| I was in the market for a new computer a few | | | | come with name-brand parts that are attractive to |
| months ago. At first, I was all set to buy one of the | | | | consumers for no other reason than recognition. |
| pre-packaged versions that every electronics store | | | | People feel more comfortable buying something if |
| sells, mostly because that's what I've always done. But | | | | they've at least heard of the manufacturer before. But |
| a friend of mine convinced me that I was wasting my | | | | there are plenty of high-quality components from |
| money that way. He went over the list of features | | | | manufacturers that the general public probably has |
| that are typically included in a pre-packaged PC, and | | | | never heard of. These parts can deliver the same |
| showed me that I could get even better specs at a | | | | performance for less money. |
| lower price if I purchased everything separately. In fact, | | | | Another benefit of custom built computers is that you |
| many people have custom built computers these days | | | | can beef up the specs you're most interested in. For |
| and will never go back to the store-bought models. | | | | instance, if you're a gamer, then you can make sure |
| In the beginning, I was under the impression that in | | | | you have a state-of-the-art video card that can |
| order to get one of those custom built computers, I | | | | process the latest graphics. If you're a pack rat and |
| would actually have to build it myself. I wouldn't be able | | | | need to keep every single document, photo, and email |
| to do that in a million years, not even with a | | | | that crosses your desktop, then you can make sure |
| step-by-step manual to guide my every move. I just | | | | you get a bigger hard drive. Want to compute at |
| don't know enough about the inner workings of a | | | | lightning speeds? Make sure you have the best |
| computer to put one together properly. But I should | | | | processor available. There are very few ready-made |
| have realized that these days I can simply pay | | | | machines on the market that offer all top-grade |
| someone else to do the manual labor for me, which | | | | components, so doing it yourself would definitely be the |
| means I can still enjoy the benefits of custom built | | | | way to go. |
| computers. | | | | A third benefit of custom built computers is that you |
| And what are the specific benefits of custom built | | | | don't have to pay for pre-installed software programs |
| computers? As I mentioned above, one of the biggest | | | | like Microsoft Office. With the prevalence of free |
| benefits is that you might be able to save money on | | | | alternatives, you could end up saving a couple hundred |
| the individual components. Pre-packaged PCs often | | | | bucks on this alone. |