Premade systems

[magnetite]

Been thinking about buying a premade system next time. Mostly for the support thing. When I had this one built, whenever I had a problem I couldn't figure out, I would have to get someone to take it to the local shop in town and then have them pick it up and deliver it to me since I don't drive or anything. Local shop doesn't do on site service.

I know most people say build your own, but when you lack the transportation to get your computer to the shop (no interest in driving. Don't feel comfortable with it), I'm probably looking at having a premade system made. I can put in video cards, hard drives and such, but when it comes to major stuff, that's where I send it in.

So anyways, what are some good brand name computers with good support? Ideally, it would be cool to have a place which custom builds machines to your specs (like my local shop in town) and does on site service, but I don't think something like that exists.

 

[guanyu210379]

Hmmm...actually you can do anything with your system including the trouble shooting...the only things needed to have a self-built systems is :
1. Some guts
2. Strong Will to learn, not Lazy, and to Never Give up when things go wrong.
If you don't have those "Capacities" then go ahead with pre-built.

Hmmm...If I were to choose which brand/pre-built system..
1. I would normally check if the brand has a local shop or supporting office or branch as near as possible to your home.
2. Try to find out the customer service quality of that brand in general within your city or country. (Customer support quality tends to differ between countries)
3. Check also if any local/internet store can offer the same quality of service for you for their own pre-built or any branded system they are selling.

In general, I like the laptops customer service from : Lenovo, Fujitsu-Siemens, Dell, and HP. I have personall experiences with the. I hope it will be the same for PCs.

 

[magnetite]

Thing I'm worried about with premade systems is if I wanted to upgrade the video card, the power supply might not have enough power in order to support it.

On the other hand, with a custom made one, there's no problem. However, again, with major hardware issues that I can't fix, I'll have to bring it into the shop somehow.

There has to be at least one custom built place which offers in home support.

 

[asteldian]

Where do you live? In the UK we have IT guys you can call to your house - there is no call out fee and they come, do the job and charge you for the work.

What hardware issues are you thinking of? More often than not, if something goes wrong it requires a replacement. The only hard part is identifying what is broken - and that's where this forum comes in handy
If you built it yourself then once you identify the problem you can send the item off because it should be under warranty.

The worst part is the initial build, if the system runs fine after its built then you are usually pretty good for the life of the computer (except with HDDs, the bastards seem to die for no reason).

 

[magnetite]

Where do you live? In the UK we have IT guys you can call to your house - there is no call out fee and they come, do the job and charge you for the work.

What hardware issues are you thinking of? More often than not, if something goes wrong it requires a replacement. The only hard part is identifying what is broken - and that's where this forum comes in handy
If you built it yourself then once you identify the problem you can send the item off because it should be under warranty.

The worst part is the initial build, if the system runs fine after its built then you are usually pretty good for the life of the computer (except with HDDs, the bastards seem to die for no reason).

I guess I mean a major hardware failure, such as a motherboard, power supply or CPU. I can easily replace a video card, hard drive or memory. Thing is, I kind of have slow motor skills, so working with fine parts is very tricky. Things like those power supply connectors you hook into the motherboard which power the hard drive light on the case, among other things. Not the molex ones, but the little ones near the bottom corner of the motherboard near the PCI-e slots.

Oh, and I live in Calgary, Canada.

 

[guanyu210379]

You don't have good motoric skills or you just don't have enough patience?
Take your time and do it with feeling a.ka. careful.

BTW : I can find many local shop near me who are willing to repair/upgrade my system at my home regardless which system I have (branded or selfbuilt).
They will charge you for a price for repairing/upgrading systems, that you didn't buy from them or if the systems are already out of the warranty time.
Those service is a little expensive if I may say so...I have never used such service...

Price of one of the stores :
1. €10/km driving distance from the store to your home (coming, leaving, pick up, etc.).
2. €15/hour work (not included spareparts, programs, or whatever necessary)
Note : If you buy that system from the store and if the warrnty is still valid, all of those is for free.
I have calculated : Replacing a mobo, and the distance required will costs about €110 and parts not included. Back and forward driving (2x4x10=€80) and 2 (problem finding and repairing, more than1 hours is 2, up-rounding) working hours (2x15=€30).

 

[asteldian]

If you manage to build the computer then replacing the parts will be easy enough.
Unless your mobo is dead on arrival, the chances of it going wrong are very slim.
If you have issues with the fiddly bits of the case connecting to the mob, then hopefully a friend can do it for you - they don't need to know anything, you just direct them where to connect it.

 

[kingnoobe]

I think you're thinking way to much into this. For one thing, if something goes wrong you don't fix it or have anybody else fix it. Unless it's after warranty anyways. Chances are once you actually put the stuff together you'll realize just how easy it truely is.

 

[magnetite]

If you manage to build the computer then replacing the parts will be easy enough.
Unless your mobo is dead on arrival, the chances of it going wrong are very slim.

I didn't build this system, I had my local shop do it.

You don't have good motoric skills or you just don't have enough patience?
Take your time and do it with feeling a.ka. careful.

Let's just say my hand shakes whenever I work with small computer parts. Working with fine stuff has been difficult for me for a while now.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I will say that a lot of prebuilts tend to use low end parts. Once you get past that first year, warranty is usually over with anyway. So you are still stuck paying someone to fix it. Maybe check if you have a local shop to see if they can build one for you.

 

[guanyu210379]

^+1 Prebuilt system do have most of the times low quality components.
You can't see the system only from the spesification only.
Usually pre-built spec goes like this : (example)
Q6600 (no probs here)
4GB DDR2 RAM (which RAM brand? Type? Latency? Heat spreader?)
HD4850 (Which brand? Type? OCed?)
HD audio, USB, Card reader. (No Mobo complete specs)
(no PSU specs. Brands? Power ratings? Type?)
pre-installed OS (no real OS copy)
Keyboard mouse (no problems here)
1680x1050 22" Monitor (no further specs for this also)
etc. etc.

You see, everything is kept hidden from you.
I have opened lots of them and found out that they are using low quality things.