Why Doesn't Asus do BTO??

Why doesn't Asus allow some kind of BTO option? (I know they're not the only ones. LG and Samsung are in the same boat) That way when Asus US decides to bring the F3Jm over and stick the config at a T2400 Core Duo and WXGA screen res (and no BT), those that want to, could order one with a T2600, and WSXGA+, which the machines clearly supports.

Check out the specs page; http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1221&l1=5&l2=26&l3=0.

This way Asus could build the laptops, certify the components, extend the global warranty and make all of their customers happy.. This one size fits all thinking is really frustrating. The problem is I really think highly of the design and quality of Asus laptops. I just can't get one the way I want it.

I don't buy Dell or Sony, IBM/Lenovo seems to feature mostly ATI GPUs, (I need nVidia for Linux support), so I'm stuck doing BTO at Toshiba. My last two laptops were Toshibas (BTO), and I just sent a new P100 BTO back (with a 15% restocking fee mind you), because the BIOS and some other components have Linux compatibility issues. So I placed an order for a BTO Tecra A7, only to cancel it in frustration with their sales department.

But all the while I'm constantly checking in here and with Asus dealers who sell in the US, and hoping that someone will allow those of us who want to, to buy an Asus laptop with more than just the stock options. The best thing to happen to my Asus desires in a long while is Portable One. At least they have the A8Jm with THEIR warranty, (which would be fine), and upgradable CPU, etc. My problem is that I want a 15.4 screen and WSXGA+ or better. I guess I will wait and see if they, or others, will be able to customize the F3Jm.. Don't dealers think this would be a good thing to have? A factory BTO option? I know that the one problem would be fulfillment through the dealers, but I think HP allowed BTO laptops, through Costco, for example, so I know it can be done.

Sorry for the rant.. I just thought someone might be able to explain why Asus doesn't do this. Maybe it's not a big enough market. Please also note I'm not saying a "built on Asus" option which I find to be useful for those USERS who want to build their own laptops. What I want, is a straight from the factory, custom configured Asus laptop.

 

in a way they do. there are alot of resellers that take their barebone models and customize it for you.

 

Well, I'm thinking that ASUS just doesn't have the capacity right now. Between handling thousands of notebooks, motherboards and whatever else they make a day, and being ODM for other brands, it would be quite an undertaking to also allow customization from factory (prob tons more overhead compared to just making a whole line of similar notebooks), and try to support them.

It would require quite an expansion of their service & support division worldwide compared to right now, where resellers will handle most of the trouble, and the few Ensembles that get sent to them, they know are default stock and if anything goes wrong, they can just replace it with something already available.

I think it's not in their business model right now to do something like that, since the Ensemble and BOA system seems to work for their notebook division.

Just my few cents worth of thoughts...

 

Agree with Darrick, and that is why they have this:

Asus does have BTO notebooks. It's called the "built on Asus" line. Fully configurable Asus notebooks. You can buy a barebones and do it yourself, or have it BTO from a reseller.

 

Thanks for chewing this around. I like to point out two things.

1) As I stated in the original post, in my mind, Built on Asus is not the same as Asus Ensemble. (In some cases they're not even close.) For example where is the Built on Asus version of either the A8Jm or F3Jm? There is a marked difference between those two offerings. It's not accurate to say that these are completely configurable laptop offerings. Many times there aren't GPU or screen options. Plus for the same reasons as Asus doesn't want to warranty it, I would prefer that a reseller/dealer not add components to a laptop at delivery. Asus doesn't (rightly so) want to guarantee work not done by them.

As I stated. What I want is a straight from the Asus factory, BTO option.

2) As far as this being difficult to do, based on business, size or other reasons. I'm sure you realize that this really is an outmoded way of doing computer business. Dell, HP, Apple, Sony, IBM/Lenovo, Toshiba, and even Alienware, Hypersonic, Sager, etc. all do BTO. Only a few mainstream computer companies DON'T offer BTO options. Asus, Acer, LG and Samsung that I can recall. I do see that this BTO model of business caters to the end user, and doesn't fit well with an ODM business model. Maybe that's where the conflict is. They really have two different businesses, and doing something for one, wouldn't necessarily help the other.

 

The reason Dell, HP, Apple etc can do that, is because they're not ODM manufacturers (exception maybe IBM, but even then they had Lenovo doing the manufcaturing behind the scenes before Lenovo took that division over)... they just get theirs from ASUS, Quanta, Compal, Arima etc and therefore don't have to worry about the manufacturing process. They just get the stock built machines and they configure it as their own and call it BTO. It's in their business model to do this, while for ASUS, Quanta and the rest who produce the notebooks, it's a big undertaking to attempt to penetrate the same market as the Dells, HPs and Toshibas of the world....

 

I understand the point you are making in this response and your prior one, I just don't agree with it. I don't think that because Asus is a laptop manufacturer, that they don't have the bandwidth (or capability) to do BTO for their customers. They don't do it because it would CONFLICT with their ODM customers. At the following webpage; http://www.gen-x-pc.com/laptopmanu.htm, the laptop manufacturing process noted there, clearly shows that a BTO order goes DIRECTLY to the ODM, and then they build it. Which would make complete sense to me, in this day and age of internet communications. Asus should probably already be able to do BTO for an end user, if they offer this service for their ODM customers. (BTW if you look at the graphic on that page you can see that while Dell and Apple use ODMs for 100% of their laptops, Toshiba and Sony use ODMs much less..)

But my real point is this. Asus is not like the other ODMs. They have a full fledged ODM, AND a growing end user business. This puts the two parts of their business into conflict, and results in things, in my opinion, like the weird disparity between the Built On, and Ensemble Asus lines. I wouldn't even be surprised if this wasn't born out of a legal agreement with their ODMs. As a side note, a local shopping center developer told me of all of the strings in the contract in getting a Starbucks into the local mall. It included stuff like no other stores in the mall that sell smoothies, etc. So you know this kind of stuff goes on all the time.

I think that in the end Asus will have to decide how much they want to get into the end user part of the business, as to whether or not they will compete on an even footing with the other laptop vendors and provide BTO options. This lack of flexibility will only come up more often as Asus tries to get into the end user part of this business and if they don't provide it, will limit their ability to compete here. Obviously this is all IMO...

As a matter of fact we can throw it open to the members of this forum. The question before you is;

Have you ever wanted to BTO an Asus Ensemble laptop?

 

You have a point, but the issue is that ASUS then would have to service all these BTO notebooks directly as opposed to now where they only need to service a small percentage of what they do (even if orders thru Dell, Sony or whatever go directly to manufacturers, the support and service etc will still be handled by those respective companies).... and since they're a global operation, that would mean expanding their service & support overseas by quite abit, which I'm not sure is part of their plan...

or ... they might just have a non-compete agreement with their customers as you say

I think some resellers might be able to clarify this...

 

This business for asus is only a side business. if it accounts for more then 1% of their yearly net i would be surprised. From 3 years ago their bto (built to order byu resellers) line exapnded 10 fold if not more. Their ensemble line was not even here. Its a fine line of pleasing your dealers vs pleasing the public. If they took over the business of bto i know i would be mad.

 

I think that's a good point too. In terms of how big a business there is (seems like Eddie from Geared2Play's post suggests, not very), versus building a service and support org, it might not be worth it.

And again to our dealer friends, I know that most of the BTO options with other manufacturers are direct ones, cutting the dealers out. I would not be in favor of doing that here with Asus. But maybe a BTO option that went through the dealers exclusively?? (I don't even know if that's possible..) (Heck I'm not even sure if this is a problem with an affected audience of just 1.. me.. If that's the case, then as Gilda used to say on SNL.. "never mind..")

BTW Eddie from Geared2Play, you would agree that there is a disparity in the Built On and Ensemble lines, wouldn't you? If product offerings were on parity, (a Built On F3Jm for example), then I wouldn't have even started this thread...