
Critics who blasted Microsoft three months ago for failing to deliver Windows Vista add-ons have
again called the company on the carpet, this time for missing its self-imposed deadline to provide promised extras. In late June, bloggers and users were already panning Vista Ultimate Extras as a bust. Extras, available only to customers running the top-end Vista edition, was one of the features cited by Microsoft to distinguish the USD 399 operating system from its USD 239 cousin, Home Premium. Microsoft's online marketing, for instance, touted Extras as 'cutting-edge programs, innovative services, and unique publications' that would be regularly offered to Ultimate users.
Member since:
2006-12-28
Absolutely correct. With midrange to low end PCs, it's cheaper to buy from a large OEM.
The difference, in my experience, is when dealing with high end systems. The cost of a high end system from Dell or HP can be considerably more then when assembling from bought components. Usually, large OEMs offset this by adding free memory upgrades or price reductions on monitors and other peripherals.
So, knowing this, why do I roll my own? It's quite simple, control. I want to select each and every component that goes into my machine. I don't want sub standard RAM, or a HD with a slow seek time and only 8mb of catch.
If you know a good internet hardware component vendor, you can also get OEM components for far cheaper then retail price. Usually these online stores offer price reduction deals for spending a certain amount of money per order.
But most of all, it gives me a feeling of enormous well being to be able to assemble a machine. I suppose a car mechanic would probably feel the same after having restored or assembled a car.