Explain this....

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

Before you read, be aware that all prices are in CANADIAN DOLLARS!

I've vowed to never, ever buy a production pc again, but I've done some research and I'm having second thoughts... I always thought that ordering online all the individual parts and putting it together yourself would cut down costs dramatically. I decided to test this out by looking at one of the higher end HP desktops out there, the HP Media Center m7250n and trying to build one with the exact same or similar setup on www.ncix.com. The result was surprising...

HP Media Center m7250n:
+2.80GHz Intel Pentium D Processor 820
+1.0GB PC2-3200 DDR2 SDRAM memory (2 x 512MB)
+250GB 7200RPM Serial ATA
+DVD SuperMulti Drive/LightScribe
+16x DVD-ROM drive
+128MB ATI RADEON X300 SE PCI-E
+Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005

Price:
$ 1 299.95
+ $ 0 Shipping
=$ 1 299.95


NCIX Build:
+2.80GHz Intel Pentium D Processor 820
+1.0GB PC2-3200 DDR2 SDRAM memory (2 x 512MB)
+250GB 7200RPM Serial ATA
+DVD SuperMulti Drive/LightScribe
+16x DVD-ROM drive
+128MB ATI RADEON X300 SE PCI-E
+Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005

Price:
$ $1,047.22
+ $45.18 Shipping
= $1092.40


If you ask me, saving $200 is alright, but not as crazy as people cut it out to be. These online computer parts sellers are really only good for one thing, making setups that one can't find in retail stores. If you're going to be making an entry level PC, might as well go to your nearest Future Shop (*shivers* yeah I said it) and buy whatever you can buy there. I don't know, I want to see what other people think about this...

 

[macdude425]

First of all, comparing a prebuilt to a computer you built yourself is heresy, for a number of reasons:

1. Higher quality parts, and non proprietary parts. HP, Dell, etc. use cheap, proprietary parts like cases, mobos, and PSUs that are nearly impossible (or just very, very costly) to replace. If you build it, you are certain that the parts are good quality, and being off-the-shelf, can be replaced easily, if need be.

2. Windows: when you get Windows preinstalled on a prebuilt, it comes bundled with all of that help center and HP crap. Not so with a homebuilt: it's just a no frills copy of Windows, and you don't have to worry about anything weighing your machine down. Or, if you hate Windows, you can just skip right to Linux on a custom box, rather than having to format, then install Linux as you would have to on that HP.

You could go on, but I'll stop here. You can't really put a price on the things I've mentioned.

 

[Nitestick]

^ couldn't put it better myself.

 

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

First of all, comparing a prebuilt to a computer you built yourself is heresy, for a number of reasons:

1. Higher quality parts, and non proprietary parts. HP, Dell, etc. use cheap, proprietary parts like cases, mobos, and PSUs that are nearly impossible (or just very, very costly) to replace. If you build it, you are certain that the parts are good quality, and being off-the-shelf, can be replaced easily, if need be.

2. Windows: when you get Windows preinstalled on a prebuilt, it comes bundled with all of that help center and HP crap. Not so with a homebuilt: it's just a no frills copy of Windows, and you don't have to worry about anything weighing your machine down. Or, if you hate Windows, you can just skip right to Linux on a custom box, rather than having to format, then install Linux as you would have to on that HP.

You could go on, but I'll stop here. You can't really put a price on the things I've mentioned.

1.When you're building a pc < $1000, chances are, the parts you're getting aren't going to be that high quality. The HP mobos, btw, are not proprietary, they are supplied by Asus and are not cost effectively customized for HP computers. They are the same mobos you'd be buying anywhere. As for the case for the custom build, I calculated it with an extremely cheap, $40 case that came with a 350-watt generic psu. That's with in HP at least. As for Dell, yes, they're parts are going to be extremely hard and expensive to replace and are the shittiest things around, but that is why a system like this one from Dell would cost you $750

2. The HP Help Center stuff is extremely easy to remove. I recently re-installed XP on one of my older pcs, a pavilion, and it was all a matter of going through control panel > add remove hardware, and there, a clean version of Windows XP. Pretty much. Removed all the pre-installed crap, all trial versions of everything. And even in the first place, it hardly bogs down your system at all.

 

[DBD]

I was going to buy a HP AMD 64 3700+ 2.2GHz computer, When I went to the store to check it out, It was really running at 1.78GHz So I didn't buy that piece of crap from lying HP dump!! I will build one after I learn more about computers.

So check it out and make sure it is, what they say it is, because they are lyin' ********

 

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

I was going to buy a HP AMD 64 3700+ 2.2GHz computer, When I went to the store to check it out, It was really running at 1.78GHz So I didn't buy that piece of crap from lying HP dump!! I will build one after I learn more about computers.

So check it out and make sure it is, what they say it is, because they are lyin' ********

omfg, lol. Store technicians will clock down cpu speeds to compensate for it having to be on all the time, considering that someone will eventually buy the demo. The higher the cpu is clocked, the lesser the life expectancy will be. I know this for a fact because I work in tech dept. at the Canadian version of Staples called Bureau En Gros (FYI: Only called that in Quebec, Canada).

 

[Trotter]

Pre-built = bloatware and locked BIOS.

'Nuff said.

 

[DBD]

I live in the U.S.A. The store I went to was bestbuy and they don't underclock anything. Also these guys http://www.geeksquad.com/ have a shop in bestbuy and one of they're guys was walking by when the Bestbuy guy and I were talking about the HP, The Geek squad guy stopped to checked it out. He was baffled that is was only 1.78GHz when the box said 2.2, He then checked out the some other computers and they where all what the box said. So.... omfg HP lies about there computers or at least the one I wanted

 

[Nitestick]

i wouldn't reccomend a pentium D anyway, especially the 2.8ghz model.

 

[Apokalipse]

yeah, Athlon 64 X2's are much better designed than Pentium D's