Personal Opinion
Before drawing this article to a close, I would like to add my two cents to the issue, just for those of you who still do not know whether you want to build or not. This section is my personal opinion based on experience in the area.
I built a system three weeks ago for a friend, after persuading her not to go out and buy some cheap computer at a local computer retailer. I based my opinion on three key points:
- Quality
- Support
- Reliability
I don’t know about you, but when I pay a great sum of money for a computer, I expect it to be of a top quality. I don’t want to give someone $500 or more for a computer that breaks every other month. Honestly, when you purchase a system from an OEM builder, you are not assured quality. Some manufactures are better than others, but most are making a turn for the worse. It seems that OEM dealers do not wish for people to be looking into what is really inside of the systems that they send you, before you send them a nice big check. Attempting to figure out what parts they will use in your system is like trying to predict the weather in Kansas (yes, I’m from Kansas… I should know, it’s just not possible). They seem to use whatever parts happen to be laying around at the time your order is received, varying from cheap generic stuff to quality name brands. It just depends on the day, it seems. During the research for this article, all three of the presented manufactures were completely unwilling to tell me anything besides the fact that the specifications were met – no details would be given on brands, models, or even detailed information on the specs. For all you know, they could be sending you a generic memory stick that for a gaming system that just can’t handle that kind of load. They won’t tell you ahead of time, trust me. As I mentioned in the introduction, I attempted to figure out precisely what brands and models were used so I could give a true comparison in this article. Conversations went something like this:
“What brands do you use for your motherboard, RAM, and/or optical drives?”
“Sir, I understand you would like to buy a {insert company name here} system today.”
When you build your own computer, you are given the freedom to choose the exact parts you want to use in your system. You can get brands with great reputations, or you can get cheap brands. At least you have the freedom to choose the quality, and at least you know what you are getting before you get it. If you don’t believe that a manufacture would do something like that, just look on Ebay. A quick search will show that there are good brands and brands that you haven’t heard of before (the generic junk) that all claim to be out of the same model. They are interested in making money, not selling a good computer.
The PCMech.com weekly newsletter has been running strong for over 8 years. Sign up to get tech news, updates and exclusive content - right in your inbox. Also get (several) free gifts.
You don’t address the issue of build or buy!
Which makes your article “JUNK”.
As a owner of multiple HP products and having to deal with their customer support more than once and one of those times it was a over 5 hours that their tech person helped me.
One of the times it was help for a computer that was 2+ years out of warranty.
NOW Whether to build or buy,
THAT IS STILL THE QUESTION THAT WAS NEVER ANSWERED.
Congratulations, you just commented on a five-year-old article.
Go buy a Mac. Apple people love it WHEN YOU TALK IN ALL CAPS LIKE A BLITHERING IDIOT. You’ll fit right in.