div>The main thing to avoid is over spec-ing just because the PR suggest that it will be better -- for example if everything that you are using is running at say 100 Mb/s -- </div><div>buying 10 Gb/s spec-ed cables will do nothing to improve your system performance and will be much more expensive</div><div><br></div><div>Ted</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Jul 12, 2023 at 12:43 PM OLGA P GUTTAG <<a href="mailto:opg1000@rcn.com">opg1000@rcn.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div>When getting third party govt. components - especially charges, cords and batteries - make sure that they are certifies either for US or European markets by the appropriate agencies, and check for reported problems with a product tracked by our govt. This is needed as some cheap Chinese made batteries were being sold that caused fires for electric scooters and some phones. Look at the certification stamps carefully, some are fake and easy to spot when magnified. If you spot such items on Amazon report it to them - they’ll stop selling them.<div><br></div><div>You can still find very low priced third-party component replacements but you will need to do more research to ensure that what you are getting is safe.</div><div><br></div><div>Stay well,</div><div>Olga<br><div><br></div><div><br><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Jul 12, 2023, at 11:45 AM, Robert Primak <<a href="mailto:bobprimak@yahoo.com" target="_blank">bobprimak@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div style="font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div></div><div dir="ltr">The official Surface branded replacement parts can be quite expensive. If the third-party parts work, you're right, the price difference can be considerable. Something like this has been reported for some Apple cords and cables. Where available, third-party replacements are often just as good and much cheaper. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">-- Bob Primak </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div><br></div></div><div id="m_7075251637831920695yahoo_quoted_9792567555" style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none"><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:rgb(38,40,42)"><div>On Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 10:41:24 AM EDT, <<a href="mailto:jjrudy1@comcast.net" target="_blank">jjrudy1@comcast.net</a>> wrote:</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div id="m_7075251637831920695yiv3372988599"><div><div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The power cord for my Microsoft Surface 6 died. I went to Best Buy which is convenient and where I have bought most of my stuff at, I have thought, generally good prices.</span></div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The wanted $127 !!!</span></div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">When I got home I went to Amazon and found a new cord for $18 (there were even some less expensive) and it works.</span></div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Comparison shopping is worthwhile</span></div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">John Rudy</span></div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">781-861-0402</span></div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">781-718-8334 cell</span></div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span 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