Originally posted by Kerrida
About the only time we'd recommend buying something like a Dell or any of the other brands out there) was if the person had no intentions of upgrading the parts down the road (used to be an issue due to them all liking to use proprietary hardware and crap.. not so much of an issue now) and if they did not have someone who could be their Techie if it was needed. Of course.. building them yourself used to be cheaper.. now it's not as big of a price difference.
Actually, there is a price difference. Last night my Dad showed me the invoice for a computer that Neighbourhood Watch had bought for its secretary. His gut feeling was that they'd paid too much, and I was able to point out a dozen entries that supported his gut. I could have put together a system of similar spec for half what they paid, and I probably could have given them something ample to their needs for a quarter. (They got a DVD-RW with the system, and they were buying a 19" widescreen LCD, which IMHO is a gross waste of money if you're doing secretarial work - who wants to write letters widescreen? You need height!) For under $300 (Australian - but at the moment that's pretty similar to US), I built a single-core system of pretty good spec; granted, that was already having the case and a couple of components (eg CD-ROM), but it could have been done from nothing for $400 or thereabouts.

The main thing about buying a complete system is that you can't downgrade it. If the system includes a DVD burner and a floppy drive, and all you ever do is read CDs, you can't downgrade to a CD-ROM and no FDD and save money. Building a system from components gives you full flexibility.

However, buying a _secondhand_ complete system is often a good bargain. If you don't need the latest and greatest, buy yourself a complete system and save heaps. (Of course, make sure you're buying from a reputable seller! We have a great little computer parts/systems place not far from us, but be careful of buying from random people on ebay or somesuch.) Even if the system isn't quite all you want - skimpy RAM, or slow hard disk, or won't read a DVD - it may be worthwhile.

Different strokes for different folks. It's all a matter of judging the individual situation and the precise needs, really.