Home build or store bought?

[Deja Q]

Thanks to e-machines now offering reasonably packed hardware for near-home-build costs, I can see where Asus and Abit might be in a bit of trouble in the future. :-(

[Jersey Devil]

1. I really don't think home built is cheaper any more

I have built 2 of my own and frankly I can't see how you can beat the prices from Dell, etc. while building your own.

[Maestro]

3. But Dell is proprietary

Meaning that if you want to upgrade you must go through them.

[bvar22]

4. Dell proprietary?

I've added an aftermarket DVD drive, a high end graphics card, extra RAM, and a 2nd large capacity HardDrive to my 2yr old Dell Dimension 4300 without any problems.

On Edit: I no longer recommend Dell...not because I have a bitch with their product (I don't), but because they donate to bush* and Co.

[Jersey Devil]

5. That is not accurate

You can swap anything you want in or out of a Dell just like any other computer. If sound or video is built into the motherboard you can just bypass it.

[Maestro]

8. Then they have changed

They used to be very proprietary. Even the PSU was specially built to fit in their cases. Still wouldn't buy one though.

[Xithras]

7. It's not

Homebuilts stopped being cheaper a few years back. The advantage of going homebuilt today lies primarily in the performance arena...the big box manufacturers usually balance performance with availability, ease of assembly, and profit margins. When you build your own box you get to select for yourself which components will perform the best for your situation without concerning yourself with those requirements. A properly built homebuilt will ALWAYS outperform an assembly line box with equal memory and MHZ.

Realistically though, analysis after analysis has shown that high end performance for home users is only a concern in about 5% of the market (mostly gamers, with a tiny minority of home animators). If you're buying a web surfing box for grandma or a PC for your kids to do their homework on, you are far better off buying an HP, Dell, or one of the other big name manufacturers. You'll save money, and they'll never see the difference.

[RoyGBiv]

14. I disagree ...

The initial purchase prices is never, ever the final cost of owning anything as complex as a computer.

I have had vast problems trying to help people fix name-brand computers, particular those from Compaq and eMachines. In the end, the people who bought them ended up spending more money overall than they would have had they just purchased components and built it themselves or even purchased a machine from a smaller, local company.

For example, I'm currently working on two computers that died. To make a very long story short, in both cases these people are going to have to spend about a quarter of their original purchase price to fix problems that a) never or rarely come up on a home-built system and b) could be fixed at one-half to a quarter of the cost on a home-built machine.

It's the simple things that kill ya. One of these problems boils down to a bad power supply, which should be cheap to fix. In this case, it isn't going to be because the power supply in this case was built with dimensions that *only* fit this case, and no one (and I do mean no one) else makes a replacement part with those same dimensions. The manufacturer will not sell to anyone other than the company that built the computer. So, to fix it, the computer has to be boxed up and shipped in and then worked on by the company techs, who I suspect will claim the problem is something else and try to up-sell to a new system. Whatever the case, their labor charge will be excessive.

I don't really think that's the kind of thing Grandma wants, and it's certainly not saving her any money in the long term.

Consumers who don't want to build their own systems would be better served by a local company that does "home builds" and actually supports its products well. I know a few of these around here, and I always try to steer those looking at name-brand computers to one of them.

[RoyGBiv]

11. It's not a 1:1 comparison ...

Most people who home build don't use the same kinds of parts that mass-producers use. With the last system I built for myself, I wanted high-end graphics and sound without any major bottlenecks, which means I did a lot of research and put together high-quality parts that worked well together. Yes, I spent a little more than a comparably advertised system built by some company like Dell, but I didn't have a great graphics card that was slowed down by cheap, slow memory, or a hard drive with no buffer, or a power supply that wasn't enough to support overclocking or the fans I wanted, etc.

I could build the same system Dell puts together for a similar price, and I'd do what they do -- some part of it, perhaps several parts of it, would be cheap, as in not just inexpensive.

That said, there is one major issue with putting together your own system these days that can bump it over the price of a store-bought system even if you save money on cheaper parts -- the operating system. A retail copy of Windoze XP (NOT the upgrade, but the full system you can use to install from scratch) is nearly $200 at most places, which is more than any single piece of equipment in my system. There are places that will sell you the new install version for around $100, if you buy parts -- usually a motherboard or processor or both -- from them also. System builders like Dell get a break on the OS, so they can offer some systems you build yourself for less overall.

And all that said, I will never purchase a pre-built system again unless it is from a small, local dealer who, as is mentioned in the poll, essentially home builds. The only way I'd do that is if I got a very basic system, then added my own upgrades, and I'd do it just for the price break on the OS.

[Maestro]

2. The way to go is home built

However, having said that, I have found several companies that will allow you to choose whatever hardware your heart desires, practically, so essentially it is a home build but with a company doing it and you get a warranty. I have done this route twice and have been satisfied, well at least once. My new computer is due to arrive any day now so I will let you know how that goes later. I know you probably know these companies but for those that don't, read on.

Some of these companies I have known about for years, about 10 in fact, but have never had the dough to go with them. They are very high end. The first one is Falcon Northwest. The next used to be very high end but has lately gone more commercial, Alienware

These are two other very high end computer makers that will allow you to choose from a multitude of high-end gear. Voodoo PC Hypersonic

I have also been satisfied with a computer that this company built for me; all custom Monarch Computer

And finally I just bought a new high end rig from these guys because they were the most affordable company providing an AMD based PCIe rig with the Nforce 4 chipset and SLI. Velocity Micro

I don't get to escape reality much anymore. I gave up drugs in college. ;) So my wife lets me spend way too much money on computer gear so I can at least escape reality every now and then. I am a big flight simmer and tactical shooter fan.

But hey, if you can build it, do it yourself and save money. In my case, I don't have much time and with two little ones hanging around me, it was easier for me to pay for it and I don't mind.

[alfredo]

19. Here's a good company in Central Kentucky. Kerry supporters too.

http://www.kytrade.com/

They've always been nice to me. they are known to be honest and fair with those who do business with them.

[Elad]

6. The big manufacturers can beat home built prices nowadays

Despite that, I'll always use home built. It's more reliable, you know what's inside, you can identify problems quickly and easily without having to pay for warranties or pay lots of money to send your computer back to the manufacturer to replace a proprietary part, or just a part that you can't find at your local computer shop.

I've had my home-built computer for 4 years. I've upgraded it with a few parts here and there, but the core is still the same as 4 years ago, and not obsolete yet. It cost me about $750 originally to put together, and I put maybe $400 max into it since then, and it's the most reliable computer I've ever owned.

[hobbit709]

9. All of mine are homebuilt

I can shop around for the best deals on components, configure it the way I want it. Use what OS and software I want. I have 6 computers now. The oldest is a compaq notebook with a Pentium II 233 I got from somebody that was throwing it away. I run Win98 on it, it cost me $4.00 to upgrade the memory from 32 Mb to 96 Mb. I have 5 other PCs ranging from an Athlon 900 to a Athlon XP2800+ and a Sempron 2500+. I'm running win98, win2000 and SuSe Linux 9.1 Pro. The main advantage in homebuilt is having a big enough case for expansion. Of course I don't give microshaft any more money than necessary. I picked up legit copies of windows at yard sales and use them. Of course, here in Austin there's so much competition you can always find cheap parts.

[cheezus]

10. Depends: are you a computer geek? Do you need support?

cuz when you buy name brand, you're paying for more than just hardware

[Berserker]

12. Home build for me

All anyone has to do is know how to do a google search for dell support and you will want a custom computer. I prefer not having all the garbage and spyware installed for me and then tell me I can't remove it or I will lose my warranty. Off the shelf computers use cheap parts thats why they are cheaper. If you have a problem with any component you have installed on a home build you can talk to the manufacturer for support and do the unthinkable like learning a little about computers on your own.

[bemildred]

13. I prefer to roll my own, but it's time consuming.

But I always like to dual-boot, so it's time consuming anyway,
and usually you want to add a few bits, so for personal use I
always home build (except for laptops).

[trotsky]

15. It is definitely more expensive, and if you are into the cutting edge...

you'll be the one on the forefront of diagnosing driver & hardware incompatibilities rather than HP or Dell's dedicated integration teams.

I prefer home-built, but my current desktop at home is store-bought.

[jayfish]

16. The First PC I Ever Owned Was...

store bought (386sx-16) and I have not bought another, for personal use, since. I used to built white-boxes for people and make a nice profit but now I just tell people to buy off the shelf. Every couple of years they can upgrade or re-build outright. Lots of things change from generation to generation in the computing world but many parts are still interchangeable.

Jay

[Digit]

17. I build my own after my HP fiasco

My HP computer was one of the most annoying pieces of junk ever conceived. It has it's own version of windows (bloat), too small of a power supply, and had a modem with a Rockwell chipset. There were other issues as well, but you get my drift. Nothing but problems.
The Rockwell chipset kept me from connecting at a decent speed when I had dialup. Anything you wanted to change had to be using their hyper inflated parts. It crashed often.
It is true that it is no longer cheaper to build a computer unless you spend alot of time (which is money), but when building, I know what is IN my machine and know they are components I have chosen.
Now that my first built is going on 4 years old; I have a new one ready to put together. A Dell would have been cheaper, but alot less fun...since I love putting things together.

[lpbk2713]

18. I think HP's were always meant for the office environment.

In a networked arrangement. They just won't do if you are a gamer or need something graphically intensive.