Building your own vs. Buying from manufacturer

[GameRig23]

Do all of these parts come with warranties? Prob about a year or so.

I've noticed that a major difference between building your owning and buying from a manufacturer is that you pay large amounts for warranty and protection plans.
To some people who are less adept at these sort of things than others this may be worth paying a bit extra.

Then there is the financing abilities with a dell or alienware. You can pay 50% of it then kick the other 50% till next year with 0% APR (while paying 3% of balance monthly) To me thats almost worth it in itself...

I mean you can always do this with a regular credit card, if you have a 0% APR on purchases. Which is very possible.

What do you guys think?

 

[ascstinger]

newegg offers extended warranties on some purchases, but most parts have manufacturer warranties as well.

Just do research first, whichever way you choose as some companies are better than others for warrantying

 

[ghost101]

If you can get good credit deals than fair enough. Especially if the cost savings arent better than the 15% or so you get with your regular credit card.

Also remember that Dell warranties also include labour so it isnt just part costs they have to cover. They also provide customer service which is usually better than parts manufacturers (i.e. next days service for xps systems).

The main benefit of building the system yourself is that you customise it to yourself, can upgrade it later and you do get substantial cost savings. But if things go wrong, its upto you to diagnose the problem.

 

[Castiel]

Well I like the enjoyment of building a computer and buying and planning the parts. I think that if you want a power system, just buy the parts and build it yourself. It seems sometimes that building your own is cheaper. And you get the same parts but you just don't have a major company do it for you.

 

[GameRig23]

I agree with all your points, I think the power system is a good point as well.

 

[sneekypeet]

In my opinion buying a PC on credit is bad. By the time you actually pay off the debt, the PC is lucky to have retained half of its value.

My advice buy what you can afford now, or save up a bit and pay for it up front.

 

[niko084]

I'm with sneeky on this... It's kinda annoying to be ALWAYS paying for computers..

I definitely say build... If you have the access to the money, build it, if not try a no payments on like newegg, if that doesn't fly then yes, the no payments interest free deals are probably the way to go.

 

[cdawall]

pay before you buy no matter what even if it means a lower end pc cause you can always resell it and buy a better part later.

 

[jpierce55]

Every now and then you can find a decent priced mfg system and upgrade it for about what an entire system costs to build, but doing that means staying away from the big name brands.

As far as warranty goes it is more or less better to byo. The biggest advantage to an out of box system is good software packages they sometimes come with, and customer support for those who are not computer savvy.

Believe it or not Aldi's grocery store is selling an AMD three core system for a good price, comes with a 3450 g-card and is $499!

Last only use the cc if you can pay it back QUICKLY or if you plan to keep the same system for a long time. It is better (as said) to buy what you can afford and sell it later and upgrade. If you watch the forum you will see a pattern of when to buy and sell for the best deals!

 

[GameRig23]

How often do some of you guys cycle through PC's?

I bought an XPS laptop 3 years ago (thats why im looking to upgrad)

 

[pjladyfox]

How often do some of you guys cycle through PC's?

I bought an XPS laptop 3 years ago (thats why im looking to upgrad)

I think that is where one of the bigger differences come into play. When you build your own system you have the ability to constantly tweak and upgrade components to it as you go on.

However, when you buy a OEM system say from Dell or Alienware you are pretty much stuck with the hardware inside of the box. Granted, you can swap out a video card or hard drive but the heart of the system, such as the CPU and power supply, are all proprietary and can not be swapped out.

But, again, this really depends upon your own personal comfort zone and level of technical skill as to which is the better route to take. For those who have no or little then the OEM route is the best way to go due to the level of support and warranty you get with the system. For those who are a bit more tech savvy, or just wish to learn, then building your own is the only way to go.

Just remember, building a system and keeping it together is only as hard as you make it. My mom, Goddess rest her soul, learned how to build and maintain her own PC's after getting her the PC For Dummies book and talking her thru some of the more technical aspects before she passed away a couple years ago. And if my mom was able to get that far with just a book and some gentle encouragement then anyone can.


Ladyfox,
who really misses her weekend calls with her mom talking about PC gear

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Regardless of whether or not you're doing a retail or custom I really don't recommend buying something if you don't have the cash before hand. With the exception of houses and new cars of course, though I know some people that won't buy a car till they save up enough cash to just flat out buy it on day one.

 

[Dia01]

Personally I don't think I save any money building my own only because I just can't myself tinkering, the most enjoyable part for me is researching and buying.

 

[CDdude55]

On newegg yes.

Building is funner!