Jason recently wrote about ‘building your own’ Vs ‘buying a prebuilt’ PC.

"I have stopped operating my personal business and now I pay retail for all my hardware instead of going to wholesalers. I have also stopped building my own PCs and my last three purchases have been big name, off the shelf computers. It just isn't worth my time anymore to save a few bucks wherever I can."

I suppose there is a damn good reason why the big names in PC building became big in the first place: They take the pain out of buying and owning a PC. As a fellow system builder from eons ago, I found that two things drove me away from doing it on a grand scale. Firstly, you can’t compete against the 24 hour after sales support of the bigger manufacturers. Secondly, as Jason points out, you are inevitably forced to mix business with friends. I’ve got to admit that it was mainly the former that made it hard, the latter added insult to injury. Because I have chosen not to make a career out of supporting hardware, it is only natural for me to tell friends and family to go and see somebody who is more equipped to deal with their computing needs. I simply am not a hardware support specialist. The story changes dramatically if they would like some advice regarding software decisions (and so does the quote

It’s clear that recommending your friends to go and pick up a cheap PC from Joe’s electronic emporium is tantamount to ending a friendship, but even if Jeff & Scott started building PC’s fulltime for a living I’d probably still build my own.

I still build my own PC's because I'm prepared to take the time to research the combinations (which isn’t all that much) and I'm also prepared to provide myself with the '24 hour after sales support'. If I have a warranty issue, I’m prepared to wait a little longer to get my new part; I have more than one PC anyway. The benefit is that I get to spend more on the areas of the PC that interest me and choose from the widest set of options available. The potential savings, I feel, are a small bonus, perhaps enough to cover my time doing a bit of research on a weekend.

Perhaps the omega geek driven sense of pride of owning my very own DIY desktop scorcher has plunged me into the depths of insanity, but I have come to the conclusion that you can build your own cheap PC and keep it a secret from your friends.