Should I Buy A Pre-built Desktop Or Build One Myself?

You'd be surprised to know that most retailers selll pre-built Desktop PCs at way higher prices than if you bought the components by themselves, with your own tower. So, therefore and obviously, my advice for you would be to buy your own components and tower and assemble the parts. It mustn't be too hard, but be careful... those components are really fragile. Find some tutorial on the Internet and you should be ready to go. Good luck!

 

The desktop computer that we have, which is fairly old now, was built by my uncle, who knows a fair bit about computers, since he has been building and stripping them down since childhood. When we first decided to get a desktop, we went to a shop to look at prices, and then my uncle offered to get us parts from a PC fair, and put one together. It cost us a lot less money to take his advice.

 

If you're knowledgeable enough to build your own desktop then you have every reason not to buy one that's already pre-assembled. You have to weigh the pros and cons, though, before making a full-blown decision. Is it worth it to build your own desktop? Do you think you can build one with the same quality and efficiency as the desktops manufactured by large companies? If the answer is a resounding "yes" (perhaps because you're confident in your computer-building skills), then by all means do as you please.

 

Well, if you don't trust yourself enough, just ask them to do it without your direct intervention, haha, because those components, just like I said, are really fragile and you must handle them with extra care. Just tell me how it goes when you have everything set up. Cheers.

 

It is definitely worth it to build your own desktop if you know what you are doing, or have someone with you who is particularly knowledgeable about computers, and all of their components. It is much cheaper to buy the parts separately and then assemble it. But if you don't know how to assemble it yourself, I'm sure that it'd still be cheaper to buy the parts yourself and pay someone to assemble them?

 

It's so freaking easy.
I would say if you have even half an oz of computer knowledge or general handiness then build your own.
Sounds like you do, since you are already watching how-to's
Not only will it save you money, but you will get to decide what YOU need in your computer.
Plus you get to learn a few things.

 

Building your PC would save you a substantial amount of money but if you don't know how it is done then it would be better to save the money you'd have to spend paying some expert to build it for you. Buy pre-built.

If it's money you want to save but don't know how to build a computer then I'd suggest buying a refurbished PC. They aren't that costly.

 

As a general rule, pre-built desktops are "overpriced". You can often shave off quite a reasonable portion of the set price by building one yourself. Just ask a tech-savvy friend to help with assembly or watch tutorials on youtube. I've read many good things about newegg, which often has sales like "buy a Motherboard + CPU" (20% off). I can't personally vouch for it as I live in Europe. Not to worry, as there are alternatives for newegg here.

 

If you need anything more than a basic Budget PC, then it's usually cheaper to build one yourself anyways. You can often build a $400 pre-built computer for $300 with slightly better hardware. The savings increase as you go up the hardware ladder, comparing pre-built to custom built. It's such an easy task that there's really no reason for a person to avoid finding their own parts and piecing everything together. Countless guides are available, and the only thing you have to worry about is compatibility, which is easy enough to check or guarantee.

 

If you have access to discount sites and have a bit of time and effort to spend hunting down and waiting for the best deals then building your own PC will probably prove to be the most efficient. This is also very useful considering that the process will teach you a lot about hardware and maintenance so you wouldn't have to rely so heavily on professionals which you presumably would be needing regularly in the future since we will probably all depend on computers for a very long time. Buying pre built is a bit of a gamble since stores usually try and get the most profit for their product so they end up having to cut some corners but if you are able to do research on the specific ones you want to buy or if you know the store is reputable then it's not such a bad second option as well.

 

I would build my own if I had the money and knowledge. My ex built all of his, and created them to his own specific needs, which were gaming, music, and photography. You can decide what you want in a computer, then look around for the particular parts you need. It's much less expensive to buy the components and build it yourself, plus that way you know exactly what parts are in it, and can use quality parts, rather than cheap ones. Later on, you can always tweak it by swapping out parts and/or upgrading, since you'll already know the system inside and out.

 

Yeah, I agree. You must stay there and gather as much information as you could potentially get. It would be truly embarassing to not be able to do it yourself in the future, haha. Good luck!

 

It turned out fabulously. We got one of those hard drives that flashes with a blue led light? It looks so cool at night time. Anyway, more than ten years later, the desktop computer that we built up from bought parts is still working. The only thing that it needs is to be upgraded as far as the windows version. Other than that it is great. Good luck and have fun!!!

 

For my BF's computer, we went the build-ourselves way. I knew next to nothing about computer parts, so I researched it all and ordered parts according to what he needed (he produces music). I checked if my build fits on diverse websites, on Reddit and with my stepdad who's in IT, but did not ask for anything other than second-opinion: it really forced me to develop knowledge and understanding about what each part does etc. Which actually turned out to be very helpful.

I assembled it with my stepdad, because he was here on visit and likes this kind of stuff, but it would not have been a problem alone either. Actually, it was a good learning experience and the results are great! Would recommend.

 

You did the right choice to let your friends do it for you, since you can learn better when you see directly how it's done and you can ask questions along the way. I wouldn't recommend buying a refurbished PC, since it's already used, and it can break down at any time when you start using it, just like what happened to my 2nd hand CPU. It won't boot after 16 days.

 

Yep, you're right. It makes a big difference. You'll also find that "out of the box" computers tend to have super obsolete stuff. The part you buy individually will likely be more up to date than a lot of the stuff that comes out of the box by the time it's sat around long enough to go on sale.

Newegg has always been good for us. They have good deals, good service, and fast shipping and delivery. I've never had a problem with them yet. They have great holiday discounts on stuff as well. We got Kaspersky for two systems super cheap.

My husband always builds our systems and they are much higher quality, and at a much lower price, than anything I've seen in a box. It's also good if you know ahead of time that you will be upgrading, because you can start buying a piece at a time or grab stuff as it goes on sale, instead of needing to come up with all the cash at once.