I see many people around me talking about computers , let it be assembled or branded , many people say that branded are always good , but I believe that assembled computers are the best , let’s have a look
DISKS : If you purchase a seagate harddisk today , for e.g 160 GB its around 4000 Rupees in pune , and when the same harddisk is found in an IBM pc then the price is around 6000-7000 for the same product , same is the case for CD/DVD ROM , CDROm’s today cost around 800 rupees and CD writers around 1300 , while a DVD ROM will cost around 2300 rupees, and in some branded PC the price is almost 50% more.
Motherboard : The motherboards provided by the vendors like IBM, Dell etc are not that good as compared to ASUS , GIGABIT motherboards , for e.g IBM has a pact with intel and so its always going to ship its pc with an intel motherboard , Guys just compare that motherboard with a ASUS motherboard , you will see a very vast difference , Branded motherboards have a very less scope for upgrading and to do that you have to contact you vendor otherwise you will end up ending your warranty if you try to do that yourself.while on the other hand u can do as many experiments as you want with an assembled PC.
Monitors : Some makers use monitors provided by SAMSUNG , LG , while IBM makes its own Monitors , Let me tell you all one thing , all the monitors SAMSUNG, LG, SAMTRON , use the picture tube manufactured by samtron , so this is generally the reason why people see less difference in the picture quality.Although manufacturers add various controls which may differ , just to keep two brands apart.Here also if you purchase a 17’’ samsung monitor , then it will cost around 6400 rupees and the same in a Zenith branded pc will cost around 7000 rupees.
Then why the difference ?
The difference is mainly because , these giant manufacturers have to pay huge sums as tax, their own profit , etc even the software like windows XP are licensed copies , A windows xp licensed copy will cost around Rs.3000 , its not like in assembled pc , that you borrow a Windows xp cd from your friend and install it , Few days back I read a very funny ad in local newspaper , the ad was of a very branded pc with a very low price , and below the ad, in one of the corner was written in very small letters , ms-dos pre installed , this cleared my doubt about low price of that PC.
What to prefer then ?
the problem with people who assemble computers is that , they many a times tend to cheat people , while the product is guaranteed in a branded one , for example the guy who assembled your pc will tell you very less about internal details like FSB, RAM CLOCK, Harddisk rpm etc a 5400 RPM Baraccuda harddisk is 500 rupees cheaper than a 7200 RPM Baraccuda , but these differences does not mean anything to most of us , as many don’t realise that high RPM gives better data transfer speed , but all these are clear in a branded pc . So finally I would like to conclude that , if you know to assemble pc’s then make your own or else refer someone whom you can trust for assembling your pc , but never go for branded ones unless you are going for servers , & Laptops .Big Brands realised that assembled pc’s share a very large segment of computer industry ( around 60% by kavijayji ), and that’s going to kick their appetite , so they kept servers and laptops away from this . Have you ever realised why opening a laptop is so difficult and tricky ? , but now ASUS is manufacturing Whiteboxes , which are like a hollow laptop with keyboard , tft screen and a mouse , and the rest all you install as per your wish .
For choosing good speakers , i’ll write my next review shortly , describing inside out about sound systems , but only if I get a proper feedback !