You want pride? Build the computer desk for the Dell you just bought. Cheaper, rewarding, and much more impressive.

 

My bad, this will be for general home usage and ocassionaly some AutoCAD work.

 

But, but, but .... I did build my own desk......sorda. I'm actually better with that kind of thing than puters.

I found a really nice surface at a furniture place for $50 (looks like an expensive one too). Then I purchased to peds. Looks pretty good. I'll get some pics if you're interested.

 

I agree building is way to expensive anymore. I built my last four and a few for my dad and friends. My Grandpa just bought a new Dell Vostro that came with a 19" LCD for around $500. If you want a fast gaming rig look on ebay for a Dell XPS. One that is a year or two old is selling cheap.

 

Building one yourself may be a bit more expensive but when you build it yourself you get to choose the quality of components you put in. Pre-built may be cheaper but it's cheaper for a reason.
Then there is the issue of proprietory hardware if you have to replace something after warranty on a pre-built one.

 

To answer your question, simply b/c I've been working in IT for over 8 years now (not to step on anyone else's feet). Vista is cool to go with. Like with anything new, their will be issues that will need to be fixed and will get fixed. The problem that I find with Vista users is that they buy these computers at the very low prices looking for a deal, which means that the RAM (memory) is low, but Vista is very resource dependable and alot of RAM is needed. So with all that said, If you like, shoot for Vista but at least have 2GB of Ram installed and I think you should be ok. XP is great simply b/c alot of bugs have been fixed.

 

The proprietary deal is a thing of the past except for power supplies. I agree that it is nice picking out each piece and taking pride in your creation. But the bottom line is that at least HP and Dell do make a good solid computer. I have a Generation 5 Dell XPS that is one bad a$$ PC, and for what I spent on it there is no way I could have come close to building one even with half the specs for the same money. Windows is at least $200 of the build cost.

 

I'm not familiar with Vista, but I have heard stories that it's a resource hog.

True?

 

*sigh*

Pretty much every mother board on the planet has the same choice of chipsets. That's about it as far as a "cheap" MB vs a "quality" MB. That and how much built-in junk you want.

Proprietary hardware?!! In a PC?!!!! What?!!! Every PC on the planet consists of this: MB with nearly EVERYTHING integrated. Standard RAM (speed various, non are proprietary), maybe a video card on a "high-end" PC. That's it.

They are cheaper because they are mass-produced. Not to mention the HUGE break the manufacture gets from Microsoft to put Windoze on. They are not paying $199 for a full version of Vista Whatever Basic.

Last time kids: Unless you require a cutting edge gaming machine or high-end workstation, building is pointless and NOT cheaper.

 

Every modern OS is a "resource hog" its what drives the hardware industry. Windoze, OSX, Linux... doesn't matter. They are all bloated and constantly require bigger badder machines with each version.

 

Yeah, but is Vista more of a "hog" than say, XP?

 

Any prebuilt that I am looking at has a minimum of 2GB RAM. Eventually I would like to have 4GB, but additional can be added down the road.

 

It's still not cheaper, you can buy anything you want/need off the shelf.
Plug it in and go!
You figure one week of 12 hour days of assembly and trouble shooting to get everything compatable... thats 60 hours of work invested...... even if you some how managed to save $300, it cost you 60 hours.... thats $5 per hour..... My time is worth more than $5 an hour. I wouldn't take a job for $5 an hour so why would I work for $5 an hour?

 

I would build with HP, i like their new machines and will probably be ordering one form them in the next few months

 

Of course. Each new version of whatever is more resource intensive than the last. Doesn't matter what flavor of OS you run.


PSS - If anyone takes that long to assemble any PC then they are truly retarded. At worst start to finish it should be 3 hours. However, at whatever hourly rate you work at, factor that into the price since the pre-built is up and running in under 20 minutes. Also factor in time spent shopping and researching components.

I'd still put money on a high-end PC can be built cheaper, simply due to the outrageous markup PC makers enjoy on the high-end stuff... that's where they make the money (next to accessories 'n junk).