Thinking of building my own computer..

[munchinmike]

Just wondering if anyone could give some advice and help me out a bit. I'm not sure whether to build a desktop or a laptop, I've pulled both apart before. I have a pretty right budget so I don't even know if it's possible.. I have around £300. From what I've read else where you generally save more when building a desktop, than a laptop. Although a laptop would be more ideal.

I'd say I'm pretty good with computers and technology I know what I'm doing and I know what all the bits do ect... I've just never gone about buying all the bits and building one.

 

[Kahaih]

I'd advise you go the tower route, as laptops are very limiting with parts and drivers that will work with them.

Be careful, this building/upgrading stuff becomes very addictive.

 

[Maklaar13]

Go for it! I can't help you but thought I let you know that my partner built his own tower computer and it was a very rewarding experience. I just watched and took pictures but I was quite impressed about what he did and how much he learned while doing it, I learned quite a bit as well. Let us know what you end up doing, I did not even know one could build a laptop.

 

[munchinmike]

Well, I say build, from what I have read you buy a "bare bones kit". Which is basically the shell, the motherboard, a screen and keyboard ect. And you then just add a hard drive graphics card and the rest.. So it's just essentially plugging in a few extras

 

[Kleptomaniac]

I'm sure about "building" a laptop. A system like that might be either hella bulky or crappy.
I say go for a tower. Fully upgradable if you buy the right components. Depends what you're needs are though. What do you intent to use it for? Gaming? Video editing? Or surfing the web and simple things like that?

 

[maxpowr9]

I dunno how much PC you can get for ~$650 in a custom desktop. Reckon it does help if you have the keyboard, mouse and monitor already. I'd typically drop £175 alone on a mobo. Yeah you can save "more" building your own but the savings is more at the "gaming" end of the spectrum when you're spending £700+ to build one.

I'm not trying to deter you from building one at all but I'd spend a little more and get something that is more "current" and won't be obsolete in a few years.

 

[Alnitak]

Sounds like a fun project

Might be on the expensive side though. Buying individual parts instead of a whole system unit cuts out the benefit to economy of scale.

What are you using the computer for?

 

[maxpowr9]

Sounds like a fun project

Might be on the expensive side though. Buying individual parts instead of a whole system unit cuts out the benefit to economy of scale.

What are you using the computer for?

That's kind of what I was hinting at in my post. Building a custom "low-end" PC really isn't economically feasible and you are better off just buying a prebuilt one from a reputable company instead. Many companies will even let you opt out of buying a monitor, keyboard and mouse too and you can buy just the tower. It's only when you get into the "gaming" level of custom built PCs that you are much better off building your own to save money.

I didn't want to deter his "custom building" if he REALLY wants to but at his price point, I would just buy a premade one: a laptop or a desktop.

 

[Jeffs0418]

One can actually build a decent all-around gaming machine for pretty cheap these days <$700.