The difference between mass produced
bargain PC’s and quality custom built computers is more
critical than most consumers realize. Custom built computers use industry
standard parts which gives the owner several options for future upgrades.
Also, the components are hand selected for optimum performance and quality. Most consumer grade PC’s manufactured and sold through several
retail computer chains are designed to hit a price point... not quality,
performance and upgradability. These "Best Buy" specials are considered disposable because of the limited upgrade options. They simply can’t be
easily upgraded without using expensive proprietary parts from the
computer manufacturer; therefore, the computer is replaced rather than upgraded.
Consider these points:
PERFORMANCE
They usually offer low
performance components lacking important features needed to actually
achieve the speeds advertised. There is a reason some computers are
several hundred dollars less than others and seem to offer the same
advertised specifications. Consider two automobiles offering the same
size engine, but the cheaper one has such poor suspension that you
couldn’t take corners nearly as fast as the other. Which one is truly
faster? Stereo equipment has the same confusion, whereas, WATTs per
channel may not be as important as the distortion rating or other
specifications. There are many specifications that the consumer doesn’t
see or understand. Keep in mind computers are very complicated devices,
and there are several factors that effect the speed. Don’t focus on just
the RAM,
CPU
MHz, hard
drive size, etc. The quality of the individual components are
much more important.
"ALL-IN-ONE" MAINBOARD
DESIGN
More and more budget computers
include Mainboards
that are designed with onboard sound, video, modem, LAN, and other
options. Not all of these on-board features are bad, but only if the
board has enough expansion
slots, and the ability to disable the built-in feature if the
consumer wants to upgrade the peripheral later. You may want to upgrade
to a faster video card for gaming, a better modem, or a high end Midi
sound card. Again, with only few expansion
slots the computer offers very little choice when the owner
wants to replace or add a peripheral. Most important: If the "built-in"
component fails, and doesn’t offer the ability to disable, then the
Mainboard
must be replaced rather than replacing the faulty individual peripheral
such as a modem or Video.
FUTURE EXPANSION
The majority of budget PC's have only 2 or 3 expansion
slots. They usually don’t have extra drive
bays for future peripherals such as DVD CD-ROM’s, Zip Drives, CD
Recorders, etc. Most of the time we recommend at least 5 expansion
slots, and at least 5 drive
bays to assure the customer will not out grow their computer.
HARD DRIVES
Many of the inexpensive computers
include 5.25" Hard
Drives instead of the more common 3.5" Drive. They are called
"Big Foot" drives because they are physically much larger. The drives
are very slow compared to 3.5" drives because there are fewer disk
platters and the platters are much larger. This means the "heads" (which
read the data on the disk platter) have to travel much farther to
retrieve information. Keep in mind the hard
drive is a mechanical device and is considered a performance
bottleneck in most low cost computers. In other words, it takes longer
for the mechanical head to travel 5.25 inches than it takes to travel
3.5 inches. The 3.5" drive has more heads and platters so the data is
much closer for quick access. Also, Check out the RPM speed of the
Hard Drive. There is very little cost difference between the more
current 7200RPM verses the slower 5400RPM. But to a manufacturer
that slight cost difference could miss the price point they are
attempting to hit. For an extra $10 or $20 the 7200RPM is well worth the
investment
CASE DESIGN
The tower or desktop cases found
on almost all of the budget PC’s are a proprietary design and so is the
Mainboard.
Already discussed are the lack of expansion
slots and drive
bays. But the Mainboard
is difficult to replace or upgrade without purchasing another from the
manufacturer. As you can probably imagine it is several times the cost
of an industry standard Mainboard.
Some of these cases use a custom "molded" design for the floppy drive
and CD-ROM. The special "molded" CD-ROM and floppy drive may look nice,
but makes it impossible to upgrade or replace without purchasing from
the manufacturer at inflated prices. CD-ROMs and Floppy drives are
mechanical and will eventually fail. Again, high cost and lack of
flexibility. Custom built PC’s don’t use molded drives and use industry
standard Mainboards.
POWER SUPPLY
The power supply is another very important
and overlooked component inside a computer. It provides power to
every peripheral in your system. First point: Many companies install
custom or proprietary Power Supplies in their computer simply because
they want you to purchase the replacement from them. These companies
change one or two specs so industry-standard Power Supplies will not fit
in their cases. Dell and Gateway are excellent examples of
this practice. This makes it impossible to upgrade
to a larger wattage or replace the power supply without purchasing from
the manufacturer. Of course the manufacturers selling price is
many times more than a similar industry-standard unit. Point Two:
Check the wattage. Rarely is the wattage listed in the specifications on
most computers. Several low cost computers are being sold with an insufficient
80WATT Power supply when most quality units are being sold with 250WATT
or Better. The lower the wattage, the harder the Power Supply
needs to work, and therefore could fail sooner. This also means an
owner can install fewer peripherals before the Power Supply exceeds specifications
and fails. Computers should be sold with a 250 WATT or better Power
Supply. Gamers typically need 300 WATT or better due to the high power
consumption of a high end Video card, and simply that the computer is
being pushed so much more than every day productivity software.
REBATES FOR 3 TO 4 YEAR INTERNET
SERVICE CONTRACTS
This offer is found on many of the
very cheap or free PC’s. It may not be wise to lock yourself into any
Internet service contract. The Internet is exploding and price wars have
already begun. There are even Free Internet services available
today. It is not uncommon to find unlimited Internet access for under
$10 a month. Also, the technology is changing rapidly as well. Cable
modem, DSL and other high speed Broadband access are currently being
offered and price reductions are just around the corner. You may regret
locking into a contract now that may be expensive or outdated in a few
months. Accessory Computer installs Free Internet on all new
computers.
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