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a little high?
shmokes:
If you are not much of a computer geek and will derive little satisfaction or enjoyment from building I would not build. It's very difficult to compete with Dell pricewise. When building your own PC you are not able to benefit from economies of scale or cutting out the retailer, as Dell does. Any savings are often eaten up by shipping costs as well, especially if you shop around and buy parts from various vendors in order to get the lowest prices on components (and therefore pay separate shipping costs to each vendor).
If you do build, try to get all your parts from one store unless the cost difference is enormous. That one store is likely www.newegg.com .
But just keep an eye on www.bensbargains.net . And within a week you will see some really great Dell desktop deals as they are very common (in fact there is one there right now).
DrewKaree:
Is that DELL that's charging that much interest? I didn't see who you said was ripping you off in interest, but by the time he ended up paying it off, he'll not only have a computer worth $100, but he'll prolly wanna upgrade it then too....back to the loanshark ;)
shmokes:
Well...prolly not, but I doubt he'll do very well with Dell financing either. However, he'll have to finance all the parts to build a computer just like he'd have to finance a whole computer if he hasn't got the money. That pretty much leaves him with saving (what he should do) or using a credit card. If he can buy all the parts with a credit card then he can buy the whole system with a credit card and either way he'll get the same deal on financing.
Either way, it's probably cheaper and easier to buy a Dell than to build your own (we're talking about budget ($1000 and under) computers here. It's definitely cheaper to build your own over buying a $4000 top-of-the-line Dell. You will lose some options that are important to hardcores, such as living with proprietary parts and less freedom over customization, but those things are not very important to the average person who just wants it to work when they turn it on.
Speaking of working, if you build it you have to do all your own troubleshooting and when you figure out what the problem is you have to sort through all the different warranties and return policies of all the different parts in the computer. With a major manufacturer you have 1 warranty that applies to everything the same and one point of contact when something goes wrong.
For many (read: the vast majority of) people, building is probably not a great idea. That said, I haven't bought a premade computer (for myself) in, well.....ever.
sodapopinski:
this computer that i'm buying is for home use, not a mame computer. its a repalcement. I could get a mame system for dirt. I just wanted a fast new computer. It was the rate that bothered me. My friend said future shop will finance at 18%. still seems high though.
Zero_Hour:
18% is at least in line with many credit card rates. Still too damn high though.