I've owned three Dell systems in my life, my current rig is a Dell 8100 with several upgrades over the five years I've owned it. My next system will be built.
Why?
Plusses...
1. Warranty. Dell used to have a great warranty as long as you knew how to get around the idiots in Bangalore - they were willing to spend 45 minutes asking you to try a whole litany of stupid tests to avoid replacing a $12 keyboard (the same held true for the mouse and the hard drive.) Now Dells come with a 90-day warranty and you have to pay for the rest. The 1-year extension is only like $29, but to gain parity with most of the parts you will acquire for a build-your-own (usually 3 or more year warranties, some lifetime) you'll have to add a few hundred $$.
2. Quality. With a build-your-own you can buy the best of the best (s/a eVGA vid card instead of just "generic"). You can hunt around for the particular release Venice chip you want, can get a PS guaranteed to perform well as built and well into the future. With a Dell, you get what Dell happened to mass-buy that particular week. Given the parts may well be perfectly sufficient for what you need, but with a build your own you get the ability to buy a Benq 1640 instead of just some generic DVD-R/RW drive.
3. Features. Check out the manual and upgrade portions of the Dell website for the machine you like. Compare the Motherboard to the Motherboard for a build your own. I did this a few months back, comparing a Dell 9100 to an ASUS A8V. You are almost guaranteed to find the Dell board extremely limited in features and future upgradeability. For instance, the 9100 with two optical drives had no slots for additional pata hard drives and only allowed two sata drives - the A8V allowed four sata hard drives, four pata hard drives and two opticals. The Dell had no firewire (you could pay extra for a rear card) and no ps2 for mouse keyboard, the A8V had firewire both front of the case and rear, and of course ps2. Many of the parts (like PS) were Dell-only, and many of the great innovations found in things like the new Sonata II case were completely absent in the Dell machines.
Now the negatives.
1. Dell is ready out of the box. Take it out, plug it in, off you go. With a BYO you'll have to put it together and then load the various drivers and software. The plus side is you get to avoid all the bloatware Dell loads into the system, the downside of course that things don't always come together smoothly with a BYO.
2. When things go wrong there is no 1-800 number to call with all the answers with a BYO - though Dell is notorious for the "let's start by reformatting your Hard Drive" types of solutions it is still better for the novice than having to learn how to troubleshoot on the fly. Anandtech is an amazing resource but it takes time and patience, with Dell you don't have to learn anything just follow test directions and be able to remove and box up defective parts.
I weighed all the pros and cons and for me a BYO overwhelmingly won out. The ability to pick my own parts and manufacturers, the better warranties, the far greater features and expandability figured prominently in my decision. I did pick the pieces based on stability and reliability (starting with the Epox 939 Ultra) and have devoured all of the build threads on Anandtech and wherever else I could find them. I also enjoy putting things together, and am looking forward to getting it all together.
I'd weigh all these things and decide what is better for you, then go for it
Why?
Plusses...
1. Warranty. Dell used to have a great warranty as long as you knew how to get around the idiots in Bangalore - they were willing to spend 45 minutes asking you to try a whole litany of stupid tests to avoid replacing a $12 keyboard (the same held true for the mouse and the hard drive.) Now Dells come with a 90-day warranty and you have to pay for the rest. The 1-year extension is only like $29, but to gain parity with most of the parts you will acquire for a build-your-own (usually 3 or more year warranties, some lifetime) you'll have to add a few hundred $$.
2. Quality. With a build-your-own you can buy the best of the best (s/a eVGA vid card instead of just "generic"). You can hunt around for the particular release Venice chip you want, can get a PS guaranteed to perform well as built and well into the future. With a Dell, you get what Dell happened to mass-buy that particular week. Given the parts may well be perfectly sufficient for what you need, but with a build your own you get the ability to buy a Benq 1640 instead of just some generic DVD-R/RW drive.
3. Features. Check out the manual and upgrade portions of the Dell website for the machine you like. Compare the Motherboard to the Motherboard for a build your own. I did this a few months back, comparing a Dell 9100 to an ASUS A8V. You are almost guaranteed to find the Dell board extremely limited in features and future upgradeability. For instance, the 9100 with two optical drives had no slots for additional pata hard drives and only allowed two sata drives - the A8V allowed four sata hard drives, four pata hard drives and two opticals. The Dell had no firewire (you could pay extra for a rear card) and no ps2 for mouse keyboard, the A8V had firewire both front of the case and rear, and of course ps2. Many of the parts (like PS) were Dell-only, and many of the great innovations found in things like the new Sonata II case were completely absent in the Dell machines.
Now the negatives.
1. Dell is ready out of the box. Take it out, plug it in, off you go. With a BYO you'll have to put it together and then load the various drivers and software. The plus side is you get to avoid all the bloatware Dell loads into the system, the downside of course that things don't always come together smoothly with a BYO.
2. When things go wrong there is no 1-800 number to call with all the answers with a BYO - though Dell is notorious for the "let's start by reformatting your Hard Drive" types of solutions it is still better for the novice than having to learn how to troubleshoot on the fly. Anandtech is an amazing resource but it takes time and patience, with Dell you don't have to learn anything just follow test directions and be able to remove and box up defective parts.
I weighed all the pros and cons and for me a BYO overwhelmingly won out. The ability to pick my own parts and manufacturers, the better warranties, the far greater features and expandability figured prominently in my decision. I did pick the pieces based on stability and reliability (starting with the Epox 939 Ultra) and have devoured all of the build threads on Anandtech and wherever else I could find them. I also enjoy putting things together, and am looking forward to getting it all together.
I'd weigh all these things and decide what is better for you, then go for it