Should Businesses Build Their Own PCs?

[TomBk]

Is it a good idea for businesses to build their own PCs, or are they better off buying pre-built systems from computer manufacturers?

With businesses, reliability and minimal downtime are usually key issues.

 

[nanaki333]

i have my drones build them in house. doesn't take very long, but at least i know what's going in them; both software and hardware wise. if it's a HUGE enterprise, you're better off pre-built.

 

[Genx87]

Pre-built.

It really isnt the reliability as much as the support. If I am stuck having to troubleshoot why the desktop\server is crapping, then find a part, and then install it and get it back up and running. I have become a very expensive repair tech. Not to mention the downtime for the users.

We use dell because their support is nearly flawless. A desktop craps the bed. I can run their utility and it will find the isssue. It gives me an error code which I give to the online support which then sends out the part or repair technician next day with no questions asked. It is so simple.

 

[bryanW1995]

Plus the cost for a basic desktop system is just too cheap. I bought a prebuilt gateway with a pentium e5800, 4gb, 1tb hd, and win 7 home x64 for $ 289 the other day.

 

[toyota]

that's what I do with my parents. a decent $300-$350 pre built pc every 3 years or so.

 

[Gryz]

Businesses use desktop computers ?

Last time I worked, (which is a few years ago), at a large international high-tech company, every employee got a laptop. Plus dockingstation, monitor, etc. But the idea seemed to be that everyone would be able to take their own computer with them if they needed to go out of the office (to other offices, to customers or work from home). No questions asked, on your first day at work, they'd give you a laptop (and a cellphone). Even people like support engineers at the helpdesk that would never leave their cubicle.

As laptops are pre-build, there would not even be a question whether build yourself or buy pre-build. Are other businesses not doing the same ?

 

[Gunbuster]

Warranty, Warranty, Warranty.

Do you want to keep track of a vendor contact info, invoices, receipts, warranty length, ...

With Dell you log in to the site, plug in the service tag, get automatic warranty verification, enter what part you want, enter an error code, get a part the next day.

 

[nanaki333]

Warranty, Warranty, Warranty.

Do you want to keep track of a vendor contact info, invoices, receipts, warranty length, ...

With Dell you log in to the site, plug in the service tag, get automatic warranty verification, enter what part you want, enter an error code, get a part the next day.

i get the full blown warranty with accidental for laptops. it's kind of sad that i have to get the accidental because people literally throw them around... desktops i always have extra stuff laying around, so it can be fixed right away.

 

[ViviTheMage]

pre-built desktops are generally pretty solid.

laptops with accidental damage warranty for 3 years, and you are set...manuf. sends tech onsite to replace parts in the laptop...so our field guys are down for a short period, as opposed to transit times of shipping laptop around.

 

[bryanW1995]

that's what I do with my parents. a decent $300-$350 pre built pc every 3 years or so.

My mom gets my 2 gen old pc whenever I upgrade. Right now she's still stuck with a Q6600, though my plan is to get a 2500k in the next few days and an IB next year. She'll get my i7 920 when I get the IB rig. Why make her surf on a prebult rig when she can surf in style?

 

[Zargon]

prebuilt from a place that will actually meet specs so I know I am not getting shitty mobos and crappy chipsets with junk chinese ram.....

 

[happy medium]

Warranty, Warranty, Warranty.

Do you want to keep track of a vendor contact info, invoices, receipts, warranty length, ...

With Dell you log in to the site, plug in the service tag, get automatic warranty verification, enter what part you want, enter an error code, get a part the next day.

:thumbsup:

 

[Chiropteran]

I can see why many places use Dells or whatever, but if it was my company I'd simply have all PCs built in-house. Many of the advantages listed for pre-built PCs (warranty, service) can be exceeded by doing the computer building yourself. When you build 10 PCs, order parts for 11. You have a faulty power supply a few weeks later? Swap in the spare, send the bad one out for warranty. Dell offers 4 hour response, our in-house builder would offer a 4 minute response. I think there is a reason why places like facebook, amazon, and google build their own computers. It just makes sense if you need immediate support for any problem.

 

[Zargon]

I can highly recommend http://www.reasonco.com/

used them for years fanstatic support and warrantys

 

[Genx87]

I can see why many places use Dells or whatever, but if it was my company I'd simply have all PCs built in-house. Many of the advantages listed for pre-built PCs (warranty, service) can be exceeded by doing the computer building yourself. When you build 10 PCs, order parts for 11. You have a faulty power supply a few weeks later? Swap in the spare, send the bad one out for warranty. Dell offers 4 hour response, our in-house builder would offer a 4 minute response. I think there is a reason why places like facebook, amazon, and google build their own computers. It just makes sense if you need immediate support for any problem.

How long will it take your in house IT person to diagnose that bad power supply? And on top of that your cost is 10% higher if you are forced to buy parts for 11 while using 10 as your warranty.

I have never heard of FB, amazon, or google building their own workstations. I cant fathom how they would come out ahead on that when dealing with thousands of workstations.

 

[Arkaign]

Businesses use desktop computers ?

Last time I worked, (which is a few years ago), at a large international high-tech company, every employee got a laptop. Plus dockingstation, monitor, etc. But the idea seemed to be that everyone would be able to take their own computer with them if they needed to go out of the office (to other offices, to customers or work from home). No questions asked, on your first day at work, they'd give you a laptop (and a cellphone). Even people like support engineers at the helpdesk that would never leave their cubicle.

As laptops are pre-build, there would not even be a question whether build yourself or buy pre-build. Are other businesses not doing the same ?

It varies massively from company to company, there's no set rule. We have about 50 or so clients at any time, typically between 10-75 employees per client, and although we've seen a trend towards more notebook/mobile computers, they seem to complement rather than replace desktops per se. As a matter of fact, desktop PCs seem to be outlasting in-house servers as something you typically see in a midsize business.

But yeah, I'd say 1 out of 6 or so company we service has only laptops, up from proabably one in 10 five years ago. Easily half or more have either a notebook or macbook in addition to a desktop, and 80%+ have a Droid (most common), iPhone (nearly as common), or Blackberry (ugh) linked up with email/etc to either in-house or hosted exchange services.

 

[jstern01]

Here ya go.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4958/facebooks-open-compute-server-tested

If inhouse build is reliable enough for Facebook, and I know that Amazon is also a white box users for critical systems, why the heck not. Buying from large vendors like Dell/HP/Sun is never a guarantee of reliability or service. Heck even at my place of work with tens of thousands of PC's getting one fixed can take weeks.

 

[Anarchist420]

Here ya go.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4958/facebooks-open-compute-server-tested

If inhouse build is reliable enough for Facebook, and I know that Amazon is also a white box users for critical systems, why the heck not. Buying from large vendors like Dell/HP/Sun is never a guarantee of reliability or service. Heck even at my place of work with tens of thousands of PC's getting one fixed can take weeks.

I agree. Dells and Gateways suck anyway so people ultimately spend more money buying from them than they would if I were to build them a PC. My oldest brother wastes money on macs because he's convinced that they don't viruses.

 

[Genx87]

Here ya go.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4958/facebooks-open-compute-server-tested

If inhouse build is reliable enough for Facebook, and I know that Amazon is also a white box users for critical systems, why the heck not. Buying from large vendors like Dell/HP/Sun is never a guarantee of reliability or service. Heck even at my place of work with tens of thousands of PC's getting one fixed can take weeks.

These are servers that are in controlled envionrment. What about their workstations? They alsodesigning\building those out?

That said this situation isnt typical. How many business's will have an engineering dept be able to design and build their own motherboards?

 

[nanaki333]

you know... all this talk about reliability just reminded me. i ordered one of my usual lenovo laptop configurations and the laptop came in DOA. wouldn't power on at all, period. i had to return it and ended up waiting 4 weeks to get it back, as they wouldn't just give me a brand new one for some reason. poor guy had to use THE LOANER!

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Depends heavily on what type of computer we are talking about. Typical productivity drones? name brand so you don't have to deal with the support and troubleshooting.

If I needed to build some number crunchers, I might build it myself to save money. Then again it all depends on what your relation to the hardware is. Are you the tech that is managing it? Are you accounting? Are you the boss? Hardware that I'm with daily, I wouldn't mind building. Especially if it is an application where brand name manufacturers would rip you off via hardware mark up like no tomorrow.

 

[Concillian]

Did you mean to post this in the Video Cards and Graphics forum? Seems an odd place to pose this question.

 

[tweakboy]

Heck No. Dell and HP etc will always be a companies way. They cant build 500 pc's they rather spend the money and get warranty and get brand new from Dell.

Companies stick with their comps for years and years, because upgrade is too costly. But when its time to upgrade, they get OS rights and comp from companies like Dell and HP and what not. gl

 

[corkyg]

Pre-built.

This! Businesses should not spend time and money doing things that are not their business.

If the business is computers, however, then that is a different story.

 

[Zap]

Did you mean to post this in the Video Cards and Graphics forum? Seems an odd place to pose this question.

Moved to General Hardware.

It really varies.

Back when I was at BFG Tech, we built our own in-house, though there were some leftover Dells (from a previous guy). In fact, my first day on the job I walked in to find a case and pile of parts. My first task was to build my own computer to use there.

When I worked at Modine Manufacturing Company, we used all Dells. However, all the service work was done in-house. Basically, if someone had a computer problem, we needed to fix it NOW. Dell of course replaced parts we swapped out, but they were not the source of tech support nor of the actual work - only parts RMA.