What's generally cheaper: To build a PC yourself or buy a Branded one ???

[MJA]

you live in Ireland right ?did you check if GCC ships to your country? to IL where I live .they charge $45.44 for ground shipping ,to Ireland God knows how much.lol

also they don't ship their PC's with OS.the one you have from sony isn't ganna work on any other PC.

check with Dell,HP and get it over with,,,,,,,,,

check this deal at dell . ask them if they will ship it to Ireland .lol

http://www.techbargains.com/tellafriend2.cfm/92397

[TBoneit]

As I would suggest to a noob to computing or the type of customer that answered windows 97 when you asked what windows they were running. Hint, Think office version, Them I'd suggest Dell, HP or some big name brand.

Same answer to the customers that come in waving a Dell printout of one of Dells limited time super low price specials. Buy the Dell, I can't beat that price. Of course by the time they've tried to get somebody to beat a short time super special they're to late.

One of our stores in another state, Two used computers one slow and one better, $20 diference, his customers will always buy the cheaper. Only price matters to them.

The main thing as was mentioned above indirectly: Dell is quiet. If I were putting a media center PC in a bedroom or someone hates noise then you'll spend signifigant money makes your build it as quiet.

Second item, Fans in the Dells & HPs AKA Compaq seem to last much longer than in Generics. Dells and HP desktops use a wind tunnel and a large fan thaat can be run slower to move the same air volumne for CPU cooling.

One of the hardest to quiet fans is the CPU fan when encoding and the CPU is running at 100%


If you buy from Georgia Computer Workshop make sure they understand all that you want to do with it.

We had a customer wanted a computer built and the price kept low. One question we asked was will you be playing games on it? His answer, no. The next week he was back complaining my game doesn't run smoothly. Good gaming and low cost don't go hand in hand. At that point it was a good thing he wasn't able to read my mind. He ended up paying for a better video card. It would have been cheaper for him if he'd been honest and said yes I do game too. as initial quote parts go in and out at cost. He ended up paying retail for the card and we threw in the install to be nice.

That $5 USb mouse we were selling would have added maybe 90cents to cost, come back later and pay $5 their choice.

[victoriabears]

I bought two pc's for my video editing set up at a local build them yourself store "chain", they have been wonderful compared to all the propirety dells,compaqs I used to own.

The dells etc have got btter in that you can add stuff,but its all that control software.So get one built is a better machine I think.

[AlecWest]

Thanks a lot, AlecWest. Great website. I think it's the best option for me.
Thanks a lot again.

If you mean a 3rd party system builder might be the best option, I'd agree. But if you meant GCC (and if you live in Ireland), this might be a better place to start:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/

They may just be hardware resellers. But recently (May), Tom's Hardware held a four-day system builder marathon competition - and they surely know contact info on these builders. One of them might even be in your general area.

Shipping from Doraville, Georgia, USA to Portland, Oregon, USA was $72.15 for my system via UPS ground shipment. Shipping to Ireland might be a bit pricey ... especially if there's some sort of import duty on the system.

If you buy from Georgia Computer Workshop make sure they understand all that you want to do with it.

Absolutely - good advice. I had two conversations with Tom and Victoria via phone, one of them lengthy, prior to my order. And what I wanted the system for was their first question. I suspect also that if I'd not contacted them, they'd have contacted me. Perhaps that's why they have a 10-of-10 customer satisfaction rating from Resellers.com.

P.S. BTW, on mice (grin). For the last few years, I've used two-button mice bought at Dollar Tree. Yup, a $1 mouse ... and they've lasted just as long or longer than more pricey mice.

[AlecWest]

also they don't ship their PC's with OS.the one you have from sony isn't ganna work on any other PC./

No and yes. GCC will install an OS and ship it with a system ... but only the OEM version, not the full boxed version. But, they only give you 3 choices:

1) Windows Vista
2) Windows XP
3) No OS ... however, they test it with XP prior to shipment and then format the drive

But yes, no "installation CD type OS" will function well (if at all) on any other system than the one it was designed for.

In my case, they know I'll be installing Windows 2000 Pro SP4 and will send me a disk with the appropriate drivers on it.

[betamaxman]

Thats great, by the way, most computer parts come with a 3 year warranty as well.
Sounds like a good idea though better than someone like dell and everything should be atx standard so you could swap in an upgraded mobo/proccessor combo latter if you wanted.

[Nelson37]

Something not mentioned yet is Cost of Ownership. This is defined as all the money you spend on the PC throughout its lifetime.

How long will it take to install new drivers for your videocard, if 1) you know exactly what model, revision, and how to install the drivers because you have done it before, or 2) you do NOT know what model of card you have, and take some time to find out your card is ONLY supplied by Dell and is not identical to any other card, and you have never installed the drivers previously. Same applies to all drives, soundcards, NICs etc in the box.

Don't forget most Dell cases will NOT fit a standard Power Supply and the replacement can ONLY be ordered from Dell or some oddball supplier, think any discounts are available?

As I tell my customers, I can't buy a bag of parts with no OS for the price Dell sells a complete system with the OS installed. BUT, if I need a part I walk into my local parts guy and say "Dave, this part has failed, I need a new one under warranty" and I am out the door with my new part in less than 5 minutes. Less than 60 seconds if I call ahead.

As for the crapware, this does not bother me at all as it is easily removed, no great skill required. Maybe 10% is useful. What really irks me is that they sell systems with Norton or McAfee and/or MS Office, and what is actually included is a 90-day trial version. You cannot purchase a 90-day version of any of these programs. I yell at them that they have included one-fourth of an antivirus program, as the real thing is good for one year.

I no longer sell PC's as the customer does not understand the increased cost and it appears they are being overcharged. Rather than make less than $100 on the box, and then lose most of that doing warranty service because they can't find the Any Key, it is simpler to just let them buy a Dell or whatever, and make the money doing labor service with no responsibility for the hardware. The only exception is a few knowledgable customers; also, since I used to work for the Factory Authorized Compaq Warranty Service Center, I tell my customers if you buy a Compaq I will come over and beat you with a stick. Haven't seen much improvement under HP's management.

As many have mentioned, one benefit of self-build is the ability to re-use parts from the older system, buy only what you need. Many components have not really changed in performance for several years.

[jagabo]

As many have mentioned, one benefit of self-build is the ability to re-use parts from the older system, buy only what you need.

I would agree with this. The only complete systems I have ever bought were an IBM PC in 1984 and a Commodore Amiga 1000 a few years later.

Now I have several computers for different tasks. Parts usually migrate down from computer to computer as newer/faster parts are purchased.

[ntscuser]

As many have mentioned, one benefit of self-build is the ability to re-use parts from the older system, buy only what you need.

I would agree with this. The only complete systems I have ever bought were an IBM PC in 1984 and a Commodore Amiga 1000 a few years later.

Now I have several computers for different tasks. Parts usually migrate down from computer to computer as newer/faster parts are purchased.

Ditto here. Bought a PC sans disc drive or operating system of any sort as I have loads of spare drives cluttering up the place. Bought it from a big seller on eBay.co.uk who fitted all the crucial parts for me and tested them so I didn't end up with a lemon. Wouldn't recommend doing that to a complete novice though.

[TBoneit]

Nelson37, anyone that buys those slim case Dells deserves what they get. I've seen Laptop optical drives in some of them and that makes a drive upgrade very expensive. Those slimline case I'll agree you need to go to Dell for the power supplies. But the regular Dimensions and now the E521(?) take standard power supplies. I've fitted plenty of them.

Gateway with their older models where they turned the PS 90degrees so that the narrow part is where the fan exhausts and the power plug goes.... Standard size just rotated so you can't use a standard supply easily.

Laptops a whole different story. If the colling fans go bad, then back to the manufacturer for parts (or Ebay) nothing standard there.

Pretty much gard to sell systems these days as Dell for example are cheaper for the same specs.

We assemble for another company, hardware only and they supply everything. We've been doing some repairs for them too. Laptops with cooling problems, loose wires etc. Last laptop they dragged in had a think blanket of dust blocking the airflow from the 3 cooling fans. It was labeled as a desktop replacement laptop. Strangely the center fan wasn't even plugged in. You could see it had been running at some point in time by the dust on the blades.

Anybody doing factory warranty check what they send back to you. The last one was sent in with a dual core and came back with a single core and a note that they had changed the CPU, Motherboard and a third part. All this had failed since November, so that would be <7 months and it had to turned on several times when cold to before it stopped turning off and actually booted. It came back with teh wrong CPU and still had booting problems. Way to go ** good QC.

[genki500]

Last year, we bought 10 new computers: HP/Compaq, Gateway/eMachine, of course, Dell. In the old days, those pre-built machines' motherboards did not accept a harddrive which already has Windows XP installed. This time around, to our surprise, those HP and Gate accept our old harddrives (from our old computers), plugged old harddrives in, waited about 15 minutes, everything works -- it saved us a lot headache, nothing to install, nothing to transfer, computing as usual but on a faster machine; however, we do need to call MS to re-activated. In the other hand, the two new Dell machines would NOT take our old harddrives. Beside Dell's worsen customer service, we found another reason not to touch Dell for a while.

[dfisher052]

I have found one major problem with buying a new branded computer now. They almost all come come with Vista. I wanted a new computer but not Vista. I just bought a barebones kit with a 3.2 dual core Pentium, 2 gigs of ram, an Intel moterboard, an 18x Sony/NEC DVD burner, an XFX GeForce pc express video card, 250 gig harddrive and a case with a 450 watt power supply for $350. No operating system. Just what I wanted because I already have XP pro to install. And anytime in the future I want to add something or upgrade a part, which will probably be a capture card, I can without a lot of hassle. Now to me that is a bargin

[MJA]

dell offers pc's with no Vista

[RabidDog]

Dells Pcs with vista are cheaper than their Barebones PCs. I am contemplating getting a dell deal as they have prices that are very hard to beat. The One I want does come with vista (+ other carp) which would be hived off in short order. Possibly to be re-installed in 9=12 months. What I do notice is that all the dell systems seem to have really puny power supplys. No good if you want to go dual gfx cards in the future.
Try this code on Eire dell (d06c12)
Microsoft has a plant in Ireland so I would have expected vista to have an eire glass instead

[TBoneit]

If you want to go Dual video cards in the future you most likely will find that the Dell has 1 PCIe slot, if any, If you ordered with built-in video it may have no video card slot. That has been true in the past. If you ordered a Dimension 3000 with built-in video and no floppy and one hard drive it would come with no metal mounting for the floppy, No video card slot beyond PCI, Not PCIe and mounting for one Hard drive. If you ordered their fancier model then the hardware would be there.

Dell sells enough that they can have a Mobo with No video slot and two memory sockets and another mobo for the same model with 4 memory slots and a slot for video. What mobo you get depends on how you order. Thats Dell. They sell enough volumne that they can afford to do that sort of thing to save the pennies per unit that the card slot connector and memory slots cost if installed.

[TBoneit]

Last year, we bought 10 new computers: HP/Compaq, Gateway/eMachine, of course, Dell. In the old days, those pre-built machines' motherboards did not accept a harddrive which already has Windows XP installed. This time around, to our surprise, those HP and Gate accept our old harddrives (from our old computers), plugged old harddrives in, waited about 15 minutes, everything works -- it saved us a lot headache, nothing to install, nothing to transfer, computing as usual but on a faster machine; however, we do need to call MS to re-activated. In the other hand, the two new Dell machines would NOT take our old harddrives. Beside Dell's worsen customer service, we found another reason not to touch Dell for a while.

That ability is more a function to move drives with Win2K or XP is dependent on the chipset of the motherboard.

Going from a VIA to a intel or SiS for example will usually not work. Going from a intel 845 to a intel 845 usually will. Going to a newer intel can be problematic too.

Not a big deal on those Dells, If you had ordered them with the XP discs and drivers a simple boot off of the Dell CD, choose repair, install the drivers, no activation needed and you are done.

[Nelson37]

yeah, if the hard drive will not boot just do a repair install, this is not unique to Dell, any Windows can do this on a Mobo change, or even a videocard. Now if you have a Dell-branded OS which checks the board ID, then it must have a Dell board.

If you bitch about Vista, Dell will include both XP and Vista disks for $10.00 more.

Those slimline cases suck complete ass. Major overheating problems, the HD is right above the CPU, have had an unusual number of failures on these machines. Right along with "No Compaqs" is "No goddamn slimline cases", and also "If you do NOT need to portate the PC, then do not buy a portable machine. Laptops are a compromise, like a folding bicycle."

On the PS's, some of their cases do fit a standard PS, however many do not and also many will fit, except the metal of the rear plate just covers the toggle switch and when you screw the PS down firmly, it turns the switch to the Off position. Tinsnips will fix this, but the solution is kinda ugly.

Two tidbits on Ireland. Irish corporations do not choose their own name, it is selected for them by the Government of Ireland and is SFAIK from the Gaelic language, which virtually no one speaks. And, AOL is known as IOL there. Makes sense, at least the second one.

[the_man_one]

cheeper in the short run to get a dell dude.... but when u buy the components for a pc then build it with no os (use that old one from ur last pc) the prices get very comparable with packaged deals... the difference being that u get a clone system (meaning that u can replace the parts with any standard part)... the pc i am running was almost $300 cause i used my old hdd's, old memory, old os, old dvd burner, & anything else i could salvage (also made 2 complete pc's outta the old parts, albeit one was a 400 mhz p2 piece of junk (currently my son's word processor / websurfer) & one was a 950 p3 meg web surfer)

[TBoneit]

I'll give you the power switch on the back can be a problem however we found some PS's that don't have them.....

HP with their short power supply is another problem. The case isn't that deep and they used a long optical drive. I've got a couple of short used PS's I'm holding onto for repairs there if they are needed. And then the Micro ATX PS's......

I'm trying to get ahold of a customer to bring in his slimline computers right now so I can change out the PS fans. Had tow go bad so far and about twenty more there. He had to have Slim and of course the manufacturere of the PS's has gone ten toes up AKA is pushing daisies and they are a funny shape. It seems a shame to toss those cases as they are nice looking and Aluminum but I can't find a power supply.