Pre-Built Desktop Buyer's Guide: Holiday 2011 Edition
by Dustin Sklavos on November 30, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
- Systems
- AMD
- Intel
- AVADirect
- Toshiba
- Puget Systems
- WarFactory
- Holiday 2011
Conclusions
Undoubtedly there are going to be some omissions in the list I've put together; this is just a rough guide to get you started. While notebooks are anybody's game (and a lot easier to recommend depending on a person's needs), desktops honestly feel like the province of boutiques. It's win-win across the board: you're oftentimes supporting a smaller business, and customer service is generally going to be superior. This is an area where boutiques are just going to be able to excel over lumbering giants like Dell, Lenovo, HP, or Acer: they're more agile in every way, and they're typically more apt to use higher quality parts.
But there's another benefit: if you have a lousy customer service experience, know that boutiques watch the comments on reviews and articles like these, and they check out what people are saying about them on forums. They have to; unable to wholly compete on price with major OEMs who can enjoy economies of scale, the customer service angle of the business becomes a much bigger deal, and word of mouth is a major issue. So what about boutiques X, Y, or Z (e.g. the ones we didn't mention)?
While the bulk of my recommendations are for machines from AVADirect or Puget Systems, I've also tested hardware from CyberPowerPC, iBuyPower, DigitalStorm, WarFactory, and Origin (we're still trying to get some Alienware desktops in house). CyberPowerPC and iBuyPower were taken out of the equation for two reasons: our commenters have a tendency to vent a little bit more about these manufacturers suggesting that everything may not be on the up and up where customer service is concerned, and I've generally been unimpressed with the cases they've chosen to use for their builds. DigitalStorm has potential and I wouldn't recommend against buying from them, but we butted heads a little over the unsettlingly high voltage that was being fed into the Intel Core i7-2600K in the Enix system we tested. Origin I've only tested one system from and found it to be a quality build, but their packaging is a waste of resources and frankly a royal pain to both store and manipulate: the wooden crate our review unit came in was heavier than the unit itself. Finally, I did recommend WarFactory for the budget gaming system, but they seem small and I'm not sure how that lifetime warranty will play out.
Ultimately, if you're in the market for a custom machine, this holiday season is a great time to get a smart, well-built machine from a good boutique. You can get something with a solid warranty, excellent customer service...and you won't have to suffer with an anemic video card. Yes, it's possible to get faster video cards from major OEMs, but you're usually locked into expesive choices across the board and the result tends to be unbalanced. If you think we missed a particularly impressive offering, though, let others know in the comments!
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just4U - Friday, December 2, 2011 - link
While we all learn this lesson (earlier or later..) I still find it's better to build a system for family or friends. Most of mine last 5+ years and if they have a problem they send it to me. Why? Well, waiting waiting weeks to get it fixed for starters.. or having to take it into local shops where they will charge you 1-300+.placing you into the que.I put my foot down long ago and am firm with them. None ever blame me any more (even tho I know .. and likely some of you do as well..) that occasionally it's something we did or didn't do that caused the problem.
I do however think we get the shaft on the OS. Microsoft should be offering better on OEM. We drive the industry as much as others do even if it's not on the same scale. Not that it matters though.. SInce we can't get into building little smart phones and are pretty much locked out of the lap top section we are a dieing breed.
Samoht - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
"even in their high end desktop machines, to say nothing of anything south of a large."Just out of curiosity, what does that mean? I have never heard that expression before, but then again I do not have english as a first language.
Draconian - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
South of a large = less than $1,000Draconian - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
If you're going to go with a pre-built gaming desktop and you're on a budget, you gotta go with either Cyberpower or IBUYPOWER.Newegg was selling this PC for $459 this past weekend, even though the price jumped back up to $600.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
You can get a decent $700 gaming PC on Newegg, or get one pre-built from either company and get a 3 year warranty.
jigglywiggly - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
horrible listmidrange 1200$?
Are you guys out of your minds?
I cud find a better prebuilt anywhere.
KoolAidMan1 - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
yu cud also lern 2 spelbruf - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
Great idea and I agree with previous posts, for friends & family it's definitely the way to go especially when you have dozen of "clients". ;)I'd like to see a similar guide (with different budget/profile) for notebooks, especially in the crowded 500$ market. Is it something you've started working on or that we could expect in the next few weeks/months?
Lunyone - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
Your ideas of Budget & Midrange systems seem a bit too high! I would opt for a budget system at or about the $300-500 range, depending on needs and budget of coarse. Midrange should be around the $600-800 price range, but that is just my opinion.When building for most people (friends/family) I can't beat Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, etc for the budget low end. If I could get Windows for about $20-30 (without using a student discount) than I could be close to their prices (if I don't charge for any of my work/time). This would be nice, but it isn't the case. The OEM's get the best pricing, so I can't/won't ever get to the really low end of the market.
Grandpa - Thursday, December 1, 2011 - link
If you're not building a gaming system, why not use linux and save all that money.piroroadkill - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
Buy an ex-business SFF desktop like an Optiplex. mostly well built, quiet, small, cheap, and plentiful.I got a core 2 duo optiplex sff for about $100 delivered. threw in some spare ddr2 I had, and installed windows 7. it came with a radeon x1300 with dual display capability even.
this is still more than enough than most people need unless they game or are a power user. unbeatable ..