You likely don't go right to the manufacturer. You'll likely have to go through a reseller (think Ingram Micro).

With margins at like 1-2%, there is little money in hardware retail sales. The money will be in the service side of it. And college kids are the worst. Cheap, bouncing checks, and most of them know someone that can do it for them.

You want to know where the money is for a computer repair biz that does in home service? Suburbia. Place I live (suburb of Dallas) there are constantly people talking about their computer problems (there is a big forum for the area) and most of them end up at either the big box retailer or one of the two small places here.