Based on experience, it is generally much easier talking to a part manufacture direct than having to go through an OEM manufacture. It is very sad when you call OEM Technical Support and you have to ask the person to repeat “Hello, welcome to {company name} technical support” because they can’t speak English well enough (No, I’m not lying. I’ve had to do that before). Part manufactures tend to at least have someone who speaks English and is willing to help you. For non-hardware related support, you are pretty much on your own when you build your computer, but I highly recommend the PC Mechanic Tech Forums – http://forum.pcmech.com – as a support center for those who have any question relating to computers.
The differences in reliability are extraordinary between OEM manufactures and custom built computers. I can almost guarantee that there will be a major problem with a pre-built system within the first year of operation, due to one or more of many issues. Custom builds tend to be much more reliable because they are built to be compatible. Pre-built systems, as I said above, are just thrown together with whatever parts are lying around. You can rarely get a reliable system by doing that. Also, when you build a system, your parts are warranted individually. Where all the pre-built systems above had a flat 1 year manufacture’s warranty on them, the builds had warranties that ranged from one year to five years, depending on the part, although most exceeded one year.
One of the most benefiting things, to me at least, of building a computer, is the learning experience. It’s worth paying a little extra, in some cases, to build a computer. Figuring out what all those silly acronyms, that techies throw out on a daily basis, learning how to make parts compatible, and actually putting the system together is simply unbelievable. You don’t know how good it feels to power on that first system, the one that was lying in front of you two hours earlier, in pieces. When I heard that first POST on my first build telling me that I did the job right, I was extremely proud and couldn’t believe it. All that work wasn’t for nothing. Trust me, if I can do it, you can do it.
There are advantages to buying a pre-built computer, also. If you need a system right away, it’s probably a good idea to do your research and then go to a computer store and buy what you need. Building a system takes lots of time, from the learning, ordering the parts, waiting a week, then spending an hour, two, or three (depending on how slow or fast you work) actually building and configuring the software on it. If you do not have the time, you probably should not build a computer, as you will probably end up with something you do not know what to do with.
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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.