Computers: OEM vs Custom-built.

What this topic is all about is regarding the pros and cons of the different purchase channels for computers, and the long-standing issue of why OEMs tend to have the habit of bundling additonal, sometimes unwanted software programs with their PCs. Here is my account of the situation as experienced by me myself:

Actually, don't buy from courts. Courts is NOT the manufacturer of the computers, they are the retailers.

If you look at the price of the computers stated there, that is the ACTUAL price you are supposed to pay. But Courts charges you extra. I bought my computer from Courts and I end up paying more than the stated price displayed on the big sign.

My computer's price stated at the display booth inside the Courts store was $1699. But I ended up paying more than $4000!
I couldn't understand why.
And another thing which everyone should take note of, computers which are made by manufacturers, or OEMs, such as, HP, Dell, Acer, the computers made by these big name manufacturers usually have extra software programs bundled together with them besides the preinstalled Operating System, which is usually Microsoft Windows [version name here], my recommendation is to NOT use the additional software provided, as those programs are OEM versions, not original versions. This is what I call unwanted software.
Another thing is if you want to buy a computer which is made by these big name manufacturers, buy directly from the manufacturer so you don't have to end up paying extra. Whether you want to use the additional software crap bundled with the computer is entirely up to you.

Or if you want to be on the safe side, buy a custom-built computer, which means you go to a shop which sells computer parts and Operating Systems.
You get to choose how you want your computer to be built and you get to control what you want and do not want with your computer. Bonus point is, you pay the exact price of the system built, no extra amount and you have ONLY Windows [version name here] installed without any additional software programs*.

*Excludes programs built into the Operating System. Eg,. Internet Explorer...etc.

 

About the price: in my country that's illegal i think. I don't see how it would be legal anywhere else . It the tag says $x, it costs $x, not $y, unless y is less. Same goes for a restaurant, bar, or anything. If the menu says the beer is $2 or whatever, you can't be forced to pay $3.

Any lawyers here?

 

The only OEM computer that I will ever buy again would be a laptop (and even then I recently saw a site where you could buy barebones or ubuntu laptps). I built my 866mhz PIII machine that has 512mb of ram years ago when 866 was top of the line. Now I don't play very many games on my PC, but it is still running strong and actually feels faster than a lot of the OEM machines that I have used in recent years. On top of that, all of the original parts that I put in the machine are still running strong. The only changes I have had to make to the hardware were swapping out a CDRW for a DVDRW, and adding additional hard drives though the original HD is still in use in the machine. The main reason I feel that everything is still working and working so well is that every part is a major manufacturer, whereas I've seem OEM machines that have unknown brands for some of the parts.

 

That's just it, things like motherboards can make a huge difference, and is typically where OEMs will cut corners. The average OEM customer isn't aware of these things and wouldn't know what to look for, so take it for granted that the processor and video card is all that really matters, so the OEM has little incentive to go for quality on such things. Put together your own and the parts you buy (unless you go for cheap) are going to be marketed for either performance or reliability, and you can be fully aware of what's what. As long as you don't cut the same corners, you can end up with a machine that runs a whole lot more smoothly and lasts a whole lot longer. I've got a Celeron 800 system overclocked to 1ghz on an ASUS motherboard that was used 24/7 since the day it was new, and it still works perfectly to this day (although I don't really use it anymore). Conversely, I have a pile of 1.6ghz Celeron OEM systems that I've collected from friends and family for parts after they crapped out after a couple/few years. Now all my desktop systems are either ASUS or Intel motherboards with name brand everything else with long warranties.

 

so far ive built two computers and im quite happy with them. no bundled software, every part is exactly what i want, and teh price is fair.

 

Any monkey with a small phillips head screw driver can build his on system. I have pieced together my system from thrift store parts, Ebay and yard sales. I don’t like spending more than 100 bucks on any system.

 

Also, with a custom built machine, it is much easier to get warranty service for the individual parts. I used to have a HP Pavillion. One of the memory sticks went bad in it. The machine was under warranty, so I called up HP. It was such a pain to get through all of their "troubleshooting" to get them to admit that the memory was bad. With a custom machine, if a part goes bad and is under warrenty, you call the manufacturer of that part and have it taken care of.

 

Hi Guys,

I have a Sony Vaio computer, & Sony is very proprietary. You have to get everything from them, the mfg's they use, won't have anything for you. Pioneer, Asus, come to mind, as products whic came with this box, & have to get updates only from Sony. I'll be the retarded monkey, trying to build (my next) machine from scratch. Say anybody know how to make a CPU.

Take Care & Merry Christmas
Rico

 

I had my computer built especially to my specifications, and it cost me $6299 because they used high end merchandise to build it with, Custom Built computers can be built for the same price as an OEM computer, it all depends what components are used, I have a 3.62Ghz Pentium 4 Machine I recently upgraded to 4GB Memory and a 500GB hard drive for $440

 

Hello,
Only custom built. Ever.
Even if I have to buy a laptop, it will be custom-built.
Mrk