Anger Wrote:an admirable goal however you may find getting parts to begin with will cost more than machines that are sold pre-built, this is because they have economies of scale (the more they buy the cheaper they can sell them). i wish you good luck - i tried doing this and failed basically so i hope you manage it.

Even if it is subjective to economics of scale, the labor cost involved with building and quality check, quality guaruntees (eg. 2 year guaruntee with free repairs), customer support costs, and the fact that the company that builds it (eg, Dell, Toshiba...) also wants profit means that pre-built ones are almost always more expensive. Well, at least over here, it is.

But i guess it depends on what kind of pre-built wee are talking about. Some computer stores here sell pre-builts that are built by the store itself, not by some company like Dell, so these may be cheaper.