Plug n' Play realities - Think twice before you buy components

Not all plug n' play devices are created equally. When choosing cards and components for your PC, make sure the drivers are easily installed or better yet, native to your Windows OS. Case in point: I had to install a network card for one of my customers at their site. They had this off-brand card, brand new in box. I followed the instructions telling me to install the driver first, then turn off the PC, install the card and boot back up. Of course that didn't work. I tried reinstalling the driver while the board was in; that almost worked but the card would not enable. It just stayed disabled. I am now thinking, this is bull honky - it was supposed to be a 5 minute stop-in. Then I remembered that I had an older 3com 10/100 card in my trunk. I ran out, grabbed it, and installed it. NO DRIVER NEEDED! IT JUST WORKED! I find this to be the case with name brand stuff such as 3com, Soundblaster, Creative, NVidia, etc. When buying a plug n’ play, stick with the name brands. Think about this also - when you have to reinstall the operating system, would it be better for everything to just work right off the get-go or do you want to have to scramble around trying to find all the right drivers? Isn't your time valuable? If you cheap-out now, you'll definitely pay later.