Not necessarily. It depends on your access to a copy of Windows or going Open Source with a Linux based. Students can get a copy, but in many schools it's not a version to stick on a build, its an upgrade, so that's out for some. OEM machines are so inexpensive now and many you can get a copy of W7 or W8.1 pro it really kicks the pants. That's one of the greatest challenges for those of us that sell builds. Getting legit copies of windows to use. But I would agree, to an extent, a well planned build can be less expensive, again, dependent on a number of things, inc the OS.