The desktop in question is the:
Dell Inspiron 530
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200, 2.33GHz,
4GB RAM,
500GB,
16X DVD+/-RW Drive,
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100,
Windows Vista™ Home Premium, 1yr InHome Warranty,
Dell USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse » for $449+$40 shipping+tax at Dell.com.
In CA, with 9.75% tax, this roughly becomes $540.
1) The first downside with a prebuilt computer is that you cannot overclock them. Basically, CPU's are manufactured to run at a certain frequency, in this case, the processor is running at 2.33 GHz. However, it is common knowledge that one can take the stock processor and basically "supercharge it" by forcing it to run faster. In the past, overclocking did not yield great results without adding extra expenses by buying water cooling or fans, but recently the Intel CPU's themselves have been able to achieve impressive overclocks.
Simply stated, with a custom computer, you can buy a 2.33 GHz CPU and overclock it to say, 3.0 GHz without shortening the life of the processor, or even needing aftermarket cooling. With a prebuilt, you're stuck.
2) The reason you are stuck is two-fold. One, the BIOS (software running before your OS) doesn't allow it. You would need to erase your BIOS and replace it with a compatible one with overclocking enabled (usually tricky). Second, the hardware is shitty.
You're prebuilt usually comes with a cheapo motherboard that won't be able to overclock simply because it isn't capable.
3) Why is your hardware shitty? When a computer salesman at Bestbuy is selling you a computer, have they ever told you what BRAND the motherboard is? One of the most important pieces of hardware in a computer? No, they only spam "1 billion GB hard drive" "5 GB ram" whatever. When building custom, you can choose parts that have quality. Its like getting an american car full of crappy CD players, bad interior, plasticky controls versus building your own, EXCEPT a computer is MUCH easier to build than a custom car.
The Dell says:
4 GB ram - 4 DIMM's, at 800 MHz. What brand? You need good ram to overclock and good ram is simply more reliable. Secondly, 4 DIMM's means it takes up four ram slots, pathetic.
500 GB hard drive - once again, we don't know the brand. Seagate? Western Digital? Etc?
and it doesn't even list the motherboard, is it decent like ASUS? or some random brand.
and so on and so forth.
4) Along with shitty hardware, you get a crappy "build". The computer is mass produced and built in factories wherever there are, and as such, they can't come close to building a computer by hand. There are two areas where prebuilts fail.
One, the CPU and heatsink connection is shoddy. The below picture is the surface of a CPU.
When building a custom PC, you apply thermal grease to fill the microscopic holes between the CPU and the fan heatsink for maximum heat transfer. Basically, better application = cooler CPU. Its a known fact that prebuilts have sloppy application of thermal grease.Two, the wiring in prebuilts is messy. Bad wiring and a bad case PLUS bad positioning of equipment means that airflow in your case will be restricted, MEANING your CPU will run hotter, and things in your computer will not be running at their potential. A custom PC allows you to choose a case that is able to accomodate all your parts without sacrificing airflow.
5) Integrated graphics. Most prebuilt computers come with integrated graphics, which means you can only play games like CS 1.6 or similarly dated games. Bottom line: You can build a gaming PC with $600, but with a prebuilt you would need to buy a graphics card, which adds another $100 or so to the cost.
6) Preinstalled software. Your prebuilt PC will most likely come with extra crap you don't need that inevitably slows down your PC experience.
7) No standalone operating system. When you build your own PC and buy (lets say Windows 7 will cost $150 or something). You can use that copy of Windows 7 for all your future builds, and it also allows you to reformat faster. With a prebuilt, you need to use recovery disks, slow manufacturer software, and you technically don't own the operating system since you can't replicate it on other systems.
8) Upgradability: Without knowing what motherboard you are getting, you don't know what kind of slots you have in your PC, or what you can use with it. Chances are, you won't be able to run dual graphic cards (if you ever wanted to), you aren't sure what kind of PCI-E slots it has, if you need a bigger power supply (after buying a new graphics card, your PC may be more power hungry), etcetera, etcetera.
9) No sales pressure (if buying in a store). Lets face it, those warranty's are bullshit. Not to mention anti virus software they try to sell you is bs. Along with the whole geeksquad thing, along with "cleaning your PC from spyware". Unless you are a dinosaur born before the '60s, you should be able to figure it out yourself.
10) Its lame. Branding for computers means crap when it comes to desktop PC's.
"Hey guys I got a new computer!"
"What is it?"
"A Dell"
"Dells suck, HP is better"
"Yeah, my HP owns your Dell"
"Nah, Acer pwns you"
The above typical conversation is irrelevant since the level of quality of most of the internals are the same, the differences are mostly exterior.
The Bottom Line: You paid $550 for a computer that can't play games? Have fun with a Quad-Core processor but no graphics card? Crappy ram? Preinstalled spammage? Clunky recovery software? Bad upgradeability?
Ok, I've beaten the horse to death, but I hope you enjoyed this post, and look forward to my next one where I will build up a budget computer to show what I am talking about.
