Warranty, Warranty, Warranty.
Do you want to keep track of a vendor contact info, invoices, receipts, warranty length, ...
With Dell you log in to the site, plug in the service tag, get automatic warranty verification, enter what part you want, enter an error code, get a part the next day.
that's what I do with my parents. a decent $300-$350 pre built pc every 3 years or so.
Warranty, Warranty, Warranty.
Do you want to keep track of a vendor contact info, invoices, receipts, warranty length, ...
With Dell you log in to the site, plug in the service tag, get automatic warranty verification, enter what part you want, enter an error code, get a part the next day.
I can see why many places use Dells or whatever, but if it was my company I'd simply have all PCs built in-house. Many of the advantages listed for pre-built PCs (warranty, service) can be exceeded by doing the computer building yourself. When you build 10 PCs, order parts for 11. You have a faulty power supply a few weeks later? Swap in the spare, send the bad one out for warranty. Dell offers 4 hour response, our in-house builder would offer a 4 minute response. I think there is a reason why places like facebook, amazon, and google build their own computers. It just makes sense if you need immediate support for any problem.
Businesses use desktop computers ?
Last time I worked, (which is a few years ago), at a large international high-tech company, every employee got a laptop. Plus dockingstation, monitor, etc. But the idea seemed to be that everyone would be able to take their own computer with them if they needed to go out of the office (to other offices, to customers or work from home). No questions asked, on your first day at work, they'd give you a laptop (and a cellphone). Even people like support engineers at the helpdesk that would never leave their cubicle.
As laptops are pre-build, there would not even be a question whether build yourself or buy pre-build. Are other businesses not doing the same ?
I agree. Dells and Gateways suck anyway so people ultimately spend more money buying from them than they would if I were to build them a PC. My oldest brother wastes money on macs because he's convinced that they don't viruses.Here ya go.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4958/facebooks-open-compute-server-tested
If inhouse build is reliable enough for Facebook, and I know that Amazon is also a white box users for critical systems, why the heck not. Buying from large vendors like Dell/HP/Sun is never a guarantee of reliability or service. Heck even at my place of work with tens of thousands of PC's getting one fixed can take weeks.
Here ya go.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4958/facebooks-open-compute-server-tested
If inhouse build is reliable enough for Facebook, and I know that Amazon is also a white box users for critical systems, why the heck not. Buying from large vendors like Dell/HP/Sun is never a guarantee of reliability or service. Heck even at my place of work with tens of thousands of PC's getting one fixed can take weeks.
Pre-built.
Did you mean to post this in the Video Cards and Graphics forum? Seems an odd place to pose this question.