Should You Build Your Own PC, Order A Custom PC, Or Have A Friend Help You?
Build Your Own
If you have a personality that enjoys learning, and want to strive to get the most knowledge, usability, and usefulness out of your PC, and yourself as possible you should seriously consider building your own PC. The experience and knowledge one gains from building their own PC is immeasurable by any of the other previously mentioned options. Not to mention the pride and joy you get from building your own. If you are looking to build your own PC you should also check out Best Computer Upgrades, and Easy Computer Upgrades in case you decide to upgrade in the future. And who knows, this could also lead you down the road to a new hobby, or even maybe a future profession.
Pros:
- You’ll know your computer better than anyone else.
- You can learn a lot from building your own computer, like repairing, troubleshooting, and upgrading PCs.
- You get bragging rights for building your own. (You may know one or two people that have built their own PC, but the rest of your friends will be amazed)
- You can easily make room for future upgrades, and when the time comes you’ll know how to upgrade your computer.
- You’ll get a good bang for the buck when putting together your own computer, and if you have a lot of buck you’ll get a lot of bang.
Cons:
- Any problems you encounter will have to be solved by yourself and a clever use of the world wide web.
- There’s a chance that some parts you order will be DOA (Dead on Arrival) which means you’ll have to send them back and wait for a replacement part
- Operating Systems aren’t cheap, unless you’re going with Linux.
Ordering A Dell
This option is good for those that simply don’t have time to mess around with all this techno-stuff, and would rather just get on with using their computer, not learning anything new. This is the lazy way out. Luckily, for the lazy people Dell has a nice website setup to help them ‘assemble’ their new computer, pay for it, and have it shipped to them in a week or so, though this usually comes with a premium price tag.
Pros:
- It’s an easy way to get exactly what you want, without any hassle or problems.
- Tech Support will always be there when you have a problem.
- Comes with a warranty.
Cons:
- If you have a problem, you can’t fix it without voiding your warranty, and if you don’t have a warrant you’ll probably spend big bucks at Geek Squad getting your computer ‘fixed’.
- Recommended upgrades, hardware, software on the website is extremely expensive, and usually not needed, or do not offer the performance increase for the price.
- Prebuilt systems usually cost more.
- Sometimes it’s hard to find your exact system specs if you want to upgrade your PC yourself, or if you do certain hardwares may not be compatible with your manufactured system.
Using Your Trusty Friend
If you have a tech savvy friend that knows more about computers than you do, you could try asking him to help you build a system, it’s a good way to get the benefits of a custom PC, while having a backup check and recheck all your work to make sure you don’t do anything wrong or make any problems. Chances are, if you ask your friend he will say yes, but you have to make sure you’re ready to put in the work, because he will put in his fair share (Hopefully). Don’t forget to reimburse your friend for the time and effort that he’ll put to help you get the PC you want, it is hard work to put together a PC, even if he is enjoying don’t forget to say thanks for his hard work or take him out to lunch or something, and don’t take him for granted. Tech people usually get put into that category of service people that will help you out with all your tech problems, and have no feelings, or no need for any reimbursement or thanks, because they just simply enjoy helping you out with your problems.
Pros:
- Your friend is probably the easiest and most trustworthy tech support you can find.
- A good second judgement to correct any mistakes you’ve made or are about to make.
- You also get many of the benefits from the Building Your Own section
Cons:
- Friend may be lazy and not want to help you.
- Your friend could lack the knowledge needed to build a complete system, and will get you stuck halfway through the process.
- He may be unreliable in helping you with the computer.
Hopefully this post has helped you decide whether or not you want to take the task of building your own PC, or leaving it to the pros. Readers please leave me a comment on what category of system you have, did you build your own, get someone to help you build, or order it from Dell/bought it from a store?
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February 15th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I have built hundreds of PC’s for myself and friends and found I can build them for around one third the cost of sellers and this increases to one half if the user/buyer needs the software/OS too. Usually they are exactly what the user/buyer wants and not something that the sellers want to sell you or will only do half the job. By far the best way to go.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I agree, I love building computers myself, because of the fact that I can have them exactly the way I want them, and the major price benefits is a good plus too.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I built my first computer back in 92/93, lol at win 3.11, and after that I never ever bought a branded pc, my friends were jealous that their cheap dells were such pieces of crap and mine for the same price or even less was comparable to a hi end system. Now I became their supplier
April 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Who says that friend has to be a he?
April 10th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
@Jill
That friend doesn’t have to be a he, but it’s better than calling the friend an it.
@James
I know what you mean. Now they just need to get some standards for building laptops and then I’ll be set.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Have a friend help you… only if he/she knows what they are doing. You can build a really powerful system for way cheaper than most retail. If you have no friends that build computers, just do a lot of research, and youll be OK as long as you know some basic PC stuff.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:51 am
“…have a geeky tech-savvy friend help…”
This type of cutesy comment is grating. Building a PC is easy - very easy. Knowing how to do it isn’t a matter of being “tech-savvy” or “geeky”, it’s a matter of being reasonably competent. It’s about choosing parts that work together (easily located online), screwing or snapping them together (plenty of step-by-step guides online), and installing software. It isn’t rocket science. Anyone who chooses to do it, can do it, assuming a reasonable level of intelligence.
So it is neither cute nor endearing to suggest that people who choose NOT to be dependent upon unreliable corporations for their PC needs must be “geeky”. It would be more accurate to say that they choose to be self sufficient when it comes to an appliance that has become critical for communication, commerce, and access to information in today’s economy.
That so few people can build or make basic repairs to a PC reflects NOT on the skills of the few who can do it, but on the general dumbing down of this society. Sad.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:34 am
@Bob
Sorry that you feel that way, but I don’t think it’s due to the general dumbing down of the society so much as where their interests lie with this sort of thing. They don’t know how to do repairs, because they don’t take the time to learn, and just want it to work. They’re getting too used to being able to call someone and having them fix it, instead of relying on themselves to fix the problem.
Some people are lazy and they’re just rather pay someone the $200 to fix it, instead of spending $50 to do it themselves and cut out the labor.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
[Hey Taro!]
Ooooh, psssssssss. Sizzlin’.
Yeah I do not know how to fix a computer, build one, nor will I ever learn. I have people to do that for me, i.e. Alex and real computer professionals. [That boy is amazing, let me tell you…] Doesn’t mean I lack a reasonable level of intelligence, as Bob may deem I might.
But I must concur, people are getting too lax with the ability to call a 1-800 number and have it fixed at a set date and time.