Sammie:
I'd like to add to what Dean and David said with a ~little~
disagreement.

First, I think that you ~can~ build a machine as good or better than
those that are prebuilt.  If you have an inclination to tinker, you
surely want to stay away from the big name prebuilts, whose
motherboards, cases and sometimes other items cannot be replaced with
off-the-shelf parts.  You will first have to ask a lot of questions and
be willing to look for reputable vendors with fair prices.  Read several
lists intensively for about a month first.

You will suffer only from the lack of preloaded software.  Having to buy
individual packages can increase the price quite a bit.  Remember
though: 1) Much of the preloaded software is in lite versions without
full functionality.
2) Many companies offer only proprietary software/operating systems that
present problems for do-it-yourselfers, and sometimes reloading from
their "startup" CD means erasing everything you ever did on the system.
3) If you already own and are using certain software, you won't want the
bundled stuff anyway.  People always end up having to buy software
unique to their needs.

Good luck and be sure to check the PC Build article by Bob Wright on the
web site.
Eric

SAMMIE RUTLEDGE wrote:
>
> There was a message about a school building their own computers but
> having compability problems.
>
> I was thinking of building mine but am now having second thoughts!
>
> Is there much price difference between building a really good one and a
> brand name? Not the ones in the $1000 price field?
>
> If you have built your own, have you had many or any compability
> problems?
> <snip>

Eric R. Outten 773-978-3478 "typito ergo sum"
[log in to unmask] - Oh! Electronic Solutions, Inc.
8835 S. Clyde Avenue - Chicago, IL 60617-2904

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