September 03 2010
Deciding Between a Custom-built and Pre-built Computer
Tagged Under : between, Computer, Custombuilt, Deciding, Prebuilt
In the Computer Stone Age – say, 25 years ago or so – just about every computer was custom built. Before the big computer makers turned PCs into commodities, you would order a certain motherboard, a certain CPU, a certain amount of RAM (at up to $400 a megabyte in the mid-1980s) and even specify the wattage of your power supply. Then the marketing people took over from the entrepreneurs, and pre-built computers started to rule the roost.
Today, computer components have become so powerful and so relatively inexpensive, and manufacturing processes so sophisticated, that it is a simple thing for the “majors” – Dell, H-P/Compaq, IBM, Gateway – to offer custom-built computers as well as pre-built ones. How do you decide what is best for you?
What’cha gonna do?
The most important consideration is what you are going to use your computer for. If you are going to do some word processing, web surfing, music playing and a little photo work, an off-the-shelf pre-built computer is the way to go. Unless you have some high-octane processing to do, such as high-end game playing or professional video editing, you don’t need anything more than a company’s entry-level model. You could probably even make do with two- to five-year-old technology, even, if you don’t mind buying used or refurbished PCs without warranties.
On the other hand, if you are going to make more demands on your computer, you need more horsepower. For gamers, it is not just the CPU (Central Processing Unit, or “main brain”) strength that matters. Today’s computer games also require a great deal of graphics processing, meaning more powerful graphics subsystems. The lower-end computers have less powerful graphics chips “integrated” on the main circuit board, while higher-end machines have separate graphics “cards.”
More money vs. more smarts
If you need more power, for games or video or what-have-you, and Read More
