At what point is a person better off buying a prebuilt PC?

[Vithar]

I know most prebuilts save money by buying cheap PSUs and MOBOS, because that's one of the most common problems I encountered when I was a tech, but in general is it ever a good idea to buy prebuilt.

 

[SinShiva]

for a home user, instant gratification or need to fill the place of a recently departed machine immediately. Most other cases would be a contract for multiple/many machines for a business, which usually includes tech/hardware support from the distributor, like dell, and often at a decent rate per machine ordering in bulk.

[Edit] and of course, for the computer (or just hardware) illiterate.

[Edit2] when buying a pc under 500usd and you need to buy the OS, besides using cheaper parts to save the distributor money, they can further lower prices (or save money) with a preinstalled OS (and often, much despised other garbage)

 

[Deleted member 88227]

As SinShiva said; when you have a very low budget and need a lot of items to get a working computer. Generally when CPU, MB, RAM, HDD, ODD, Case, PSU, Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, and GPU are all needed at a very, very low price and your needs don't exceed typical email and web browsing with the occasional game that most phones could play; getting a manufactured system is the way to go. Generally these systems are for the casual user. (Such as most parents, grand parents or young kids)

 

[Tudz]

For your average consumer, when you need Windows sometimes it gets hard to better the cheap prebuilts. But you'll find even some of the really cheap sub $500 PCs can actually be built cheaper than than the prebuilts. The prebuilts usually have dead cheap mobos, PSUs and cases and often use lower spec RAM, usually below what anyone here would recommend even on the lowest end build, if you actually built your own machine with the cheaper RAM, mobo, PSU and case, even the really cheap prebuilts you might find you can build yourself for less. The problem is, when people build themselves, they naturally spend more on those components even when making a low end system (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does bring the price up in comparison).

Places that do prebuilts often don't tell you what shitty case and cheap arse RAM and mobo they're using. When you realise they're using shit, it becomes much easier to match the price with a DIY PC. If you just go on the typical online stores and look for cheap parts on sale with cheap or free shipping, you can often come up with something better for the same price.

 

[Dangman]

For your average consumer, when you need Windows sometimes it gets hard to better the cheap prebuilts. But you'll find even some of the really cheap sub $500 PCs can actually be built cheaper than than the prebuilts. The prebuilts usually have dead cheap mobos, PSUs and cases and often use lower spec RAM, usually below what anyone here would recommend, if you actually built your own machine with the cheaper RAM, mobo, PSU and case, even the really cheap prebuilts you might find you can build yourself for less.

Just for clarification: Sometimes the prebuilts are have better quality PSUs and mobos than certain DIY build that I've seen in this subforum alone. It's those situations when a prebuilt is a good idea: When the DIY setup costs the same if not more but you're getting lesser performance, features, and quality than a prebuilt PC.

 

[Tudz]

Just for clarification: Sometimes the prebuilts are have better quality PSUs and mobos than certain DIY build that I've seen in this subforum alone. It's those situations when a prebuilt is a good idea: When the DIY setup costs the same if not more but you're getting lesser performance, features, and quality than a prebuilt PC.

Perhaps at times that might be the case, you'd really have to know the exact PSU and mobo they're using, almost every time I've looked at a prebuilt that looks good value, they either don't tell you what it is or they use crap.

 

[Dangman]

Perhaps at times that might be the case, you'd really have to know the exact PSU and mobo they're using, almost every time I've looked at a prebuilt that looks good value, they either don't tell you what it is or they use crap.

Generally when I recommend a prebuilt, it's gonna be a Dell. Those generally come with decent PSUs. But I do concur that other prebuilt PCs from other companies may not come with decent PSUs (CyberpowerPC, HP, etc)

 

[BlindedByScience]

Prebuilts can often be very good deals at the low end. You can often find "last years" models at great prices. Perfect for someone that wants to surf, run Office, check e-mail, etc....basic to moderately advanced usage. Even non-graphics intensive gaming.

I've found by the time someone starts to become knowledgeable about about the parts inside and care what they are, it's time to scratch build your own.