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why is it so difficult to pick out a new computer?

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techidave:
I have a client wanting to purchase a new desktop computer.  It will be used basically for only email and web surfing.  So I went looking to see if I could come up with a good deal for them.  I looked at the price of buying a system as well as the possibility of me building one.  But when I compare an HP, Dell to what I can build one for, mine is several hundred dollars higher and I haven't even tacked on any labor yet!

I am not talking about a high end machine either, but wanted something to last them a number of years.  I realize that I cannot compete with the big guns but I would think some of the system builders would be more competitive than they were.  My findings were they were only a few dollars cheaper than my build.

I have looked on the online stores of officemax, walmart, dell, HP, newegg, tigerdirect, zipzoomfly to name a few.  Plus I looked on pricewatch also.

My specs were an Intel D55PJ board running i3 3.02 ghz and 4gb of ddr3 ram and a 500 or 750gb WD 7200rpm-32mb hard drive.  Also a decent case like a Antec 4482 case.

Am i missing something here or is this just the way it is???

Renegade:
What were the price comparisons like? (The HP/Dell vs. what you found.)

techidave:
$400 to 500 or so and for my builds and the online builders it was around $700 or more. 

4wd:
HP, Dell, etc have the benefit of volume, (purchase/sales/labour), in the case of PCs using All-in-one type motherboards.

For anything that requires more customisation than an AIO motherboard solution then you'll start saving your money but usually only if you don't count the labour.

It usually works out cheaper if:
a) You build it yourself, AND
b) you're building for yourself, (because you don't consider it labour :) ).

Just FYI from MSY here:

Intel D55PJ                     - $89
i3-550                           - $129
PQI 4GB                         - $45
WD 1TB                         - $62
Coolermaster Elite RC-335 - $74  (The Antec you mentioned isn't avail., this looks decent.)
LG DVD-RW                    - $22
Total                             - AU$421

Do it even cheaper by going with a non-Intel board.

Renegade:
b) you're building for yourself, (because you don't consider it labour :) ).
-4wd (January 22, 2011, 08:54 PM)
--- End quote ---

I suppose it's "love" then?  :o

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