Its All In The Packaging

OEM and Retail products can be quite different

When you are debating between the price of an OEM* product versus a retail product, you may be getting what you pay for. An OEM or “white box” product is one that, as the name implies, is used by an OEM such as Dell, Apple, Compaq, or any other such manufacturers, in their systems. A retail product is one that you’ll find on the shelves of retail stores, such as Future Shop, Compusmart, and other such stores. Historically, OEM products have always required a bit more care since often times OEM versions of retail products carry slight differences. These differences can range from simple things such as not having any software bundles or not having any installation manuals, to much more serious issues such as different memory configurations or external outputs or lower operating frequencies. For example ATI's Radeon line of video cards operate at different frequencies. The OEM version runs only at 166MHz, while the retail version runs at 183MHz. So the difference in packaging, between OEM and retail products, may in fact be an indication that what's inside can also be quite different.

*Note - OEM - original equipment manufacturer