Just an informal poll for all the programmers around here. Did you build your own computer, did you purchase it (or did you receive it as a gift)? I get the impression that most people don't build them anymore. I hope it won't ever turn into a lost art. In my (perhaps biased) opinion, a true programmer should build his own computer, Just like the jedi build their own lightsabers [wink] Personally, I started building my own computers about 7 years ago. I never went back. I don't experiment much technical problems, and if I do, I enjoy the freedom of not having some asshats telling me what to do with my computer, making me wait on the phone and charging me for tech-support. I had to install a cheap HP-Compaq with Windows XP Home for a customer recently, and I was disgusted at that OS, at all the bloatware they force in those systems, and many other annoyances. Of course, there are plenty of small stores around here, mostly run by arabs (Not that I have anything against them, most small computer stores here *are* run by them, I would estimate 80% are). They sell cheape non-branded computers, but most of the time, they use overly cheap hardware, and they don't really know what they're talking about (no serious formation, they are purely in the business for the money)... Example of a conversation I had in one of these stores 4 months ago: Me: "Would you have a Radeon 9600 or Radeon 9600XT in stock?" Salesman: "No, but we have Radeons 9550s" Me: "Well, thanks anyways, thats not really what I'm looking for" Salesman: "What do you mean, its the same thing really!" Me: "No, its not, the 9550 has only half the memory bus width of the 9600" Salesman: *puzzled look*

Sorry. I didn't had enough transistors around.

Well I bought the pieces and screwed them together..

[Edited by - Penten on June 16, 2005 1:06:04 PM]

I purchased a cheap prebuilt computer 7 years ago, but manually serviced/upgraded it, and 3.5 years ago built my own, which I still have today, aside from some various upgrades, which I of course manually did.

I did just recently purchase an obviously prebuilt laptop half a year ago, however. Though I did wish that laptops were just as modular capable of being assembled at home as desktops. Oh well.

Commissioned the (almost said a) father of one of my friends to build it.

Bought in a shop because I'm a lazy bum who doesn't have the time or cash to hunt around for parts. Also, it's an hp, so ripping it apart and installing new bits has been issue-free.
That said, I've built and rebuilt numberous PCs for school and work.

I usually build my own computers. I've also built a few for family and friends in the past but now I usually just point them at one of the name brands and give them some advice on specs. I don't think it's really worth building your own from a cost point of view but I like to be able to pick exactly which components I'm getting.