A question about building PCs in various countries

[carpenter20m]

Hi all,

this is not exactly a question about a particular system build. I just want to ask how building a PC works in countries other than Greece (where I come from).

I see many people, in these forums or elsewhere, saying that the options are two: a) build your own PC, if you want to save money, b) but a pre-built one, if you're not familiar with these stuff.

In my country there is always a third option, which I always choose: Choose the parts and have them build it for you. Considering that over a certain amount of money, assembling and shipping it is free, the option makes a lot of sense, if you don't know what you're doing, but you know which hardware is good or if you know what you're doing but don't have time (say, if you're helping a friend build a PC) - I belong to the first category though...every time I try to change something in my PC on my own, it's Murphy's law!

Anyway, so far I've built, repaired and upgraded PCs that way and rarely did I have to pay extra fees. Is that really not an option in PC equipment stores in the US and elsewhere? Why does nobody propose people to choose the parts and have those guys working there build it free of charge?

 

[rewindlabs]

Anybody with half a brain will scare you into not doing it yourself and than charge you for it.....thats a run of the mill joe who isn't familiar with hardware...id probably help a friend out...if i had one.....


Or if you know how to do build it and just don't have the time its still common since to charge for it...if i broke your gpu installing it who pays for it?

 

[rolli59]

In the US you buy hardware cheap from online warehouses like newegg or get a deal at Fry's. The little stores can't compete in price on the hardware and if they build it they become to expensive.
I lived in Denmark before and there you could buy the hardware in the little store, lack of big vendors like newegg, Fry's and etc, and only pay a small premium for assembly.

 

[carpenter20m]

That's the thing. In Greece there are a couple of stores which charge nothing for assembly, so you pay exactly the same as you would if you had bought the parts and assemble it on your own. You can even order the parts online and still have them build it, so all you do is go to their website, choose the proper parts and the next day there is a working PC at your front door...You save lots of time this way (and one of the stores who does it has decent prices...maybe not the best, but decent).

 

[Onus]

There are still "boutique" vendors in the US who will do that; you pick from their lists of available parts, and they assemble, test, and deliver. I think they cut corners though; for example using case/PSU combos, slower RAM, and limiting selection overall.

 

[carpenter20m]

They don't let you choose what kind of PSU you want? That's weird. Here, you can buy any part you want from the catalogs, as long as it is available. High quality RAM and PSUs are in the catalogs more often than not.

Anyway, thanks for the info. If anyone else has examples like that, please share.