Buying Hardware

[Keegan]

I'm thinking of going into business building computers for people. Just to make sure I'm not pricing myself out of a market, I have some questions I want to ask.

If you were to find a computer of the following specs, how much would you be expecting to pay for it?

Tracer-class systems have the following standard features:
InWin A500 case
Yate Loon 80mm case fan to power supply- Ball Bearing
Abit KT7E-100 AGP ATX
AMD Duron 750 OEM
128MB RAM
ASUS GeForce 2 MX 32MBgraphics card
Thermaltake Volcano III (60x10 fan)
Sound Blaster 128 PCI
10.1GB Fujitsu hard drive
Afreey 50X CD-ROM drive
Mitsumi 1.44 FDD
Mitsumi 104-key keyboard
Generic PS/2 Mouse
Benwin BW2000 3PC Flat Panel spkrs/sub
Creative Modem Blaster 56K PCI
Philips 105E 15" monitor

Or this one (my value model):

Basis-class systems have the following standard features:
InWin A500 case or Antec Gemstone case
Abit VH6-100 AUD ATX
Intel Celeron 733 Box
64MB RAM
ASUS Vanta TNT-II 16MB graphics card
10.1GB Fujitsu Hard Drive
Afreey 50X CD-ROM drive
Mitsumi 1.44 FDD
Mitsumi 104-key keyboard
Generic PS/2 Mouse
Generic 3PC spkrs/sub
Creative Modem Blaster 56K PCI
Philips 105E 15" monitor

Or this hyper-performance model:

Platinum-class systems have the following standard features:
Antec KS282+ 300wPS case
Enermax 400w power supply (not from MX)
Sunon 80mm case fan to motherboard 3pin
Tyan Thunder Dual Socket A
2x AMD Duron 900 OEM
2x Thermaltake Volcano II (60x25)
196MB RAM
ASUS GeForce 2 MX 32MB graphics card
Sound Blaster 128 PCI
20.4GB Seagate Hard Drive
Sony Spressa CRX140E CD-Rewritable
Mitsumi 1.44 FDD
Mitsumi 104-key keyboard
Logitech PS/2 scroll-wheel mouse
Altec Lansing ACS33 3PC spkrs/sub
Creative Modem Blaster 56K PCI
Philips 105E 15" monitor

[golfcart]

I don't have time to go digging up prices, but I do have some suggestions. First off, the average user could care less about what kind of fans you use. It would be totally up to you weather or not to use good ones. I would keep the mouse, keyboard, monitor and speakers out of the package deals. Keep a few of each handy and let them choose for an optional fee. Also the hard drive sizes you have chosen are somewhat small compared to today's standards. Theres only three basic things average users look for: speed in Mhz, amount of ram, and hard drive size....the rest is just extras. Best of luck on your venture http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Keegan]

The reason I trumpet my use of Thermaltake Volcano fans on the faster processors is because I want my performance machines to be good overclockers.

[otheos]

Just a piece of advice if I may...

building computers is something most of us have done and many could take it to the next level (as you are planning).

The basic reason for no doing so is.... support!

If you are not prepared to provide support (after sales) be also prepared to be selling cheap (eventhough PC-World sells **** for same price), and be shortlived.

I don't want to dissapoint you but:

average joe needs support!
advanced users (o'cers) can build their own

so you end up with either needing to support, or not selling any!

I hope I prove myself untrue, all the best with your efforts.

[Raist]

I have to agree with otheos on this. I work as an network admin and build PCs on the side. Average joe is going to need support from you and will be pissed if you can't deliver. One thing I didn't see mentioned or I missed was EDUCATION. Now that is the most annoying part of it for me. I cannot begin to tell you how much I hate it because initially I didn't expect or charge for it. Now I let people know up front that I do not perform service calls to teach them how to do something on their pc and trust me 95% of the calls I get after building and selling a system are users wanting to know how to do something on their pc. Also as a side note.. If you are going to pursue this, when the uninformed user modifies his/her settings on a PC and renders it inoperable or to the point where it performs slowly it is up to you how you will handle it. You don't know how many times stupid users call me and say "The computer you sold me doesn't work right, I want my money back." It is not a service issue which you can be held to if the user modifies the OS or something and renders the PC unusable. I spell that out in the purchase agreement I use and hold them to it. my $.02