Custom or Manufactured Computer? Thinking about buying a new computer, but confused like before? So you go down to your  local electronic store and see a $$$ special. Then you take it home,set it up and presto you have a new computer. It looks nice, maybe even feels nice. This is where the manufacturers want you. They know what you bought and that it’s not worth what you paid for it, but it will keep you coming back, because you think you got something spiffy and it was worth the price paid. If a consumer only knew what was inside these machines compared to what they should be, they might think differently.  Would you purchase a vehicle that could not have parts changed out if it broke, no?  Why buy a computer that is limited in this way then? A little list of things you don’t get with a manufactured computers: 1:  The original Operating System CD: If your lucky you will get a “recovery disk.” The OS is rightfully yours and you should have a hard licensed copy of it, not some cheap remake. Manufacturers do one of two things. They send with the computer a mass produced disk that is hard coded to the computer so that it can only be used on that machine's motherboard or they don’t give it to you at all until you need it and charge you a premium "shipping and handling" charge to get it.  The average cost of getting a recovery disk is about $25.00. 2:  Unless you pay for them to come out and set up the computer initially, you are stuck setting up the computer all by yourself. Hope you like user manuals, cause you may be doing a lot of reading. Secondly, here in the USA, clear English is starting to become a rarity due to outsourcing tech support to other countries. Third and most important, most of these “technicians” are reading directly from a logical script to fix your problems. In the real world (Your world and mine), computers don’t have “if this happens” lists. There are so many things that can go wrong, that there is no way to get to the answer unless the computer is physically looked at on site or the consumer is  very tech savvy to explain the situation.  Often a consumer will find  themselves packing the computer back into the box to send it back to the manufacturer to be repaired. Note: If you do send a computer back to the manufacturer, make sure you make a backup of your personal data.  They don't have to return to you the same computer or hard drive.  This is often in the fine print of your warranty policy. One time I had a laptop from a well known manufacturer that would only stay on for about 15 minutes before shutting off. I knew exactly what was wrong with it, but because it was under warranty, it was cheaper to send it back. The procedure to do this was to call tech support first and explain the problem. This is where the fun began. I explained that this was a classic case of a bad heat sink over the processor or the fan was not spinning fast enough to disperse the heat. Never the less, despite my status of a computer repair technician, we went thru about 45 minutes of a list only for the hard to understand gentlemen on the other side to say we need you to send us the laptop. Well, DUH! This is the stuff that happens with a desktop too! Be ready to deal with this kind of tech support when you buy that cheap computer. 3: Integrated parts: You would never buy a car that has it’s battery welded to the engine. This would make it irreplaceable. The same goes with a computer. Why should you buy a system that is not upgradeable or if a single part goes bad, the whole thing is shot? Here’s another story for thought. A client’s computer screen would not stay on for the life in it for more than 5 minutes before it would scramble the picture. In this particular case, it was the on-board videocard (display device). There were no slots to install a new “card.” We would have to replace the motherboard (main board in the system), and because this manufacturer has a special style of motherboard to fit the custom exterior case. Now we would have to purchase a new board from the manufacturer. This computer was about 3 years old. To replace the board, it would cost about $150.00 from the manufacturer. This same board could have been replaced easily by an equivalent cheap end $45.00 board. This could not be done though without further unnecessary expenses. The client ended up purchasing a new custom computer from us. He is very happy now and knows that upgrading his system is an option down the road. Bottom line is in the computer industry, assuming that you are buying from a trustworthy merchant, is that you get what you pay for. Computers will not last forever, but in my experience with proper care, routine maintenance, and built well with quality parts, computers will last at least 5 years with minimum failures. It’s like buying a car. You have to expect some problems to arrive, but an engine failure under 75,000 miles, which would sound a absurd, don’t you think?