Is buying a pre-made computer all that bad?

[Noema]

I personally prefer building:

I don't have to deal with a preinstalled OS with tons of bloatware and can reinstall at any time if necessary.

I can pick all the parts myself, and I know exactly what's under the hood. No mystery motherboard; no propietary parts.

I can pick my own case and PSU: no wondering whether a new GPU will work with it or not.

No mistery or propietary drivers that are poorly supported

And of course, the pride and FUN involved in building it yourself. I love booting PCs for the first time...it feels like Xmas morning

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Has anyone thought of a class-action lawsuit against such companies for installing un-requested bloatware on a machine that you own? You can claim that such software dimishes performance and often contains spyware to fvck up your machine. Of course many companies hope for the latter so that you come back running to BB/Geek Squad for expensive repair.

Yea, smart. Drive the prices up by starting a useless class-action lawsuit. That "bloatware" on the computers help pay for them. Pre-loaded software keeps the prices down because the companies pay the hardware mfgs to put it there. Toss the "bloat" as you call it before you get it, and you'll end up paying far more then the computer is worth.

 

[razor2025]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Yea, smart. Drive the prices up by starting a useless class-action lawsuit. That "bloatware" on the computers help pay for them. Pre-loaded software keeps the prices down because the companies pay the hardware mfgs to put it there. Toss the "bloat" as you call it before you get it, and you'll end up paying far more then the computer is worth.

Bloat causes more harm than you think. Who knows how bad these bloatware comes close to being malware? I'm also distraught at the trend in this. There's really no need to have more than 1GB RAM on a average PC. 512MB should be enough if the system is kept bloat-free. By adding bloat, a "need" arise to have increased performance. So it's a vicious cycle. Bob buys a PC with 512MB and a little bloat. The bloat makes his experience not too pleasent, so Bob buys another PC with 1024MB and even more bloat later on. Even with twice the RAM (and probably twice in every spec), Bob probably won't see the full benefit of his hardware purchase due to the increase in amount of bloat the manufacture places. Thus, Bob will probably look into buying a machine with 2048MB of RAM not too far long.

Also, the bloat is probably their profit-margin not cost reducer. While the price of PC is cheaper everyday, so are components. Add to the fact that not everyone buys the bargain $300 E-machine.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: kyzen
I've been needing a new computer for awhile now, and was considering building one till I went into Best Buy and saw various big-brand computers containing the processor I want (Core 2 Duo) for a significant amount less than it would cost me to build. In the past I've always built my computers... but with these prices I don't know if I can justify that anymore

Anybody else run into this problem? What have you ended up doing?

if you cant build it for less you are shopping in the wrong places..
and yes it is bad unless youre looking for a laptop...

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: kyzen
I've been needing a new computer for awhile now, and was considering building one till I went into Best Buy and saw various big-brand computers containing the processor I want (Core 2 Duo) for a significant amount less than it would cost me to build. In the past I've always built my computers... but with these prices I don't know if I can justify that anymore

Anybody else run into this problem? What have you ended up doing?

if you cant build it for less you are shopping in the wrong places..
and yes it is bad unless youre looking for a laptop...

Where can you get the parts and legal software for cheaper?

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: kyzen
I've been needing a new computer for awhile now, and was considering building one till I went into Best Buy and saw various big-brand computers containing the processor I want (Core 2 Duo) for a significant amount less than it would cost me to build. In the past I've always built my computers... but with these prices I don't know if I can justify that anymore

Anybody else run into this problem? What have you ended up doing?

if you cant build it for less you are shopping in the wrong places..
and yes it is bad unless youre looking for a laptop...

Where can you get the parts and legal software for cheaper?

Well I have umpteen million legal unused XP keys as well as a retail version of Media Center 2005.. as an IT pro we use volume licensing.. but every machine we buy has a retail xp pro key attached that is never used.. we are allowed to use them in the IT dept.

and hardware is easy.. as an IT geek its easy to get a wholesale hookup at local shops
or just wait for places like frys to put on sale componants you need..

my last upgrade cost around 700 bucks... which you couldnt touch a whole new game system for.. specs are in my sig.. note I said upgrade.. becasue once you make a entire investment of a system you can recycle pieces... power supply case.. ram sometimes... HDs.. optical drives.. etc..

 

[ryan256]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: CVSiN
if you cant build it for less you are shopping in the wrong places..
and yes it is bad unless youre looking for a laptop...

Where can you get the parts and legal software for cheaper?

NewEgg.com and volume licensing. My gaming machine cost me a little less than $1400. And since my last machine is no longer using its license for XP as it has been cannibalized for parts I didn't need to purchase one. A comparable system from Dell... $2770. And thats with only a 1 year OEM warranty. Not the 3 year, 5 year, and lifetime manufacturer's warranties I now have. In addition my system can be overclocked and easily upgraded.