Off the Shelf vs Local Build As I stated on the home page, I have been building my own computers since 1988. There are a number of reasons for that and now that you have been given a basic overview of the components I will explain why I favor building computers over buying off-the-shelf units manufactured by ACER, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and others. 1. The manufacturers buy their components in bulk quantities of a thousand to 10 thousand units from whoever is selling them at the lowest cost at the moment. Proof of this is when downloading drivers or asking for assistance for a given computer model the owner will be asked for the serial number, or in the case of Dell, a service tag number. This provides them with the information they need to determine which manufacturer’s motherboard, graphics card, hard drive, and other components they slapped into that particular build. 2. System components are often unmarked, non-standard size, or contain the manufacturer’s proprietary part number not the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) name and part number making the manufacturer the sole source for components and who charge a much higher price for replacement parts. 3. Since the customer is not told whose components are in the system there is no choice but to go to the manufacturer for all support and that support, particularly in regards to drivers, will be based on their proprietary basic input output system (BIOS) and operating system they installed. Changing the OS will result in no support at best and perhaps even a voiding of the warranty. 4. After two or three years the manufacturer will quietly stop supporting the purchased system. 5. Adding or upgrading components often voids the warranty. A few manufacturers void warranties for simply opening the case. 6. Options during purchase are limited to those that provide a good profit margin. 7. Power supplies are typically operating at 70% to 90% capacity and are seldom high efficiency units. A serious upgrading of the system would be impossible without replacing the power supply. 8. The system is seriously overpriced even when it appears not to be because of the limitations and restrictions of the design and build. 9. They are loaded with what the industry calls “crapware”. Crapware refers to useless programs 3rd parties pay the manufacturer’s to place on their computers. These consist of 30 day trial programs, crippled games, links to websites, and browser add-ins. All of which take hours to remove. Some have actually been caught sending personal data back to the software maker. A bloatware package found on Lenovo computers had such an exploit. They of course denied all knowledge and promised to never put that software on their machines again… until they do. Now let’s compare and contrast a commercially sold business computer verses a generic equivalent. For no particular reason I have chosen the HP EliteDesk 700 G1 Micro-Tower PC from their business web site. Its price is $659.00 + free shipping. The generic equivalent costs $580.00 for parts and assembly. A comparison table is provided below.

The differences are minor and mostly in favor of the generic. 1. The generic uses a standard size DVD burner whereas HP uses a slim. Slims typically burn at 8X rather than 24X so it is 1/3 the speed. 2. The generic has 2 extra USB 3.0 connectors. 3. The generic offers four graphic connectors of various types, HDMI and DVI are available. The HP does have two DisplayPort graphics connectors whereas the generic has one. But honestly, the thought of attaching two monitors to an Intel 4400 graphics processor is kind of funny. 4. The generic has 7.1 audio with optical out whereas the HP has stereo only but it does have a single internal speaker. Both audio chips are limited to 192k bit rates. 5. And the HP case is smaller but a smaller case could be obtained for the generic. It is simply a matter of taste. 6. The manufacturer’s model provides no information about the components inside their case. The make and model of every item in the generic computer is known and easily replaced.