Building PC vs buying prebuilt...

Err..something looks wrong here. I tried to custom-select the same components from DELL and I got a price tag of over $1200.

Intelligence is not merely the wealth of knowledge but the sum of perception, wisdom, and knowledge.

That was a pretty good deal. I think its better to customize and order what you want from a place like dell then to buy a piece of crap from best buy. Of course building it yourself is the best if it is possible for youto do it.

<font color=blue>Unofficial Forum Cop</font color=blue>

customizing and building PC's are for professionals and buying prebuilt PC's are for normal end-users.

A professional in computers shouldn't buy prebuilt systems as you slowly lose knowledge about how computers work as computers rapidly change all the time.

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Ahhhh...I think I figured it out....the price he paid is similar to refurb models available on Dell's website.

your pretty bold for making such an assumtption.
I said computer profesionals. I made it pretty clear that i meant as i said which was computer professionals. Even profesionals in the context of computers anyway with a brain would figure that out that i meant clearly computer profesionals. The people that make your hardware and software computer profesionals. do you understand?



Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

your welcome dickhead

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Far as i understand it an ISO file is just a whole copy of a CD, bitperfect. Just burn and use.

<b>And if you gaze for long into Toms Hardware Forums, The Forum gazes also into you! </b>

anyone who would buy thier pc prebuilt is lazy and has too much money to waste

Life (n). A sexually transmitted disease which afflicts some people more severly than others.
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Update on the deal:
The deal is over, so you won't be able to get the same setup. it was featured on www.dealcatcher.com. Here is the link to forums to some luck ones who got the system before the deal was over: http://forums.dealcatcher.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13491

No I am not lazy and I build computers from custom parts for me and for living, but I needed a new one for my girlfriend and I wasn't able to find the same price on custom parts especially with LCD, so this deal was the best. Great Christmas present

anyway you snooze you loose, that computer is worth around $1000 and they are a lot of them selling on ebay for around 950...

Every CD burning app is able to burn ISO files. In Nero Burning Rom you can burn a ISO image to a CD using "Burn Image" command.

You can use ISO files in Virtual Drive. Get it <A HREF="http://www.farstone.com" target="_new"> here </A>. You will need to change the extention of your ISO files from ".iso" to ".vcd"

If you want to extract files form a ISO image without burning it in a CD or without using Virtual Drive, use WinRAR. WinRAR can extract files from a ISO image. Get WinRAR <A HREF="http://www.rarlabs.com" target="_new"> here </A>

BTW, do you like illegal stuff like me?

What Audio Compression Technology you use for storing music? <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=25137#25137" target="_new"> Tell Here</A>

Illegal copies of software.

What Audio Compression Technology you use for storing music? <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=25137#25137" target="_new"> Tell Here</A>

you are just nuts. Nobody has ever bought that computer for that price. Quit using untruth to instigate good argument.

John A

Generally speaking, building your own system doesn't really save any money, but it usually buys you superior quality and performance.

Prebuilt computers are <b>notorious</b> for using OEM versions of name-brand videocards and the like. Most people think that OEM versions are just bulk-packaged, but otherwise identical. With regard to things like mice and joysticks, that's usually true, but with video cards, it's almost <b>pure fiction</b>.

ATI is the <b>worst</b> offender, but Matrox and nVidia have joined the race to the bottom too and freely permit computer makers like Dell and Gateway to buy their chipsets and build their own cards with inferior components -- but still imply that they're just as good in their marketing literature. Sometimes, the OEM versions use SDRAM instead of SGRAM or DDR. Usually, they have inferior RAMDACs compared to the retail-boxed versions. Almost without exception, they don't support refresh rates as high as the retail-boxed versions, and the upper refresh rates they DO support are compromised (smearing and blur caused by inadequate bandwidth, slower performance from inferior RAM, etc.) And in the case of REALLY high-end cards, probably have the GPU clocked 10-25% slower than the retail versions, have inferior heat-removal apparatus, etc.

Then there's the matter of software. Sure, prebuilt computers come with lots of bundled software. And increasingly, most of it is crippled (Adobe), time-limited (Symantec), or can only be installed as part of a complete system image (Microsoft), effectively screwing you if you want to wipe the hard drive clean of the crap they put there and do a proper virgin installation. In other words, their bundled software is worthless.

Finally, there's the matter of other components. Aside from niche manufacturers like Alienware, and possibly Dell, how many prebuilt computers actually come with 7200RPM hard drives? Or, better yet, CL2 DDR and something BESIDES a HSP Winmodem? Ooooh... Did I just hear a pin drop?

;-)