build or buy?

On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 11:37:14 -0500, "jeffc"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .

Oh for god's sake. You've been playing too much Deus Ex. Dell's support
is
infinitely better than what you'd get if you build your own computer.
You
folks need to get some perspective. The OP came here mentioning only one
priority - price.

He was being brief. I don't have to be. He said:
"I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for
years."
Which doesn't sound like someone I'd like to send off to become a
powerless Dell victim. He also said:
"...or, following the advice I culled from
weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home."
- I'ts sounds like someone who is genuinly interested, and ready to
take the next step.

Then people tell him he should build because he can get
his exact components (not a priority) and that the computer will be
supported (that's the absolute WORST part about building your own.) I've
built all my computers - never bought a Dell. But I wouldn't recommend
it
for everyone. You do not lose your "rights" to have what you want. You
go
one route or the other depending on your priorities. Each has advantages
and disadvantages. Failure to consider priorities, and Orwellian
paranoid
theories have no place in the discussion.

There is nothing "Orwellian paranoid" in JAD's argument. On the
contrary, I'm convinced everything will come about, eventually.

OK you have a point. But still the main thing I got out of the OP's post
was that even if he were willing to build it with newsgroup help, I still
don't see how that's in line with saving a ton of cash.

I think this has been an good thread. Your input and the discussion
should have exposed the issues, at hand, very well.

Ancra

Thank you all for the excellent reply's! There have certainly been some
lively discussions.

Sorry that my first post was so short. Here is a bit of background: I am a
dabbler. I have dabbled in all my comps since 1980. My present comp was made
for me by my company's IT guru before he went to greener pastures. This comp
has been relatively stable, but whenever it locked up I had poked around
reinstalling drivers or other appropriate software. I own a legit xp-home
upgrade off a legit win 98. I have also completely stripped the mobo for
cleaning after a year of dusty operation, upgraded video boards, added a
harddrive (which took a full weekend), and replaced memory.

My situation is that I will ship my personal effects, so this is an
opportunity to build, or have built, a top notch system with a good 19-21
flat panel screen to watch downloaded movies on in English. Additionally my
13 year old boy is an avid everquest/mohaa player and would want to continue
that.

It is not that cash is a major factor, but I want to get the best
reliability from those parts as I expect to have to pay through the nose for
replacement parts when I am in Brasil.

Thank you again, and I am still leaning to buying the parts and having that
learning curve grin

Jon

GATEWAY BUYS eMACHINES
In a simpler time, it might have been called a marriage made in heaven. Gateway and eMachines are obviously made for each other.
Both pay rebates at the speed of mud and have tech support that would drive Freud around the bend. Of course, eMachines doesn't make
laptops, which is one good thing you can say about it. This hitch-up will make Gateway-eMachines the third largest U.S. PC maker,
behind Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

now you can really go for it and good luck

"jeffc" wrote in message ...

"JAD" wrote in message
ink.net...
umm you went there I was commenting on your perspective. and its far
from paranoia poster, its reality, but you'll obviously
never see it coming.....and then there's the Emachine you mentioned...OMG!

Oh my god what? It's written eMachine by the way. The orignial poster said
he is considering assembling "at home, thereby saving tons of scarce cash."
Just for the record, given his only criterion, your best advice is to build
his own system? Yeah, that's great. And what did you mean by " try
calling dell when your computer crashes"? You mean to say you can do better
by building your own! Ha! My parents own a Dell and the service when
something goes wrong has been excellent. Even if it were "poor", it would
still be infinitely better than the ZERO support you get when you build your
own.

Now, let's see your system that compares with the eMachine I mentioned -
$400, including 17" display and Lexmark printer. Athlon 2400+, 128M, 40G.
This was 6 months ago by the way, so be sure to adjust for changes since
then. Make sure you include a copy of Windows XP in your calculation. (It
doesn't matter if you like that system or not - you'd have to subtract it
off the cost if you went with something else.)

No - building your own is not about saving money.

"jamotto" wrote in message
om...

I think we need to ask the OP. Everyone is going answer the above in
different ways.

As usual, the OP has skipped the scene, probably long ago, to leave us
arguing amongst ourselves :-)

"EWhite" wrote in message
news:JpLSb.195516$na.328585@attbi_s04...

3. Sorry to break your heart but the average person cannot expect to
"Game"
with a $400 dollar machine call Dell they'll recommend a system in the
neighborhood of $1000 and quite likely closer to $2000.

One of my computers is a recently purchase eMachine (it was bought for me
for some services rendered). The cost after rebate (promptly received) was
$400 including monitor and printer. Subtracting the cost of those, let's
say the computer itself was $260. It had on board video, 128M RAM, 40G hard
drive, Athlon 2400+, and Windows XP. Especially since the video memory was
shared (bringing RAM down to 96M), the RAM was insufficient. So was the
video. I added a GeForce4 Ti 4200 video card (I bought it used for $60, but
let's make the cost be $100 for sake of this argument.) Then I added 256M
RAM. Memory prices vary, but let's say $60. So we're talking about $420
for a gaming computer that plays everything with the possible exception of
the very latest, most demanding games (such as an intense flight simulation
with graphics turned up.) Nice gaming "lean machine".

And finally 5. People who post to these forums asking if they should Build
a
system are generally looking for people to say it isn't that hard if you
think it through.

But again, he specifically mentioned cash as an issue. I have little doubt
he could put together his own system (especially with newsgroup help.)

X my best advice is to go with parts just shy of cutting edge, they are
the
best value.
And buy NAME-BRAND components for your FIRST venture. They may be a
couple
dollars more but the odds of some small Taiwanese companies floppy disk
giving you problems is smaller than Sony's.
& if you run into problems post again here. Look how many responses you
got
on 1 simple question.

Agreed.

"x" wrote in message
...

Thank you again, and I am still leaning to buying the parts and having
that
learning curve grin

I'm glad you posted back - usually we lose the original poster after the
first post :-) Go for it. Just make sure you have plenty of time to build
and USE the system for awhile before you leave. If you buy a case, it will
come in a box. Save that box for shipping the whole computer when you put
it together. Don't skimp too much on the power supply, nor the memory
(Kingston, Crucial, etc.)

Thanks Jeffc as well as everyone else. I have saved all posts, and try to
keep up on weekends.

Jon
"jeffc" wrote in message
...

"x" wrote in message
...

Thank you again, and I am still leaning to buying the parts and having
that
learning curve grin

I'm glad you posted back - usually we lose the original poster after the
first post :-) Go for it. Just make sure you have plenty of time to
build
and USE the system for awhile before you leave. If you buy a case, it
will
come in a box. Save that box for shipping the whole computer when you put
it together. Don't skimp too much on the power supply, nor the memory
(Kingston, Crucial, etc.)

you want to play games??

like what?

well most games that have come out in the past year wont run on the
Dell advertised for 699 with the integrated intel graphics chip.

keep in mind, theere is one reason why Dell keeps their prices low,
and that is because they use cheap parts.

if you want to play games dont buy a Dell.

or upgrade to one with a better graphics card.

or build your own.
i built a system that will run any game and wickedly fast at that for
950.

and it has power to spare...

P4P-800 pro Asus MB
radeon 9600 pro with 256 MB RAM
2x512 MB pc3200 DDR RAM
21" CRT

there is better, but it is only a little better for a lot more money

"DaveinOlyWa" wrote in message
...
you want to play games??

like what?

well most games that have come out in the past year wont run on the
Dell advertised for 699 with the integrated intel graphics chip.

keep in mind, theere is one reason why Dell keeps their prices low,
and that is because they use cheap parts.

if you want to play games dont buy a Dell.

or upgrade to one with a better graphics card.

Well that latter statement is much more reasonable, isn't it? What you want
is a system that is customizable. If you want TOTAL customization, then you
have to build your own. If you want a Dell, etc., then you have to think a
little. To get a system with a good graphics card, you're going to have to
pay a lot, more than you might want to for certain features. On the other
hand, if you get the el-cheapo on board graphics, then you haven't lost any
money when you upgrade the video for good gaming.

Hey everybody. I"m probably coming in on this topic after the horse has long
been beaten, autopsied, and buried. However, some people out there need
to know the benefits and drawbacks of both buying and building.

First off, there is no shame in buying a computer....unless of course it's
an HP or a Compaq. Those 2 have to be the worst i've ever seen in my 10
years working with computers. If you're gonna buy, go with either GATEWAY...or
DELL!!!!! Period. End of story...no room for discussion. That having been
said, one of the benefits of buying is the warranty that comes with a system.
If someone builds one for you, you will have to replace a part out of pocket
if it breaks. But, with a purchase, the company will replace it for free.
Tech support is tech support.....sometimes it's great and wonderful, and
sometimes it sucks. Now for a drawback---you get whatever components they
decide to put in the system. you do'nt have any granularity for choice.
you can't say hey i want the ASUS Pxx800 board along with a gig of corsair
platinum. you don't have that much control. It could or could not lead
to problems down the road.

Building----you have complete control over what goes in it. You pick the
parts if you're comfortable with assembling it or you can have someone do
it and put it together for you. But, you have control. Two drawbacks to
this.....you have no warranty with this option, and it is more expensive.
But, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Enough said! A benefit of this, you can
assemble parts to make the most stable system possible. You probably won'
thave that luxury with buying a system.

So.......decide what's best for you and your budget, and go kill some hardware!!!!
:-o)


"JAD" wrote:


GATEWAY BUYS eMACHINES
In a simpler time, it might have been called a marriage made in heaven.
Gateway and
eMachines are obviously made for each other.
Both pay rebates at the speed of mud and have tech support that would drive
Freud around
the bend. Of course, eMachines doesn't make
laptops, which is one good thing you can say about it. This hitch-up will
make Gateway-eMachines
the third largest U.S. PC maker,
behind Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

now you can really go for it and good luck

"jeffc" wrote in message ...

"JAD" wrote in message
ink.net...
umm you went there I was commenting on your perspective. and its
far
from paranoia poster, its reality, but you'll obviously
never see it coming.....and then there's the Emachine you mentioned...OMG!

Oh my god what? It's written eMachine by the way. The orignial poster
said
he is considering assembling "at home, thereby saving tons of scarce cash."
Just for the record, given his only criterion, your best advice is to
build
his own system? Yeah, that's great. And what did you mean by " try
calling dell when your computer crashes"? You mean to say you can do
better
by building your own! Ha! My parents own a Dell and the service when
something goes wrong has been excellent. Even if it were "poor", it would
still be infinitely better than the ZERO support you get when you build
your
own.

Now, let's see your system that compares with the eMachine I mentioned
-
$400, including 17" display and Lexmark printer. Athlon 2400+, 128M,
40G.
This was 6 months ago by the way, so be sure to adjust for changes since
then. Make sure you include a copy of Windows XP in your calculation.
(It
doesn't matter if you like that system or not - you'd have to subtract
it
off the cost if you went with something else.)

No - building your own is not about saving money.







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