I used to work for Future Shop (sister brand of Best Buy in Canada) and both ATI and Nvidia had insane 'staff purchase' plans where they basically gave away video card hardware to sales staff. Intel had similar programs, but I don't know how good the pricing was.
A lot of companies give huge discounts like this so that when a customer asks the sales rep what they use at home, they'll say 'well I happen to have brand x'. What they don't often say is 'because it was so dirt cheap, but I'd never pay what we're asking YOU to pay'.
Nvidia in full damage control mode
Feb 10th 2006 4:15PM (Joystiq)A lot of companies give huge discounts like this so that when a customer asks the sales rep what they use at home, they'll say 'well I happen to have brand x'. What they don't often say is 'because it was so dirt cheap, but I'd never pay what we're asking YOU to pay'.