Buying a pre-built PC vs. Building a PC
by Elimin8or on Mar.05, 2009, under Tech
showdown
In the market for a new PC? Can’t decide whether to buy a pre-built or to just build one yourself? Want to know the pros and cons of building a computer rather than buying a pre-built? If you answered yes to any of the questions, then you must read this article.
I have spent some time at dell.com building myself a computer. Next I built one on newegg.com, as close as I could to the Dell. Here is what I came up with:
Dell:
Unknown motherboard and specifications
Intel Q6600 2.4GHz processor
GTX 280
4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
500GB SATA Hard Drive
2 16x DVD Burners
Vista Home Premium 64 bit SP1
XPS Case
Unknown PSU
1 year warranty
Total: $1404 + shipping
Newegg:
MSI Motherboard, 8GB RAM support, DDR2 800MHz standard, 3 way SLi supported, 750I chipset, supports intel quad and dual cores.
Intel Q6600 2.4GHz
GTX 280
4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
2 22X DVD Burners
500GB Hard Drive
Corsair 750W
Antec 900
Vista Home Premium 64 bit SP1
1 year warranty on: Video Card, CPU, Motherboard, PSU, and Hard Drive
Free Game included
Total: $1334.86 shipping included
Rebates: $110
New Total: $1224.86
Looking at the specs, we see pretty much the same computers. Same processor, RAM amount, hard drive space, and video card. The first pro of building a computer is you know exactly what you are going to get. With the pre-built, you know hardly any of the brands of your parts, whereas you know all the brands when you build it yourself.
Next, look at the price. On Dell.com, you pay $1404, plus shipping. You know for a fact that you will save over $70 when you build the computer, because from Newegg.com you pay $1334.86, shipping included in the price! Now subtract the mail-in-rebates, and viola; you just saved a total of over $180!
So some of the pros for building a computer yourself are that you know what you get (brands), and its cheaper. But what are the cons? Look at the warranty. With newegg, I had to add all the warranties (no price change; the total I gave you includes warranty). On Dell.com, the one year warranty covered ALL the parts. Newegg only allowed me to cover most of the parts. Also, if you purchase a pre-built, you will have 24/7 customer service, right away. Not so with newegg. Sure, you can visit places like CopmuterForum.com for help, which there is always someone there, but it’s not right away. It’s more difficult and takes longer. But is having that available worth $180?
What about the cheaper computers? Like if you need a computer for under $400? Well, I have researched that too.
Dell.com:
Unknown motherboard and motherboard specs
Intel E5200 2.5GHz dual core processor
2GB DDR2 800MHz RAM (Unknown brand)
320GB SATA HDD (Unknown brand)
16X DVD Burner (Unknown brand)
Dell Keyboard/Mouse combo
Vista Basic SP1
1 year limited hardware warranty
$329 (plus shipping)
Newegg.com:
Zotac motherboard, supports up to 4GB RAM, quad-core support
Intel E5200 2.5GHz processor
2GB RAM
320GB Western Digital SATA HDD
22X DVD Burner
Vista Home Basic SP1
$328 (plus shipping, after rebates)
With this small budget, it was way closer. Now it comes down entirely on the pros and cons of each system. Again, with the prebuilt, you have 1 year warranty, and this time, the custom has no warranty. But in all honesty, you shouldn’t need the warranty. The cons with buying a prebuilt are again that you don’t know what you are getting. Also, no mouse and keyboard with the prebuilt.
The more expensive the system gets, the bigger the price difference. If you get a pre built you can be assured you know what you are getting, but you don’t get technical support and less or no warranty. My personal preference is to build computer myself. It is much more gratifying and fun then buying from the store/website. I know exactly what I am getting, and I am not worried about warranty, especially not with newegg; the customer support is absolutely great. As for technical support, I would use
www.computerforum.com.
Have fun!
Adam
