I have never purchased a pre-made system, back when it was a 80286-20 with math coprocessor and setting up Dos to run with QEMM386, to my last box, an athalon 900, 256 meg, oxygen vgx1 video card, and on board sound. It really isn't that much smoke and mirrors to put these together, but the money savings isn't that great any more. It seems the manufacturers can bundle things together cheaper than you can buy them separately. I would say the deciding factor should be, do you already have the operating system, (win98, winnt), or do you need that? Also, depending on your use, you may be able to get the exact video card, or sound card, or modem that you want / need by putting it together yourself, or settle for something that will probably work fine. The other bonus of putting it together yourself is that you can buy a top end motherboard, but step back a few notches on processor, leaving you some savings, but plenty of upgrade ability when processors come down. The pre-made systems I see are typically maxed out for processor speed and memory capacity is not quite as large for future upgrades, ie maybe only 128 meg per two slots, rather than the ability to go 256 meg in three slots. Of course, if you don't need that high memory, or the ability to go from say, a AMD Duron 600 to an AMD Atholon 1100, then don't bother paying for it now. If you build yourself, make sure you get a case that is easy to fool with, has an approved power supply for whatever processor family you are using, and is larger than you think you need, always think upgrade. always. Jon
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Looney" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 7:16 AM Subject: RE: [mfg-smartcam] Off topic: To build or buy.... > > I buy our pc's here, we have about 30. I used to buy Micron, now I buy Dell. > They are sweet systems. I am in the same situation, I can put together my > own or buy dell. There is seems to be a savings of a couple hundred dollars > between the 2, provided you get like componants. The pre installed software > is a non issue if , like me you have tons of cd's laying around. I'm leaning > towards just getting the Dell. Just make sure you get good stuff "name > brand" componants, not the cheap junk. > PS: you can put your system together yourself, hardest part is getting that > slippery motherboard on line up with the plastic pins. > bob > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 5:29 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [mfg-smartcam] Off topic: To build or buy.... > > > Hi all, > I'm considering purchasing a new computer for home use. Will probably > install some applications on it, such as Autocad and Microsoft Visual C++ > (Smartcam too? ) so that I can do some work at home. I'm fairly computer > literate, but not good enough to make my own (not yet, anyway). I'm looking > at some of Dell's systems. On the other hand, my brother, who is something > of a computer guru, can put together a custom system for me. He's into the > good stuff; scci drives and the like. More expensive, but free support > (kind of). He told me to make sure I get an ATX case if I buy a box from > Dell or any of the other makes. > I was wondering if any of you have gone the make-your-own route and > would be willing to share your experience. Good, bad, indifferent? Cost is > a factor here - I want to be considerate of my wife's feelings : ) > Thanks for any thoughts you might share, > > Chris > > BTW, if any of you are interested, the Dell 4100 series computers do have > an ATX case. But this is the only model that does. We do business with Dell > and every so often have Dell engineers floating about. One of them was the > source of this bit of info. > > > ====================================================================== > To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, > send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ====================================================================== > > ====================================================================== > To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, > send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ====================================================================== > > ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
