better to buy or build a desktop?

[85Dave]

just wondering if its better to buy a desktop or build one?

 

whats the difference in speed, quality and price between both?

 

thanks

[ollietwinam]

Buying is more convenient.

 

That's about it, it's cheaper (relative to the quality you get), faster and more satisfying building your own

[jfk]

If all you do is run office programs, email, and surf the web, it's hard to beat an inexpensive Dell. Not that I like them, but to build with quality components will cost more than a cheap Dell. If you want to build a quality unit, or are looking to do intense video editing or gaming, building your own is the only way to go. As you increase the performance needs of a PC, the cost of a Dell versus building your own increases exponentially. I can build a kickass gamer for less than a Dell XPS, OR, I can build a MUCH better gamer for the same price as a Dell XPS. So, the decision depends on what you want to do. Personally, I like to build and will never buy another Dell. JMO.

[JiveTurkey]

You might also keep in mind, given the responses you'll receive, the group that you've asked. I believe every single one of us will say "build." But there are some advantages to buying. Single contact for warranty, tech support, etc. But building will likely get you more of exactly what you want and a better price, but you are the system builder and provider of your own tech support (other than nice places like DFI Street, handful of vendors, etc.). But it is very satisfying to DIY.

[calvintang]

building it is not that hard, and you have the assurance of quality parts.

 

Anyone notice that most prebuild pc's have the 24pin psu plug but the oem only give the psu that has 20pins only?

[radodrill]

Especially if you have an idea of what's going on in a PC then definitely build it yourself.

 

I once had a Dell laptop and actually knew more about what was going on than most of their techs. On one occasion I informed the tech what was wrong, he agreed; but their parts dispatcher decided it was something else and shipped the wrong part; Augh another call to Dell to straighten it out.

[Kingfisher]

Single contact for warranty, tech support, etc.

 

It's amusing to me when someone talks of pre-builds that one of the first comments is how nice it would be to have good tech-support. Call Dell tech support, you will be lucky to get someone you can understand as well as be flooded with personal questions and un-related banter. You will be put on hold for long periods of time and be re-directed between their "tech levels".

 

Before anyone buys a pre-built PC be sure to check their customer satisfaction ratings. You will see dismal numbers there folks.

[JiveTurkey]

I don't ever recall saying "good." But in my build I'm responsible for my own tech support and dealing with any (large) number of separate vendors/manufacturers for repair, replacement, etc. Dell consumers are paying to avoid that responsibility, regardless of how inept that support may actually be. There's a LOT of folks out there that would be completely lost without a tech support # they feel they can rely on.

[pkilway]

If you don't mind tossing your pc every 18-24 months when you want to upgrade, then buy a prebuilt. For the price, they're not bad little systems. But if you ever wanted to upgrade the cpu, video card, add more hard drives, etc. LOOK OUT! A lot of the big builders use custom components (shared video and system memory - yuck!) so you may not have the option of another 2-4 SATA ports on the mobo (motherboard), or the mobo might have a custom bios what wont support voltages for higher level cpu's, etc.

 

With a custom build, you now exactly what you're getting and what upgrades you can make in the future. If a customer build is done correctly (read with quality components - ESPECIALLY the mobo), the guts of it should/could last you 2-3 years no problem (that's with upgrading the cpu and video), and your pc wont have any "noticable" performance difference to newer boxes.

[zkissane]

Another perspective: If you're talking about computers for other people, give a lot more thought to buying an off-the-shelf PC. Unless you like being someone's go-to computer guy, don't build them a PC.

 

Personally, I hate working on other people's machines. It seems like the problem they have is only the tip of the iceberg. And after you fix their problem (which often takes twice as long as you expected it to), and you tell them "don't do X unless you want to do this all over again", a month goes by and you're back in front of it and it has the same problem.

[85Dave]

building it is not that hard, and you have the assurance of quality parts.

 

Anyone notice that most prebuild pc's have the 24pin psu plug but the oem only give the psu that has 20pins only?

 

yea building a computer isn't hard at all...its just near impossible to get the parts checked off the list for what you want to do.

 

I've been thinking of building a gaming computer...something better than the dell XPS series units but at a lower cost.

 

the XPS i was going to get was the $1,000 unit but building seems to have gotten me up to about $1,300 minus shipping from newegg so far.

 

either way, i need a new computer, my other one is starting to die on me.

[iamkoza]

yea building a computer isn't hard at all...its just near impossible to get the parts checked off the list for what you want to do.

 

I've been thinking of building a gaming computer...something better than the dell XPS series units but at a lower cost.

 

the XPS i was going to get was the $1,000 unit but building seems to have gotten me up to about $1,300 minus shipping from newegg so far.

 

either way, i need a new computer, my other one is starting to die on me.

 

i'm guessing the 1300 DIY computer u picked out is a lot better performer than what you had picked from dell.