[j2Y6Ysmb]

I see it all the time on here and other forums, and tbh, it gets my goat that basically all you hear is "yeah I think pre built suck" blah blah blah... yes there are some rubbish ones by cheap crappy companies, but then again, the like of Alienware who constantly get the p1ss taken out of them on here build top notch quality equipment, yeah overpriced HOWEVER very good quality with top notch bits in them.

Kinda does my head in, as I've seen more dross built by people than prebuilt PC's tbh.

It seems the cool thing to do, slag PC World off, slag pre built off etc etc etc and say "My BAD" all the time as it sounds "cool"... dear me... As you can see, I'm in argumentative mood today [thumbup]

[chppjdf]

Possibly because the community was built on a bunch of PC people who build PC's and over clock them etc.

Its like going on a Ford Fiesta website and bitching because they don't like Corsa's.

[j2Y6Ysmb]

Possibly because the community was built on a bunch of PC people who build PC's and over clock them etc.

Its like going on a Ford Fiesta website and bitching because they don't like Corsa's.

Slightly immature though isn't it... I've built all but one of my PC's, but I still think there are tons of great pre built systems... so you'd say that in a way, forums like these are fanboy sites then [rofl] Can't wait to tell the wife I'm a fanboy... she'll say "what you on about retard?"

[chppjdf]

Slightly immature though isn't it... I've built all but one of my PC's, but I still think there are tons of great pre built systems... so you'd say that in a way, forums like these are fanboy sites then [rofl] Can't wait to tell the wife I'm a fanboy... she'll say "what you on about retard?"

What you on about retard?

[j2Y6Ysmb]

[rofl][rofl][rofl]

[alecoplesosse]

Pre built's used to be terrible value for money and the stigma has stuck I think.

And PC World's stick comes from its service and employees more than their products [rofl]

[Savviioor]

warranties are pretty useful, that's at least one thing they have going for them.

[evarekataVame]

Pre built's used to be terrible value for money and the stigma has stuck I think.

Unless you go for a very basic machine, they still are terrible value.

Alienwares still do not exceed what you can get elsewhere or build yourself for a lot less money, but Apple has things you CANNOT get elsewhere for the same money (LED IPS monitors with a single cable solution, small and light Li-Poly Laptops etc.)

[xgnuwdd]

Unless you go for a very basic machine, they still are terrible value.

Alienwares still do not exceed what you can get elsewhere or build yourself for a lot less money, but Apple has things you CANNOT get elsewhere for the same money (LED IPS monitors with a single cable solution, small and light Li-Poly Laptops etc.)

That is plain and simple just not true. Big manufacturers buy components in massive quantities and save on costs. PC Pro regularly features £699 PC's that there is no way you could build for that price if you were not a big player.

[CindyLavender]

Pre built PC's are the way to go if all you want to do is surf the web. I've tried to beat dell's prices on some cheap web surfing PC's and I couldn't. If you want to game, however, you'll get way more for your money by building your own.

[xgnuwdd]

Pre built PC's are the way to go if all you want to do is surf the web. I've tried to beat dell's prices on some cheap web surfing PC's and I couldn't. If you want to game, however, you'll get way more for your money by building your own.

Again, not true. See my previous post.

[art_fan_12]

The last couple years they have been getting much better around here. It's to the point when looking at building one for a friend, I check out what BestBuy has and can usually find something very comparable. Saving on shipping costs (cases are heavy!) is usually what tips the scales in favour of prebuilt's (that and instant gratification!). I still prefer ordering components for myself though. Mostly because I only need to upgrade a few parts at a time. For a whole kit though, prebuilt's are not too bad now.

[chppjdf]

Again, not true. See my previous post.

Let's see some example to your claims

[xgnuwdd]

Let's see some example to your claims

I thought you'd never ask [rofl]

See if you can build me any of these cheaper (don't forget these prices include 1 or 3 year warranties):

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/deskt...-fusion-katana

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/deskt...fire-hellspawn

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/deskt...usion-spitfire

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/deskt...ter-dragon-3-6

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/deskt...silent-edition

[CindyLavender]

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/deskt...specifications

I found mostly the same parts for 1900. But I swapped the random 1TB HD for a pair of 300GB velociraptors. Their RAM wasn't specified in the specs list, maybe in the article, but I opted for Patriot Viper 6GB kit. Also chose Win7 over Vista

If I dropped the raptors and went with their specs I'd be at their same price. And that's without shopping around at all, since I dunno where you UK'ers go for your deals.

Seems to me their prices aren't all that stunning.

£1,872.82
£1,628.54 ex VAT

As for their warranty do they allow you to pull parts yourself? When buying your own parts you can RMA things at your choosing. Sometimes these companies don't let you crack the case. Enjoy your shipping charges and downtimes.

[gogoleanylinkfo]

Maybe because they dont like to waist money and want the best they can get for it and have it perfectly customized to what we want.

I think its stupid to be snobby about the snobs, personaly i even love choosing the parts and waiting for them to be deliverd and spend the day putting it togther installing the O/S and finding its max overclock.

I work with people who build kit cars for them selfs, they still use a normal pre-built car everyday but they dont love them like the cars they build.

[Tnzxovoz]

How many of us have built a custom system for family/friends "Noobs" with top components, just to have them bag on it and proclaim they waisted there money and wished they'd bought a Best Buy special instead? This is the question. Well, I have, and I can only think in my mind how much I wished they bought one (pre-built) as well.

[Quick$bux]

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/deskt...specifications

I found mostly the same parts for 1900. But I swapped the random 1TB HD for a pair of 300GB velociraptors. Their RAM wasn't specified in the specs list, maybe in the article, but I opted for Patriot Viper 6GB kit. Also chose Win7 over Vista

If I dropped the raptors and went with their specs I'd be at their same price. And that's without shopping around at all, since I dunno where you UK'ers go for your deals.

Seems to me their prices aren't all that stunning.

£1,872.82
£1,628.54 ex VAT

As for their warranty do they allow you to pull parts yourself? When buying your own parts you can RMA things at your choosing. Sometimes these companies don't let you crack the case. Enjoy your shipping charges and downtimes.

My point was that pre-builts can be competitively priced, not massively cheaper.

[WeissVine]

It's simple really, the majority of them suck. When I first moved over here I had no idea where to buy computer parts, I didn't really find downtown El Paso for a couple of months let alone figure out there was a Compusa on the east side. So my solution was to buy a Gateway PC from Best Buy. Which was cool to begin with I was able to get a 8800GT in there when I had the money but one day I started thinking to myself this has 3Gb of crappy memory why not swap that out?

So I ordered some nice branded 800Mhz DDR2 from newegg. Out with the old and in with the new power up and what do I have? 533 same as the stuff I pulled. Everything was locked you couldn't change any of this in the BIOS and so the machine was running my lovely 800 like it was cheap 533. I might add that eMachines (urgh) use the same motherboard in their AMD systems.

If you just want a simple system for basic PC use that you'd never even think of opening up sure go ahead and get one of this pre built boxes but others require better options. I don't think anyone is dissing Alienware and if you do pay enough you will see a decent pre built machine but there is generally advantages to going your own way if you want to move onwards and upwards. Looking back through the mists of time I remember buying some memory for a Compaq 386s the 4Mb upgrade cost me about 400 pounds at the time when you could get 4Gb SIMMS for about 100 pounds. That's when prebuilt really sucked.

[art_fan_12]

I don't like them mainly because of all the branding crap they include, the tons of unwanted software and more that reports home..

if I'm gunna buy a pc I have to format, I might as well build it myself..

That is my biggest gripe too. The first thing I always do it uninstall all the crap they put on it (or if its bad, use the key to install a fresh, plain windows install). I wish they would just keep it as a vanilla windows install, maybe some extras for recovery disk making and hardware specific things (card readers, burners, webcams). None of those stupid flash game things or useless wireless network programs.


So I ordered some nice branded 800Mhz DDR2 from newegg. Out with the old and in with the new power up and what do I have? 533 same as the stuff I pulled. Everything was locked you couldn't change any of this in the BIOS and so the machine was running my lovely 800 like it was cheap 533. I might add that eMachines (urgh) use the same motherboard in their AMD systems.
To you and me, thats sucks. For the average user, they wouldn't notice the difference anyway. More would be far more noticeable than the speed and still be a welcomed upgrade.