build or buy?

[x]

Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download and
watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word and
excel.

So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby saving
tons of scarce cash.

I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for years.

Your thoughts please?

 

[D. Rogers]

Buy a barebones system and finish it off to suit your needs. You mainly
buy a Dell, Gateway, Compaq for the support, but since you are being
transferred out then the support won't do you any good. Might as well build
one.

 

[JAD]

where are you going?...if your into DVD then you'll need a regional DVD ROM or some 'crack' that will allow you to watch certain
disks. Building to .....save....... is not as easy as it used to be...building to suit your needs for the present and as far as the
budget will allow for the future. My Motto, works for me. Good luck where ever your journey takes you....

 

[jeffc]

Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download and
watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word and
excel.

So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby saving
tons of scarce cash.

I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for

years.

You will NOT be saving "tons of scarce cash". If you really want to save
money, buy a used computer with last year's technology. There are tons of
these around for bargain basement prices that will do everything the vast
majority of people want to do. Next option is to buy an eMachine, or Dell,
or Gateway - lower end model. Wait for free upgrade offers, free shipping,
or rebates as they appear every few weeks. Next option is to buy a cheap
machine from a local computer store with some eggheads working there. Last
and least is to build your own. Large cost savings (*any* cost savings) is
not the reason to build your own.

 

[EWhite]

If he builds a system with last years Tech he CAN save a lot of money but it
will cost him some effort in research.
WWW.pricewatch.com
WWW.resellerratings.com
www.newegg.com
www.mwave.com

check out these sites first though
~Eric

 

[jeffc]

If he builds a system with last years Tech he CAN save a lot of money but it
will cost him some effort in research.
WWW.pricewatch.com
WWW.resellerratings.com
www.newegg.com
www.mwave.com

I'd like to see a system total price that betters what you can buy in the
store for equal quality parts. Don't forget the cost of the operating
system. You can buy a brand new computer these days for $400, including
display and printer. I just don't see doing that buying after putting the
pieces together. The operating system alone is going to set you back $100.
You're going to be out at least $150 for a 17" CRT and printer. That
doesn't leave a whole lot for the computer itself - only $150.

 

[somebody]

Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download and
watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word and
excel.

So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby saving
tons of scarce cash.

Easy! Of course you build it! It's lots of fun, and you get exactly
the components you wan't. And you get support for your individual
components, regardless if you happen to upgrade something or change
OS.

I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for years.

Then you've already tried all the hard parts. At least if you've
reinstalled OSes a couple of times, and messed with the bios, as well.

Only tricky thing left, is mounting the heatsink. But it's just a
matter of taking it real easy. And figure everything out in great
detail, before doing it.

Your thoughts please?

Build it!
Protect your stuff against against static electric charge.
Read the manuals. Read the manufacturers webpages.
Mount cpu, heatsink and ram on the mobo before installing it.
Install mobo first. Have a flashlight at hand when working in the
case.
Only install videocard, HD and CD (and floppy) before installing OS.
If you belong to MS, make use of 'Windows Update".
Add other hardware later.

Oh, and never ever buy a Celeron! They're so horribly slow, - it's
outright fraud.

If you're interested in "saving tons of scarce cash" then lowend
components like Duron, AthlonXP2000-2400, VIA KT400A and KT600 mobos,
will still get you a quite decent system, at very low cost. (Twice as
fast as Dell's Celerons)

Ancra

 

[jamotto]

I'd like to see a system total price that betters what you can buy in the
store for equal quality parts. Don't forget the cost of the operating
system. You can buy a brand new computer these days for $400, including
display and printer. I just don't see doing that buying after putting the
pieces together. The operating system alone is going to set you back $100.
You're going to be out at least $150 for a 17" CRT and printer. That
doesn't leave a whole lot for the computer itself - only $150.

If he want's to play games then a $400 computer is not going to do
that. They are built with too slow intergrated graphics card. Well,
unless 6 FPS feels speedy to him. To get a computer that would play
games well brings up the cost to around $700-$800 and a computer could
be built to match that price range.

 

[tweak]

If he want's to play games then a $400 computer is not going to do
that. They are built with too slow intergrated graphics card. Well,
unless 6 FPS feels speedy to him. To get a computer that would play
games well brings up the cost to around $700-$800 and a computer could
be built to match that price range.

Where are you getting these prices for components?
I get good 17 inch monitors for around 100 bucks.
Mobo's for around 50-70 bucks(MSI socket A's or P3/P4)
My current system cost me about 400 bucks total.
Compaq 7110 cpu(socket a with 1.2 gig cpu and 1gig ram.)
80 gig ata 133 HD with controller.
cd burner and dvd player.
Monitor- sony 17 inch vio with built in stereo and sub channel- 50
bucks clearance price.
I just added a dvd burner for 110 bucks.(Liteon 411S at a clearance
price.)

I just purchased an IBM computer with a 650 mghz Celeron cpu 384 mgs
of ddr ram. Full package of modem, ehernet card and a fairly good 64
mgbyte video(Nvidia) card.
Cost: 20 bucks clearance.(Distributor that I buy parts from gets large
lots of office computers that he refurbishes and sells. sometimes many
units are new in the box. Offices and corporations dump perfectly good
computers anually in upgrade swaps.)
Just gotta know where to look.
I've even found 1 year old systems in dumpters, in perfect working
order.
Just gotta troll the back of office buildings and computer repair
shops.
Lately everyone's dumping 17 inch monitors in favor of larger flat
screen displays. You can find perfectly good monitors on the curbs.
I just picked up a brand new 17 inch HP monitor with speakers off the
street corner. It manufacture date was NOV 2003.
They'd put less than a 100 hours on it, just switched over to LCD's to
avoid employees using eye fatigue as an excuse to claim medical on hte
job.
People in this country are nuts when it comes to technology,
everybody's gotta have the latest, read yesterdays, electronics.
If it gets more than 6 months old "dump it"!
If they want to be that crazy, fine by me.
I haven't paid big bucks for a system since 94, when I got screwed
paying nearly 2 grand for the "latest" 486 system.
People seem to loose perspective when it comes to computers.
It's just electronics, just like TVs or stereos.
Once you look past the hype and BS you can see that there really isn't
much under the hood hardware wise these days.

 

[jeffc]

Where are you getting these prices for components?
I get good 17 inch monitors for around 100 bucks.

I said 17 inch monitor PLUS printer for $150. How is that so different?

Mobo's for around 50-70 bucks(MSI socket A's or P3/P4)
My current system cost me about 400 bucks total.
Compaq 7110 cpu(socket a with 1.2 gig cpu and 1gig ram.)
80 gig ata 133 HD with controller.
cd burner and dvd player.
Monitor- sony 17 inch vio with built in stereo and sub channel- 50
bucks clearance price.
I just added a dvd burner for 110 bucks.(Liteon 411S at a clearance
price.)

And I see there's no operating system there, as I already mentioned.

I just purchased an IBM computer with a 650 mghz Celeron cpu 384 mgs
of ddr ram. Full package of modem, ehernet card and a fairly good 64
mgbyte video(Nvidia) card.
Cost: 20 bucks clearance.(Distributor that I buy parts from gets large
lots of office computers that he refurbishes and sells. sometimes many
units are new in the box. Offices and corporations dump perfectly good
computers anually in upgrade swaps.)

Hardly what we're talking about, is it?

Just gotta know where to look.
I've even found 1 year old systems in dumpters, in perfect working
order.
Just gotta troll the back of office buildings and computer repair
shops.
Lately everyone's dumping 17 inch monitors in favor of larger flat
screen displays. You can find perfectly good monitors on the curbs.

As I already said, his first choice if cost was a major factor was buying
used. Buying new and assembling is NOT the way to go if cost is your number
one priority.

 

[jeffc]

Easy! Of course you build it! It's lots of fun, and you get exactly
the components you wan't.

Two advantages that he specifically didn't mention, and leaving out the one
thing he wanted.

And you get support for your individual
components, regardless if you happen to upgrade something or change
OS.

Support for "individual components" means nothing to someone whose computer
won't boot, or crashes all the time. Try calling your hard drive
manufacturer and see how far you get when you tell him every time you boot
Windows it crashes. For meaningful support, you buy a full system. Support
is definitely NOT a reason to put your own computer together.

Oh, and never ever buy a Celeron! They're so horribly slow, - it's
outright fraud.

Ridiculous. They perform relative to their price. For example, buying a
computer from Dell, a Celeron version CPU costs $100 less than the regular
version CPU. That's less than half the price at about 75% of the
performance.

If you're interested in "saving tons of scarce cash" then lowend
components like Duron, AthlonXP2000-2400, VIA KT400A and KT600 mobos,
will still get you a quite decent system, at very low cost. (Twice as
fast as Dell's Celerons)

I think you're mistaken about Celerons. Maybe you're comparing a Pentium II
Celeron with a Pentium IV. Hardly apples to apples. Otherwise, no, they
are not twice as fast.

 

[JAD]

try calling dell when your computer crashes....there is little advantage in buying ...I do not support buying commercial computers,
this is where our rights to have what we want will come to an end(TCPA). If the big 4 have anything to do with it, they would have
you out of your freedom to purchase what components you prefer into ones that support anti- piracy (their definition of course) and
tag commercials all over your desktop. OS's will be on EPROM's, set up the way they want.

 

[jeffc]

try calling dell when your computer crashes....there is little advantage

in buying ...I do not support buying commercial computers,

this is where our rights to have what we want will come to an end(TCPA).

If the big 4 have anything to do with it, they would have

you out of your freedom to purchase what components you prefer into ones

that support anti- piracy (their definition of course) and

tag commercials all over your desktop.

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. 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.

 

[JAD]

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!

 

[jeffc]

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.

 

[JAD]

go buy a dell...you can build cheap if that's what you want,, as 'cheap' as a dell? sure if you want to use 'cheap' peripherals.
Building your own is not 'about' saving, but it can be. Build it as easy has having some moron put it together? Nope, takes some
shopping...BTW its spelled shitMachine.

 

[jeffc]

Dude! Don't tell me you actually PAY for an OS!

No, I think you and most of the rest of the people in this thread are
missing the point. The point is what the OP wants, given his priorities.
This is an enthusiast newsgroup. Our priorities are normally going to be
different than the OP's. So based on the question that was asked, rather
than the question you really want to answer, what is your advice? Does this
person sound like someone who wants to install Linux? Does this person
sound like someone who is willing to spend time and/or money to figure out
what to do to get a built-from-scratch system working? Does this person
sound like someone who won't be using Windows? Does this person sound like
someone who is willing to spend a little more to get the exact components
he's searching for?

 

[jeffc]

go buy a dell...you can build cheap if that's what you want,, as 'cheap'

as a dell? sure if you want to use 'cheap' peripherals.

Building your own is not 'about' saving, but it can be. Build it as easy

has having some moron put it together? Nope, takes some

shopping...BTW its spelled shitMachine.

My shitMachine has been working great for me. I put in a Ti4200 and more
memory and it plays everything great. It doesn't have the power supply that
I'd buy if I were building from scratch. In fact I doubt it has anything in
it that I'd buy if I were starting from scratch. But then it wouldn't cost
$250 to put together the components that I'd use to start from scratch
either. So let's say you can put together a machine that's "as cheap" as a
Dell. What have you bought? You still have to do the work to put it
together yourself. Then when it doesn't boot when you hit the power button,
what are you gonna do? And I still say that when you add in the cost of
Windows, you really can't beat it. Now if you don't want Windows, then a
Dell is probably not for you anyway. But let's remember who we're giving
advice to - the OP, not a PC enthusiast.

 

[jeffc]

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.


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.

 

[jeffc]

Like the 2.6GHz Celeron at $90 against the 2.6GHz P4C at $163 ?
"about 75% of the performance"? - Is that what you imagine?
- Who's being ridiculous here?

First, I don't "imagine" it, I read the performance reports. Post some
sites that show how far off I am. Second, we're talking about Dell, and
Dell doesn't sell CPUs. Dell sells computers. And from Dell the Celeron is
$100 less than the P4, not $73 less.