L
Lordy
I am now convinced that the opnly people that can build PCs for less
than the sum of its parts are very large companies.
If Joe/Jane Bloggs is selling **cheap** PCs at the computer fair /
independant shop you can be fairly sure they have cut corners that will
affect the stability and reliability of your purchase.
They seem to take a lot of care with fancy cable ties to stitch together
below par components. You gets what you pay for....
Most crappy components are:
Case supplied PSU - come on down ...
These will work for about 8 months. It will be over a year before the
owner realises that random reboots are not because computers are evil
but because cheap PSU's are.
Alzheimers Memory
The classic "nothing works properly" syndrome. Half of the programs want
to send information to Microsoft whilst dying. Cheap generic memory
which somehow managed to install the OS and run a few demos but the
quickly degenerates into a quivering heap of memtest errors.
Airport simulation
Noise is much more of a concern nowadays but PCs from 2 years ago often
have you ducking for cover. Although from the PCs point of view lots of
noise often means better air cooling so I'll pass on this one...
Alzheimers BIOS...
These builders must be getting their 2032 BIOS batteries from the local
flea market because after less than a year the PCs reset everyting and
clock down to safe settings whenever the plug is pulled.
Shite All-in-one motherboard of the month (although these are getting
better?)
I've seen 3 of 3 faulty PCs from the same independant builder (I'm
embarrased to say I recommended them about 1.5 years ago because I didnt
want to build and support PCs for friends/family but in the last couple
of weeks I've been supporting ALL of their crappy PCs)
1 had PSU failures out of warrantee (turns out PSU was the case supplied
one)
1 had PSU failer after a few months and the (slightly better)
replacement failed after about 18 months.
1 had bad memory (Original buyer had ALWAYS had "problems" with this PC,
and, silly me, I had just assumed the builder had done a basic
memtest/stress test). Memtest had baerly run for more than 2 seconds
before errors appeared.
All are noisey as f**k.
Moral of the story?
Not sure.
If you want quality - pay for it (or self build)
If you want cheap get it from the *big* builders/distributers and hope
for the best.
than the sum of its parts are very large companies.
If Joe/Jane Bloggs is selling **cheap** PCs at the computer fair /
independant shop you can be fairly sure they have cut corners that will
affect the stability and reliability of your purchase.
They seem to take a lot of care with fancy cable ties to stitch together
below par components. You gets what you pay for....
Most crappy components are:
Case supplied PSU - come on down ...
These will work for about 8 months. It will be over a year before the
owner realises that random reboots are not because computers are evil
but because cheap PSU's are.
Alzheimers Memory
The classic "nothing works properly" syndrome. Half of the programs want
to send information to Microsoft whilst dying. Cheap generic memory
which somehow managed to install the OS and run a few demos but the
quickly degenerates into a quivering heap of memtest errors.
Airport simulation
Noise is much more of a concern nowadays but PCs from 2 years ago often
have you ducking for cover. Although from the PCs point of view lots of
noise often means better air cooling so I'll pass on this one...
Alzheimers BIOS...
These builders must be getting their 2032 BIOS batteries from the local
flea market because after less than a year the PCs reset everyting and
clock down to safe settings whenever the plug is pulled.
Shite All-in-one motherboard of the month (although these are getting
better?)
I've seen 3 of 3 faulty PCs from the same independant builder (I'm
embarrased to say I recommended them about 1.5 years ago because I didnt
want to build and support PCs for friends/family but in the last couple
of weeks I've been supporting ALL of their crappy PCs)
1 had PSU failures out of warrantee (turns out PSU was the case supplied
one)
1 had PSU failer after a few months and the (slightly better)
replacement failed after about 18 months.
1 had bad memory (Original buyer had ALWAYS had "problems" with this PC,
and, silly me, I had just assumed the builder had done a basic
memtest/stress test). Memtest had baerly run for more than 2 seconds
before errors appeared.
All are noisey as f**k.
Moral of the story?
Not sure.
If you want quality - pay for it (or self build)
If you want cheap get it from the *big* builders/distributers and hope
for the best.