"$900" pc

[Lazarus52980]

Good day all.

I have fallen into a situation where I am being asked to build someone a "$900" PC. Essentially what that means is I am to build him something he could buy at the store or from Dell.com for $900. I am just getting started with the planning process and I was hoping for a little advice. Should I just pick up specs from a $900 Best Buy PC, or should I try to calculate labor on it and then subtract that from 900 to get the budget for hardware? What is my best option? I want to be fair to him, but I also want to make what "profit" I can...

The PC is NOT for gaming, just for him and his family for school and internet. I have no info beyond that.


Thank you for any advice.

 

[ultimatebob]

Don't forget to factor in the price of an OEM Windows license and add-ons like keyboards and mice when pricing out the hardware. People always seem to forget that when specing out a parts list from Newegg.

 

[aphelion02]

Yea, do you also need a monitor + OS, or even speakers? They can cut your budget dramatically

 

[Lazarus52980]

Good questions. I will check on that tonight and get back to you tomorrow.

Assuming I do have to get a monitor and keyboard, mouse and speakers, I imagine that will be 150-200 right there huh?

I could also tell him that if he wants those things he can have them, but it will bring down the capabilities of his computer tower, since $$ will have to go to them. Hmm...

 

[aphelion02]

A 1080p monitor = kb/ mouse / cheap speakers will run you about $250 or so, possibly more if you want something decent. A OS is $100 by itself. At that point, the Dell option doesn't look so bad.

 

[lehtv]

The most cost effective PC for school/internet is probably a prebuilt Dell or HP or similar, assuming it needs to include OS and peripherals.

E.g. HP Omni 120t for $500. It's very hard to beat that price with a custom build that also includes peripherals and OS, since they already take a chunk of $300+.

A budget of $900 would certainly allow for a custom built PC though, but even for that price I'm inclined to think that it'd be wiser to go with Dell/HP, it would exempt you from having to be their tech support guy.

 

[Lazarus52980]

I will give the long story, it might help with this. My wife and I are going to be doing foster care and one of the stipulations that the county is requesting (since we will be fostering small children) is that my backyard is fenced. I have fences around most of the yard, but I need 2 gates built to finish the fencing. I do not have the skill for this, but I know a friend who does and he said it would be around $900 for parts and labor. He had proposed I build him a $900 PC in exchange, accounting for my labor charge in that $900. If I had the $900, I would just pay him, so I was hoping to try to do this for less, maybe buying $400 or $500 worth of parts and then building it for him.

From what I am seeing here, that might not be worth it and I should just find some way to come up with the $900?

 

[dpodblood]

I don't understand the story. If you have to build a $900 computer wont you still be out $900? 0_o

 

[lehtv]

He's thinking of building a cheaper than $900 computer in exchange for the backyard fence construction service which is worth $900...

 

[aphelion02]

Well, how much margin are you expecting for your labor? I think if you are willing to spend $800 or so on parts, you could possibly put together a system to rival a Dell/HP solution. But to provide equivalent value you would have to be willing to provide tech support as well.

Also, what does your friend use the system for? That can help us build the best possible PC. Part of the value you provide is to give him a balanced system that does exactly what he needs, and thats also a big part of your advantage over Dell or HP.

 

[dpodblood]

He's thinking of building a cheaper than $900 computer in exchange for the backyard fence construction service which is worth $900...

Don't think that's going to happen honestly.

 

[aphelion02]

Oh, it can definitely happen, he just has to accept very small margins ($100-$200 max)

 

[Lazarus52980]

No, I need to provide him with a PC WORTH $900, not one with $900 worth of parts. My plan had been to look up a PC that sells for $900 at some retail store and try to make a simialr system that would then be valued at the same. That way I can do the labor for "free" and get my fence cheaper.

Does that make sense? I'm sorry if I am not being clear...

 

[aphelion02]

I understand what you mean. What I'm saying is that you will find out that at that budget level the OEMs have very thin margins already, and they have the advantage of getting massive savings on the OS, case, and other areas where you would have to pay more in parts than them. As a result, to match their prices you would have to accept similarly low margins yourself.

 

[lehtv]

Yes, it makes sense to charge some for actually putting the rig together and spending your time on it, so that you don't have to pay $900, but can pay part of the fence with your own time and effort. The question is, what is your time/effort worth?

 

[Lazarus52980]

Alright, maybe I can do this another way. In everyones opinion, what is a fair price to charge for building a system? If I do it hourly, what is a fair price to charge per hour and what is a fair hourly rate? (I have built 8 or 10 systems, but this would be the first one I am charging for, so I have no idea what to charge)...

 

[illram]

Well just real quick, I pieced this Inspiron together and stopped once I got over $900:

My Software & AccessoriesGenuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English

Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2010

2 Year Basic Support

Dell IN1930 18.5-inch HD Monitor with LED

8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 2 DIMMs

1TB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months

Black Bezel

Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and writes to DVD/CD)


My AccessoriesDell USB Entry Keyboard

Dell USB Optical Mouse

DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

Trusted ID,IDSafe, 12 Month Subscription, Digital Delivery



Also Includes
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
No TV Tuner Requested
Integrated 8 in 1 Media Card Reader
Standard USB 2.0 + 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Integrated 5.1
Dell Wireless 1502 (802.11n) WLAN mini-Card
Inspiron 620 Minitower w/ Black Bezel
Intel® Core™ i5-2320 processor(6MB Cache, 3.0GHz)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 530

Basically, that is an i5-2320, GeForce 530, 8GB of RAM, 1TB HD, Bluray drive, monitor, windows home, MS office, keyboard and mouse. Dell listed this at $998 with my options. You could probably put something together for less than that that is better than those basic specs, and install OpenOffice, Acrobat, and free anti-virus software to save money on the Office license. There are $99 20" monitors available, and there are very cheap wired keyboard and mouse combos available.

I think what is confusing here is why doesn't this guy just buy a $900 computer? Does he perceive some sort of extra value in having you build it, or does he know so little about computers that he is not confident he will choose the "right" $900 computer, or is he doing you a favor or something? It is kind of an odd situation.

 

[wirednuts]

its not odd. he needs a fence built. costs $900. instead of giving the guy cash, he wants to pay with a pc (fence guy needs pc). he figures he can build a pc worth $900 but only costing him $750 or so. his labor and effort is the $150 difference. thats about all he will save if he actually builds a computer for this guy, and he will be out the time and effort to build the pc. (and all the future time spend setting up and fixing all the little bullshit problems... which is never worth it).

for most people, its just easier to forget about the computer and pay cash.

 

[mfenn]

its not odd. he needs a fence built. costs $900. instead of giving the guy cash, he wants to pay with a pc (fence guy needs pc). he figures he can build a pc worth $900 but only costing him $750 or so. his labor and effort is the $150 difference. thats about all he will save if he actually builds a computer for this guy, and he will be out the time and effort to build the pc. (and all the future time spend setting up and fixing all the little bullshit problems... which is never worth it).

for most people, its just easier to forget about the computer and pay cash.

:thumbsup: OP, I understand your dilemma, but I don't think that you'll be able to get a decent enough margin to make it worthwhile.

Although, if he ever calls for tech support, you can always reciprocate by asking him to fix up the fence a bit more :awe:

 

[lehtv]

I think after reading your comment, mfenn, the OP will be on the fence about whether to build the PC or not.

 

[mfenn]

I think after reading your comment, mfenn, the OP will be on the fence about whether to build the PC or not.

D:

 

[krnmastersgt]

So if I read the story correctly, you don't have the $900 so actually just buying him a computer would mean you'd have to find some more money somehow, and is the only reason you don't just pay for the fence yourself.

What I'd suggest is, he may be your friend but money sometimes clouds relationships, is see if you can find some free consultations from a larger company that can fix your fencing issue and see how much they estimate it'll cost (if they appraise it lower than your friend, don't take it personally as you're somewhat trying to do the same thing to him).

That aside, you could tell your buddy upfront that the PC parts are only worth like $400-500 but that it'll service all his needs, you'll handle his basic tech support for a year or two, and maybe you'll chip in to help with the fence? I honestly think this is your best solution assuming you trust your friend and he trusts you.

 

[sm625]

E.g. HP Omni 120t for $500. It's very hard to beat that price with a custom build that also includes peripherals and OS, since they already take a chunk of $300+.

They charge $160 freakin dollars just to upgrade from a $60 pentium to a i3-2120!!!! Thats a total cost of $220 for an i3-2120. I say screw them. It only costs $150 for a monitor + kb + mouse that is better than what they offer. G620 + mobo + ram is also $150. So that leaves $200 for OS + HDD + DVD + case + psu. And you get something that can be upgraded when you decide intel HD graphics (or a G620) dont cut it.

A deal like this one otoh: http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3397932
I think that would be tough to beat on a DIY.