Open Thread: What’s Your Hardware Strategy?
May 1st, 2008 (11:00am) Mike Gunderloy 13 Comments
When I got started in this business, too many years ago now, there wasn’t a lot of question about how an alpha geek got a personal computer: you spent far too long reading specs, picking parts, having them shipped in, and then assembled it yourself. Oh, sure, plenty of people bought pre-built systems, but in my peer group at least it was assumed that you could do better yourself.
Things have changed, though - or so it seems to me. Now building a computer from scratch makes less sense for most web workers. Relentless price competition and Moore’s Law have pushed down powerful machines to affordability. But rather than speculate, let’s get your feedback: do you build your own computers these days, or buy them off the shelf? Do you spend any time customizing or installing components? Or would you rather just leave the entire hardware experience to someone else to figure out, and pay people to build and maintain your machines?
13 Comments Post your own comment
Mike says: May 1st, 2008 11:22am
I’m still under the impression that you CAN build a powerful PC on your own cheaper than the equivalent on a store shelf. Hardware prices are dropping at about the same rate as retail packages are. We build all our own desktops and servers, but we let Apple take care of the laptops.
ctc says: May 1st, 2008 11:37am
I build my own. When you buy a pre-built machine, you’re buying hardware, software, and support. I prefer to be my own tech support, and I use open source software, so all I really need is the hardware. Also, if I need to troubleshoot something, I like knowing exactly what’s in my machine. Furthermore, most individual components have excellent warranties - often lifetime. Those warranty periods disappear when you buy from an OEM.
Farfield says: May 1st, 2008 11:51am
I never bought a PC, but I’m very happy that I can buy a Mac fully configured and with great components. I’m on my sixth mac now and I never bought one wishing it had some better specs.
I like it because I don’t have to go through the trouble to find out which components work best together, it’s preconfigured with high quality components and it never fails me because of this!
Mike Gunderloy says: May 1st, 2008 11:59am
Thinking a bit more on this - for me, what drives up the cost of building my own is the sheer time it would take to get back up to speed on which are the good/fast/reliable components and how best to match them. Life was simpler in the pre-Windows era…for those of you still building your own, what do you rely on for information? How do you get from here to there efficiently?
Marc says: May 1st, 2008 12:01pm
I’ve started customizing my hardware in a way that makes social sense to me. The first vendors I look at are Zareason and System76, followed by Dell. I’d rather buy from a place like Zareason because of that little gift-wrapped screwdriver they send with every purchase. Since I don’t have time to build hardware, it’s the next-best thing.
Never been a better time to be a freedom-lovin’ open source studio.
Tyson says: May 1st, 2008 12:11pm
I built my latest computer, but I probably won’t do it again. I do believe I saved money and got a good machine, but the difference is definitely marginal. Plus, I had a copy of windows already, which makes a big difference.
Roberto says: May 1st, 2008 12:22pm
I still build my own. Usually every two years or so I put together a system that’s one step behind the cutting edge. That gives me a very reliable, quite capable system for a very reasonable price. Best of all, there is none of that c$%/ that big manufacturers install in their computers.
After that all I have to do is perhaps buy a bigger hard drive or add some memory, as needed.
@Mike: You are right, unless you keep yourself constantly informed through industry magazines and websites on what the state of technology is and how it’s moving getting up to speed is a daunting task; and if it’s not part of your normal activities it may not be effective to spend all that time.
Andrew says: May 1st, 2008 1:15pm
I do both, but any billable work I do is usually isolated to an iMac. My cobbled system is really just a storage hub. And like Roberto: it’s come down to occasionally adding a bit of RAM or a brick of hard drive space, when needed… or when it’s astoundingly cheap.
ctc says: May 1st, 2008 5:49pm
@Mike: When the time to build a new PC approaches, I compare the latest motherboard chipsets from Intel, AMD, and nVidia using their websites. Then I default to newegg.com to shop for a motherboard. I use newegg’s search to show me only motherboards of the chipsets I like. Once you have your motherboard, just use its manual to choose other compatible parts.
That’s a simplified explanation of my shopping strategy. By choosing a motherboard that has everything you need, you’ll get a great system at a low price.
James says: May 1st, 2008 6:09pm
Build your own is still the way to go. Known premium components make for superior performance that is still significantly cheaper than purchased systems.
Only drawback is to get the best prices usually requires rebates for components. I recently built my game machine and have three rebates outstanding.
Lastly, for high performance graphics building your own is almost mandatory. The 8800 GT graphics card requires at least 20A on the 12V rail(s) and most purchased systems don’t have beefy enough PSUs for it.
Eric S. Mueller says: May 2nd, 2008 4:08am
The last time I needed a desktop system, I had grown tired of building my own and I planned to just buy a pre-built machine. Things didn’t work out that way. I ended up selling a Dell Axim x30 to a friend for $250, then going to a computer show with my father-in-law and buying the parts to slap together my own system. I’ve built my own desktops since 1996 when I first started getting into this crazy hobby/way of life/career.
Scott Blitstein says: May 2nd, 2008 7:34am
In the past I would usually build my own but my last desktop need came at a time when I just didn’t want to be bothered with it. I wanted to take it out of the box, plug it in, and have it work. Since then I’ve moved on to my laptop.
I feel a bit disconnected with the current hardware available now so would really have to do quite a bit of research before jumping back in. Would probably be a good exercise to get back up to speed though.
SB
Emilian says: May 3rd, 2008 4:49pm
Mac laptops. Maybe pay someone else to build me a PC as a cheap storage / computing workhorse.