Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to afford custom items that fit us and meet all our needs perfectly? Let’s face it; it is not financially feasible for most of us to buy custom made things like clothing, shoes, or homes because the costs do not justify the benefits of custom over the standard mass production. The one product that this may not hold true is a custom-built computer desktop or server system. The retail market for computer components is a highly competitive, low margin market. It is hard for the large vendors to produce the components, especially high quality ones, for less than what are available at retail.
Reasons for custom building your computer:
- Better Value
- Spend money on components that will yield you the greatest benefits for your needs.
- Limited customization options from the large vendors and so you usually pay for unneeded features or settling for less.
- Dollar for dollar, custom builds have better quality and higer performance.
- Take advantage of sales and rebates to lower costs.
- Lower support costs by building identical systems. Large vendors tend to utilize several suppliers for the same component, which leads to slight variations within a product.
- Best-in-class and Upgradeable Components
- Choose best manufacturer for each component and price range.
- Avoid sub-par components used by the large vendors.
- Quality components use better materials and last much longer.
- Non-propriety components can be upgraded to newer versions to keep up with technology changes.
- Windows License
- Computers from the large vendors come with Windows OEM licenses and are tied to the original systems.
- Retail licenses can be transferred between systems.
- Purchasing a new retail computer means you are repurchasing the Windows license.
- Custom built computers can reuse the original retail licenses just as long as the licenses are no longer installed on the old systems.
- Bloatware
- Avoid unnecessary software that impact system performance and cause unstability.
- May violate privacy by secretly collecting personal information and data.
- May be a security risk by creating backdoor accesses to your system and private network.
When you are in the market for a new desktop or server, seriously consider a custom-built system. You will not regret it. Do not fall for the advertised low prices to get your attention and are usually "sold out". Chances are you will actually pay a lot more than the advertised price for an actual useable system.
If you are handy and are a DIY (do-it-yourself) type, then see Blueprint To Building A Computer to get you started. If DIY is not your cup of tea, then 802.Tech4U would be happy to custom build a system for you.
Several notes about custom-built computers:
- Laptops are usually not custom build because of the lack of availability of non-propriety standards and components.
- You can hack a custom build to run Apple’s operating system (OS). Essentially this is referred to as a hackintosh. You need to be a current owner of a Mac to download Apple’s OS X.