Folks are always asking me is it better to build your own computer or buy the parts and put it together yourself. So with Christmas coming up I picked a simple comparison using BestBuy as the guinea pig.

Here a link to the target machine (Best Buy Desktop Computer – $999.99) with $100 off through mail-in rebates that’s $899.99.

I’ll build the SAME or better computer using NewEgg, a very reputible online store whom I’ve personally bought stuff from.

1) Case: Shuttle XPC $190.00- look closely, it includes a powersupply and motherboard with integrated Wireless network card, usb and audio so we’re already off to a good start. Oh and it’s black, very trick.
2) Processor: Intel? Pentium? 4 processor 3.0GHz $181.00, 800Mhz frontside bus. This one beats BestBuy as it has a 1MB L2 cache vs theirs which is only 512KB
3) Memory: 512MB PC3200 DDR memory $99.00, you can bet bestbuy don’t use Corsair.
4) 8x DVD?RW/CD-RW drive $59.99
5) 160.0GB hard drive $89.00 (7200 rpm), let’s do a Seagate here, Western Digital are too loud. IDE ATA, no need for SATA.
6) ATI RADEON 9550 AGP graphics card with 256MB $86.00 Retail! This card’s not what I would pick but still, it’ll run cold and it’s what’s in the BestBuy shuttle.
7) PS/2 keyboard and optical mouse – choose your own adventure here, let’s say $30 ?? Windows XP Home Edition$87.00

ok so the running total without 7 and 8 which you probably already have from an old computer is $704.99, a savings of $300 bucks off the bestbuy sticker price or $200 savings with rebates (which’ll take weeks to come through).

If you add in 7 and 8 you’re at $821.99, still saving $78.01 over the Bestbuy deal including rebates. You could save even more if you chose all OEM parts (most of mine are retail). After all, you’re getting OEM stuff from Bestbuy. As for the after-sales service argument, well it’s up to you. Most tech support these days (e.g. Dell) will have a technician walk you through how to take the computer apart over the phone. Literally. You can get the SAME support from online forums such as overClockersClub for free, usually much more helpful and you’ll make some friends along the way.

Hope that helps with your Christmas shopping