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View Full Version : Better Warranty Building your Computer



Black Mage
December 16th, 2007, 08:08 PM
As I was taking notes of specs for building my own computer, and then went to sites such as HP, Dell, or Apple, I noticed something that was saving me money. To begin, I'm saving about 200 dollars building my own quad-core computer. But then under warranties for the big companies, they make you pay 100-300 dollars extra for warranty on the computer.

But when reading the specs and warranty of the parts I'm buying individually, I get free 3 year warrant for the motherboard, limited lifetime for the RAM, 5 years for the hard drive. So after doing all the math, buying a computer from a big name company with a warranty vs building my own, i'm saving up to 400 to 500 dollars.

Has anyone else not realized this fact how big named computer companies are just ripping people of their money?

sloggerkhan
December 16th, 2007, 08:14 PM
I never thought about it, though it seems somewhat valid. I've always just assumed that paying for extened warranties from an OEM is a ripoff and never bothered with it.

stmiller
December 16th, 2007, 08:15 PM
It is usually always cheaper to build your own, but not everyone wants or knows how to do that. Also with Dell you are paying for a year or so of technical support which is a big part of the extra cost.

As far as the part warranties, that's where it gets fishy. Dell uses WD (and other) hard drives, and other standard parts. But they are sold to Dell as an 'OEM' hard drive which usually only have a one-year warranty. So I agree with your comments about the warranties.

popch
December 16th, 2007, 08:16 PM
As a 'corporate buyer' I usually buy a three year's warranty. However, that not only covers parts but also the labor.

It pays off because I do not have to have staff which can do repairs, buy replacement parts and so on.

However, that's not really comparable to your situation.

fatality_uk
December 16th, 2007, 08:22 PM
As I was taking notes of specs for building my own computer, and then went to sites such as HP, Dell, or Apple, I noticed something that was saving me money. To begin, I'm saving about 200 dollars building my own quad-core computer. But then under warranties for the big companies, they make you pay 100-300 dollars extra for warranty on the computer.

But when reading the specs and warranty of the parts I'm buying individually, I get free 3 year warrant for the motherboard, limited lifetime for the RAM, 5 years for the hard drive. So after doing all the math, buying a computer from a big name company with a warranty vs building my own, i'm saving up to 400 to 500 dollars.

Has anyone else not realized this fact how big named computer companies are just ripping people of their money?

But the BIG named pc manufacturers are not building PC's for people who know how to slot a GFX card into a PCI-E slot, remembering to discharge any static beforehand lol . They build them for my mum, her friends, the guy down the road who's a builder and needs to keep basic accounts on a PC.

These people will usually NEVER see the inside of their PC and want a phone number, email or a guy in a shop to speak to when it wont switch on. That support costs money I am afraid, and YES, quite rightly, at the end of the day, they do want to make a profit as well.

logos34
December 16th, 2007, 08:26 PM
The warranties on the individual parts you mentioned is probably the second most important reason I built my own pc (actually 2 so far). And I was wise to do so: a power supply failed 16 months after purchase, but it was under 3-year warranty, so the manufacturer (antec) promptly replaced it (minus $10 shipping). Had that been an OEM machine with standard 1 yr, then forget it. $75 down the drain.

amingv
December 16th, 2007, 08:32 PM
In my case at least, I have a different reason. I try to avoid them whenever I can because I wont pay for something I will void ~0.5 seconds later. (Who doesn't LOVE the smell of new, shiny, dustless silicon and plastic? Ahhh...) Plus it allows me to set it up just the right way. No Geek Squad member knows better than me what I want in there;)

Black Mage
December 16th, 2007, 10:54 PM
But the BIG named pc manufacturers are not building PC's for people who know how to slot a GFX card into a PCI-E slot, remembering to discharge any static beforehand lol . They build them for my mum, her friends, the guy down the road who's a builder and needs to keep basic accounts on a PC.

These people will usually NEVER see the inside of their PC and want a phone number, email or a guy in a shop to speak to when it wont switch on. That support costs money I am afraid, and YES, quite rightly, at the end of the day, they do want to make a profit as well.

Ah yes, I'm not saying making a profit is bad. Profit=good, its why I can afford to buy computer parts. But I'm just noting the prices for these warranties and the amount of profit made off of them.

stmiller said that Dell uses Western Digitial hard drives. Western Digitial gives a three year warranty on their hard drives for parts and labor, Dell will only give you one with the included price. And then lets look at the prices for warranties and support.

A computer brought from Dell with a year warranty cost 1,298. Now for two year warranty the price is $1,581 and three years is $1,641.

Honestly, I don't know how much support is actually needed. An average user might need support but I've never called support all my life, and I use Mac and Dells. So for people who only uses operating such as Ubuntu, and rarely windows, it would make no sense for them by from a big name company. Why spend almost $400 dollars more for a warranty than could be free from the original manufacturer?

So I'm just noticing the clever marketing scheme these companies have.

Infact, Dell is not cheaper than HP. HP computers cost more but the warranty/coverage cost less. So for the average person, the final amount is about the same.

Myglaren
December 16th, 2007, 11:39 PM
I have always built my own after the first (486) that I was given due to the owner being too scared to dump it in the tip (he's an accountant and had sensitive info on the HD).

After selectively swapping major components I went out and bought a pile of bits and constructed my own.

Then one for my son for Uni.

Then another for me, being a bit more knowledgable and selective about the hardware choices.

All are still running and the only hardware issue has been a failed hard drive - the replacement failed after a year too, bad batch of IBM Deskstars - lesson learned there. And a power supply that died and was replaced with a spare within ten minutes of failure.

No need whatsoever for warranties, wouldn't have claimed on them anyway so would have been money down the drain, instead it went into slightly better hardware.

The only computers I have bought off the shelf are a pair of Toshiba laptops. Not so easy to build your own laptop.
No extended warranty. Taking the risk that the laptops will last three years and a replacement after that time will cost less than the warranty would have been.

Having had quite a few Dell, HP and Packard Bell machines to repair, I see why you need a warranty though. And don't even mention E-machines/Tiny/Time. Abysmal.

gn2
December 16th, 2007, 11:42 PM
Not only that but you won't charge yourself premium rate for phonecalls to listen to the on-hold music of the computer company's warranty department if anything goes wrong with the PC.

Myglaren
December 16th, 2007, 11:43 PM
Not only that but you won't charge yourself premium rate for phonecalls to listen to the on-hold music of the computer company's warranty department if anything goes wrong with the PC.
How very true, hadn't considered that as I never phone anyone.

Black Mage
December 17th, 2007, 08:02 PM
Having had quite a few Dell, HP and Packard Bell machines to repair, I see why you need a warranty though. And don't even mention E-machines/Tiny/Time. Abysmal.

Yea, I've seen quite a few Dell's go down, especially after working in a Dell Warranty Service Center.

twin_57103
January 10th, 2008, 01:46 AM
I have mixed feelings on extended warranties. I know hardware pretty well and can fix about 90% of what goes wrong, but I've also had several hardware failures that were covered under warranties and it has been a relief.

I had a Dell hard drive die after a month (always keep data backups!) and I've had an HP Laptop's RAM go bad - both replaced under warranty (the laptop ways days before the 1-year warranty went out - a few more days and I would have wanted the extended warranty)

I will echo the sentiment on e-Machines - I've seen power supplies go out and fry the motherboard, only to find that it's not uncommon.

I am hoping to build my next computer, although I'm not sure it's cheaper - not if you want to use good-quality components.