Better home brew or Refurbished?

[Geek-9pm]

Better home brew or Refurbished?

Rather that build a PC from scratch, I think buying a certified ** refurbished PC and doing upgrades is quicker and cheaper.
Right or Wrong?

If right, what is the best choice of a used desktop under $40? (No monitor, keyboard or mouse.)

If wrong, what is the best home-brew under $400. (Also no monitor, keyboard or mouse.)


I am uncertain of the right answer, I am an experienced builder, but I don't think building is cheaper, even with free labor. Prove me wrong, pleas. And if cost is not the main objective, what is?

**( Microsoft certifies a few companies to reload OEM Windows on a reconditioned Desktop PC. No install CD included. You must backup.)

Footnote. Yes, in some countries home brew is cheaper because of national taxes on import of  finished products.

[Computer Hope Admin]

I think the answer is going to boil down to what the specifications on the refurbished computer are and what parts you could get for a home-brewed computer. Overall I still think that you're going to get a better bang for the buck with a home-brewed computer than you would with a refurbished computer, although you may get a 1-year warranty on a refurbished computer.

Also, if you're building your own computer and using parts from another computer (e.g. CD-ROM, HDD, fans, etc.) you'd definitely be saving even more money when compared to a refurbished computer.

I think the only way to find the best answer on this is to find a cheap refurbished / used computer and then compare with what you could get with building your own computer as far as specifications and price goes.

[skulldrinker]

I can remember back in the 90's when you were actually saving a min of $800 when you built your own. Tower packages were selling of the shelves for $1500 and up. The big companies were really raping the consumers. With more an more people getting smart and building their own the big companies noticed that we were not falling for their BS. I don't know their reason but as of now-a-days they are almost spot on but it's still better to build your own if only for the skills learned.

The only thing that stayed the same was laptops. Even though they came down in price from 15 years ago, the big companies still got you by the balls because you can't build a laptop from scratch like you can do with a tower. I bet Dell & HP and the rest of them are pissed off that we are able to repair them on our own.

I'd build my own just to stick it to the big names and that's just what I have been doing for 15 years.

uh what was your question again? LOL