I hate building PCs

[IBM]

I think I've only built four PCs in my time...sufficiently small numbers that I still get a thrill when it boots for the first time. But after the last build I swore I wouldn't do it again...waste of time and effort. I simply don't enjoy it enough to bother doing it, and would rather pay a company to install the specs. I pay a premium, but so what? My time's valuable...I'd rather go to the movies, or read a good book.

And Koolpc...Dell's components might suck, but with a decent warranty, only benchmark freaks are going to be able to tell the difference, and they're not the people buying from Dell in the first place.

[iranu]

I only build pc's for the family although I would make an exception for a couple of friends. Just building them and installing windows is easy but it's having to load all the software (and in the case of my bro's oc it to what I promised) is a real pita. It takes hours to load games and patch them up.

Luckily I'm pretty good at doing it so get very few queries that can't be sorted in 10 mins. At least when I build a machine it won't come with all the crap that Dell etc put on* and will have an upto date anti-virus/firewall/xp updates and firefox on.

*I advised my dad to get a Dell for work rather than me building one. I took it out the box to make sure everything was ok, powered it up and installed/configured windows. The machine took 2 mins to boot up due to all the rubbish Dell includes. Things like Symantec asking if you want to pay for their service etc. So I uninstalled all the crap and put on free anti-virus and firewall. Boots in 20 secs and is stable as - no problems.

[Skii]

You found a case yet?

Ebuyered mate, £16 inc 350w ATX

[johnny02004976]

when i first started at my new job (well back in august) a few people knew i had just done IT degree and was into PC building so i offered to upgrade a PC for a guy at work, and being nice i did it for free as he's a mate.

I now have at least 5 people a week asking me dumb ass questions or to do stuff to their PC's, ive upgraded 7, and repaired at least 20. However, as i did the first one for free people just expect me to do it for free, and being a nice guy i dont charge a penny

[Koolpc]

And Koolpc...Dell's components might suck, but with a decent warranty, only benchmark freaks are going to be able to tell the difference, and they're not the people buying from Dell in the first place.

You would be surprised mate! Many people who think they know a lot about PC's buy a Dell machine only to be upset when they realise what they have bought!! A pile of poo!!

I don't mind building pc's. It can become a pain and monotonous but when you get paid for it then that helps

[TooNice]

Normally, I tell them to build a PC so that I can set up this scenario.

More often than not, they are just looking for a free service. Thats when I point them towards Dell <_<

[smtkr]

www.dell.com
shipit.ubuntu.com

there you go, an exciting week of excitingness!

While I would choose a different pre-built PC (as I have been burned by Dell...twice), I generally agree with this statement. My experience with UBUNTU is that it is very apple (in terms of user friendliness) and stable. I haven't been looking hard, but I can't think of an easy way for a plebeian to pooch his install. Really, if you don't tell someone about sudo, how are they going to screw it up? I suppose a person could install something strange with Synaptic, but I doubt anyone would randomly install packages.

[Rave]

I'd never buy a pre-built PC for myself, because I'm an overclocker. I always buy low end CPUs and then thrash them.

However when the PC I built for my brother about 3 years ago started to cause problems I couldn't be bothered to try and fix it so I just got him a Dell. 17" flat panel monitor, 2.8GHZ P4, 1gig of RAM, 80gb hard disk, CD burner, and a free printer, all for under &#163;400. I couldn't get anywhere near that spec for the price. Once I'd uninstalled all the crap, it ran absolutely fine.

One day soon, I'll teach him the art of backing up.

[Kumagoro]

You know you love it really.

Now I charge everyone except my immediate family and closest friends.

[poindextermatic]

I quite like building a PC, but I can only afford to do it every about 2 years...

[vrykyl]

if a mate wants a regular use pc (internet/word) then i just send em to dell...its just easier for me, and not my problem when it goes wrong. Im very picky about who i build/upgrade pcs for ...its normally only for good mates who know im not a tech support line, and who are getting their rigs for gaming

[FatalSaviour]

I much prefer building them, in fact I have just cashed in a £650 cheque which is money to buy components to build someone a machine. All I do is point out to them that I am NOT Dell/Scan/Mesh or whoever and therefor not on 24/7 call out as I have a life (granted most of it is spent in the pub) and will get onto it as soon as possible. Most are happy with this. Plus most people I do work for work where I do so I have an office I can look at things for them.

As for when it all goes horribly wrong? Give them a Norton Ghost CD of the machine just after you built it and keep a copy for yourself. Problem solved, explain to them before about how to treat a machine and all should be fine. Oh and I refuse to do internet connections without using a router, saves on being bombarded with spyware/trojans etc.

After saying all this, what is my current machine? A Dell Optiplex 620. Oh well got it on the cheap from work and it is silent and fits in with my HiFi. and it is fast (has an X800 I put in it).

Have to say, the OptiPlex 620's are pretty damn nice machines. Got 4 of them in my SOHO setup now...more silent than my own custom built one....that's saying something

[Auran]

Having only built one PC, I don't think that I can fully comment on how having to do it a lot sours the experience. As I really enjoyed the experience, though that will be in part due to it have very few hiccups, but more importantly I got to spend a weekend with one of my best friends; Zakk

Plus as Zakk intimated, I have a much clearer picture of how PC's tick. Don't get me wrong I wasn't clueless, but my expertise was more related to program functions than managing the soft & hard ware running and supporting it. Still scare the bejeezus out of me that they are based on quantum particles

[muddyfox470]

I enjoy building PC's tho it is time consuming. You always want to tweak it, tidy it up etc.

And the after build support is a killer.

I now only have the time to do stuff when i am home and i have a holiday; so i have a new cheap build to do this week, and i am giving one day for the build and another for updating windows and the likes :S

Should go smoothly. Then i want to get a wireless netowrk set up (on AOL) now that is gonna be a killer for me!

Ian

[Lee H]

Having only built one PC, I don't think that I can fully comment on how having to do it a lot sours the experience. As I really enjoyed the experience, though that will be in part due to it have very few hiccups, but more importantly I got to spend a weekend with one of my best friends; Zakk

Plus as Zakk intimated, I have a much clearer picture of how PC's tick. Don't get me wrong I wasn't clueless, but my expertise was more related to program functions than managing the soft & hard ware running and supporting it. Still scare the bejeezus out of me that they are based on quantum particles

Ahh so thats who all the opteron goodness Zakky ordered the other week was for

That's 1 hell of a 'flying machine' tbh.

Anyway, you know what really gets my goat - Generic 'no-name' cases.

I have several scars on my fingers from catching my hands on the internal bits that should be classed as Razor Blades they are that sharp.

[Funkstar]

Yeah thats what i hated about building PCs when i worked for a local shop. My fingers used to end up in tatters. My habds used to dry out really badly too from all the cardboard boxed we humphed about all the time.