OEM Question

I am so new to this I am not sure what OEM means, I have read quite a few articles that mention OEM products, but they never seem to mention what OEM means, can anyone let me know.

Thanks

 

Hi

The actual initials mean - Original Equipment Manufacturer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_equipment_manufacturer

From my experience it means the bear minimum - for example:

If you buy an OEM hard drive you should expect the hard drive on its own.
No manuals, no cables, no fancy packing. Sometimes no packing at all.

In contrast, you have the retail version which is normaly packed in a branded package which leaves nothing to chance, supplying you with everything to make sure your item can be used under a variaty of circumstances.

When I bought my DVD-RW drive, it was OEM. It came wrapped in a plastic bag!!!!

Hope this answer your question.

 

It does, thank you very much.

 

One thing to add:

The retail versions typically carry a 1-3 year warranty, whereas the OEM ones are warrantied through the retailer only. The OEM's tend to feature a 30-90 day warranty, depending on the product and retailer. Sometimes, there's a drastic dollard difference, but more often that not, there's a very small price difference to none at all.

 

Thanks BB for that very important addition....