Is it getting worse for system builders?

[hovercast]

I remember back in 2008 when building a computer in the $1000-$1500 price range, it was always a better deal to buy your parts and build it rather than buying it from dell or hp because you get better brand parts and lower total price.
But lately it seems like it’s a better deal to just buy from manufacturers like hp and dell.
Here is an example…
I went to hp website and customized a desktop with the following specs:

• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-860 quad-core processor [2.8GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache]
• 6GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [3 DIMMs]
• FREE UPGRADE! 750GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 640GB
• 1.8GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 [2 DVI, HDMI and VGA adapters]
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB, 1394, audio
• Integrated 7.1 channel sound with front audio ports
• HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• Norton Internet Security(TM) 2010 - 15 month
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
• And a 23 inch hp monitor

Hp pic http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3658338/hp-pc2.gif
The total came up to 1413.10 with taxes and shipping(you have to pay taxes no matter what state you live in I think).
Then I went to newegg website and tried to build a computer with nearly equal specs.

• HP 24X Multiformat DVD Burner Black SATA Model 1270i LightScribe Support – Retai
• Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply – Retail
• Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive
• ECS Black Series NBGTX260-896MX-F GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ... – Retail
• Microsoft Comfort Curve Value Pack – OEM
• Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port / Extra silver face plate – Retail
• Kingston 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1333D3N9K3/6G – Retail
• ECS H55H-M(1.0) LGA 1156 Intel H55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail
• Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 – Retail
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders – OEM
• Symantec Norton Antivirus 2010 3 User – Retail
• ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - Retail
• LG W2343T-PF Black 23" 5ms Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 30000:1(DC) - Retail

Newegg pic http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3658338/newegg.gif
I didn’t even go for the good brands, just the lowest priced. And the total came up to 1379.38 with shipping(I don’t pay taxes at newegg since I live in Illinois).
Thats around 30 cheaper than hp and I have to build it still, so for 30 dollars more I can just let hp build it for me.
Does anyone else feel like prices for system builders are kind of crapy lately?

 

[Quailane]

(you have to pay taxes no matter what state you live in I think).

You don't.

You really couldn't build that computer any cheaper? The CPU cooler is unnecessary. A 3 person bundle Also some things you selected from Newegg are decidedly better than the things HP will ship you, like the monitor you selected and the case. Also you should look for the cheapest places to get your things, and not just get everything on Newegg, because they rarely have the best prices on everything like they used to years ago. Another thing to consider is that if you are building a computer for someone, maybe they don't need the exact specs HP is selling some computers for and could do with lower and cheaper hardware instead of having a lot of stuff forced on them.

 

[hovercast]

well I chose the cpu cooler because I dont think hp just uses the intel stock fan. They probably have some kind of custom cooling. The 3 person bundle was more than what hp offered but I thought the price might be close to what you would pay for 1 licence from norton.
The monitor and case, I like the hp ones better and I thought they were of better quality lol but I dont know how close they might be in actual value.

the thing about geting everything from only one place is you pay really low shipping price otherwise you have to hunt all over the place for free shipping.

Oh and what state dosent pay taxes when ordering from hp website? I might be moving there lol

 

[Quailane]

well I chose the cpu cooler because I dont think hp just uses the intel stock fan. They probably have some kind of custom cooling. The 3 person bundle was more than what hp offered but I thought the price might be close to what you would pay for 1 licence from norton.
The monitor and case, I like the hp ones better and I thought they were of better quality lol but I dont know how close they might be in actual value.

the thing about geting everything from only one place is you pay really low shipping price otherwise you have to hunt all over the place for free shipping.

Oh and what state dosent pay taxes when ordering from hp website? I might be moving there lol

You only pay taxes if the company operates in your state.

Also, Newegg shipping doesn't work like that. Whether you order everything together or one thing one day at a time, it is the same price.

 

[Dapman02]

You only pay taxes if the company operates in your state.

Also, Newegg shipping doesn't work like that. Whether you order everything together or one thing one day at a time, it is the same price.

unless you buy it in a bundle

 

[King107s]

Youre better off building it yourself because....

Dell/HP et al typically will use the cheapest and barely sufficient PSU's which have a high failure rate and a lot of times take orther components with them when they go.

They typically use very low quality case components such as fans (= poor cooling = shorter lifespan) and always create a proprietary layout that makes future upgrades more difficult if not impossible.

They ussually use off-brand RAM with high latency and slow timings.

The mainboards are typically very lack luster too with very little in the way of expandability and good luck trying to over clock. I have seen a lot of leaky capacitors with Dell boards especially.

I could go on and on but not everyone is up to the task of builing their own computer so maybe for them buying something that they are never going to mess with and don't want to put together theirself the Dells and HPs are a good option.

 

[PretzelPusher]

For me it wouldn't matter if they were the same exact price. Just for the reasons mentioned above. Less then par part quality and the ability to change out component pieces without hassle.

"Build it and they will come." Says the voice on high.... lol.

 

[Marshmallow64]

I think your still better building it yourself. Ewiz.com has this system builder thing though. The prices aren't that bad for those that can't build it yourself.

http://www.ewiz.com/system_index.php

 

[benbaked]

Building a system yourself is still way more fun then buying a pre-built. No pre-built can replace the joy of doing research, picking out your own parts and assembling the build yourself. Then there's the overclocking aspect, something that is much easier to do on a custom PC compared to most pre-builts.

For a cheapo budget system those $239 Dell towers I often see popup for sale at places like extremeoverclocking.com are good deals IMHO, it's not easy to build a budget system yourself with a legal copy of Windows for less then what Dell charges. For something that cheap I'd go with a pre-built, $239 is throw away for a complete PC, I can live with subpar components at that price.

 

[||Console||]

Building a system yourself is still way more fun then buying a pre-built. No pre-built can replace the joy of doing research, picking out your own parts and assembling the build yourself. Then there's the overclocking aspect, something that is much easier to do on a custom PC compared to most pre-builts.

+1

Never have and never will own a prebuilt

 

[Grieg]

Originally Posted by benbaked Building a system yourself is still way more fun then buying a pre-built. No pre-built can replace the joy of doing research, picking out your own parts and assembling the build yourself. Then there's the overclocking aspect, something that is much easier to do on a custom PC compared to most pre-builts.

You know... I typed up 3 or 4 paragraphs on why I build, and this just summed it up faster. +1

I'll add one thing: Knowing that your little non-descript black box can smoke your friend's Alienware Area-51 like a cheap blunt is completely priceless. Knowing you spent less than he did to do it makes it even better.

 

[mas5acre]

I actually disagree, I think owning a prebuilt is a must at first, at least it was for me. Id rather have made it myself, but prebuilts aren't all bad. When I bought my first and last HP Pavillion bout maybe 6yrs ago? Not sure. Its specs are athlon xp 2400+ 512ram geforce 4 mx440. I would never buy a prebuilt again unless it was a laptop. .....But I had to start somewhere, there's this magical nirvana called the internet and the flying unicorns were calling me to ride that rainbow of knowledge so I could partake in the vast unifying mind, where all is one. Gaining that knowledge, I too could one day become a god of technology with my evil computer minion creation to do my bidding to slaughter all those flying unicorns so that I alone would have that knowledge.


On another note I saw a core i7 machine prebuilt on slickdeals.net for like 460ish something.

 

[chop_wood]

i came up with $1170 for the egg (inc ship) no tax. including asus monitor,samsung drive,gigabyte motherboard,bfg graphics,patriot/lge/logitech etc.. thats over $200 in savings right there....
factoring in ill be using openoffice/avira(id pay a coulple dollars to not have norton/works included)
not to mention im an ocf cyber deal bum. i save ANOTHER $100 on the os because i bought it for $30!


recap: over $300 cheaper
overclockable
name brand parts with mostly 3-5-lifetime warranty
satisfaction of building etc as mentioned above
i can opt for even better part models including a i7 920/ asrock 1366 for $75 more
if i brought it to a tech theyd like me more.

 

[mrgoodkat]

The big sellers like Dell/HP, etc, all lock into contracts for most components. In times of serious economic instability, there are clauses within those contracts to ease the hurt on the actual manufacturers. But overall, the profit margin shrinks to almost nothing. This is what has happened with the global recession. So in order for an Asian manufacturer to increase profit, they raise prices on the consumer end. Dell is getting the same thing much cheaper than we are.

 

[hovercast]

I enjoy building it myself as well but I guess I just wanted to point out how much better of a deal it use to be back in 2008 compared to todays prices. maybe its because of the bad economy I dunno.

 

[hovercast]

The big sellers like Dell/HP, etc, all lock into contracts for most components. In times of serious economic instability, there are clauses within those contracts to ease the hurt on the actual manufacturers. But overall, the profit margin shrinks to almost nothing. This is what has happened with the global recession. So in order for an Asian manufacturer to increase profit, they raise prices on the consumer end. Dell is getting the same thing much cheaper than we are.

Mrgoodkat understands what I'm talking about and I think your answer makes good sence.

 

[SamSaveMax]

I recall those days that I used to hunt down those SPECIAL COUPON from various $300~$400 OFF from HP for use and apply after a system configuration completed. Those coupons are killer on top of their competitive low prices.

 

[4GHZ_or_bust]

I enjoy building it myself as well but I guess I just wanted to point out how much better of a deal it use to be back in 2008 compared to todays prices. maybe its because of the bad economy I dunno.

Big names like HP and Dell uses cheap PSU that will blow up if you added more than 1 hard drives, cheap mobo with BIOS that offers very limited option, never overclocking options, gets Windows OS in bulk (very cheap) that is absolutely non-transferable, keyboard that are often POS for gaming, and cheap cases that weights a ton yet has only room for 1 extra internal HDs. To top it off, their case are often full of razor sharp edges inside that is sure to cause you to donate a pint of blood just trying to add one extra HD.

I still prefer to assemble my own computer. That way I can get nice looking case, a PSU that actually meets ATX specs and can handle double what I got, have lots of room in the case for all the upgrades, case that don't have razor sharp edges inside, have mobo that is decent, RAM that can handle overclocking, and no warranty to void.

 

[SpoonXps]

I just ordered a new gaming system from Dell, but before doing that, I did some research on parts and cost very close. So I decided to get the Dell for the ease, warranty, and special financing.
I could have gone the building way, but then I though of the hassel of bad parts and time might be spend on returning and waiting for bad parts.
I've own many dell computers and 80% never had issues. The 20% that had little problems, dell fix it right away. So very little down time.

Dunno why there's so many anti dell or hp ppl around.

 

[720x770]

Some of the configurations of pre-built systems out there are a little wacky.

But all of that aside, many pre-built systems have their own in-house limited bios. Some of them don't even have an option for a more detailed bios control, nor any type of bios to flash it with. I remember working on a friends AMD system that was locked at 2T memory timings, and I had to use Nvidia's control panel to overclock the processor.

Many warranties don't allow you to open the case to clean or put anything in the system, that has to be done by a technician.

You can show me any pre-built system, and I'll find it for cheaper by building it myself. I refuse to pay extra for someone to snap several parts together like lego's, when I can do that myself.

Building yourself ensures you get all of the features you want, and mostly none of the features you won't need.