The computer megathread: Should I?

[TheCreeperHugz]

Hmm...
I desperately need a new computer, my dad broke mine (I honestly don't have a clue how, he was playing cards...) but I'm torn between getting a pre bult PC of building one myself.

I have never built my own PC before, but I have a few friends who have that could help. I'm also taking computing as one of my options at school, and we have took a computer apart before (and reassembled it) so I know roughly how everything fits together. If I build my own I can have it exactly to my needs (plenty of RAM and really good GPU for games, etc). My only worry is that I may do something wrong and totally **** it up.

On the other hand, if I choose to buy a pre built one, it will be much simpler as I won't have to put it together myself. But with a pre built one, I may not be able to find a good one that fits my needs well.

So, any advice on what to do? As I am still in school (and therefore don't have a job), money is a little bit of an issue, so I don't want to be spending loads of money on something that doesnt work too well for what I want.

 

[Stelline]

Hmm...
I desperately need a new computer, my dad broke mine (I honestly don't have a clue how, he was playing cards...) but I'm torn between getting a pre bult PC of building one myself.

I have never built my own PC before, but I have a few friends who have that could help. I'm also taking computing as one of my options at school, and we have took a computer apart before (and reassembled it) so I know roughly how everything fits together. If I build my own I can have it exactly to my needs (plenty of RAM and really good GPU for games, etc). My only worry is that I may do something wrong and totally **** it up.

On the other hand, if I choose to buy a pre built one, it will be much simpler as I won't have to put it together myself. But with a pre built one, I may not be able to find a good one that fits my needs well.

So, any advice on what to do? As I am still in school (and therefore don't have a job), money is a little bit of an issue, so I don't want to be spending loads of money on something that doesnt work too well for what I want.

If money is tight and you have friends to help, building your own PC will be the cheaper option! And by building your own, you know what to do when something may go wrong or need upgrading in the future. Things I usually recommend as easy guides:
Logical Increments: Sample builds catered to specific needs and budgets. Check the new user guide!
PC Part Pickter: Site for comparison of part prices, very handy for taking advantage of price match offers!
Maximum PC's How To Build a Computer: How to build a computer, step by step in video form, without distracting filler.

But all of these put together are still just supplements to whatever research you'll need to do. If you want to take the simpler route, I've had friends buy from Cyper Power PC and the price difference isn't so bad sometimes. If you live in Canada, Memory Express will price match all of your parts, and build your machine for you for 50 dollars IIRC. If not, I'm sure other places would have the same sort of deal, so again, research is your best friend and your biggest time consumer!

Illuminating info.!! I was going to buy an Alienware M18x for gaming but having read this I think it would be a FAR cheaper route to just build my own, and probably a desktop at that! I'm sure I'll save myself many hundreds of dollars in the process. Hey if it can run Crysis and The Witcher at optimal maxed out settings w/o any hint of lag then that's all I need, it has to be IDEAL for gaming.

But then again, I do like to visit my friends house a lot and game with them so....may have to still think on it a bit longer!

You can always ask yourself, what would you rather do? If you've got eagle eyes and absolutely need maximum settings for Crysis/The Witcher/Whatever other Vidya you might want to play, desktop will be cheaper and won't be limited to a tiny screen. But do you play games often enough to justify the price of the parts you'll buy? Or, can you sacrifice higher settings here and there, and get the portability you want? How often and what games do you play with your friends? Are the games themselves demanding?

Budget for your needs before your wants, then see what fits best. If it were my decision, I'd go with desktop first, laptop later. With friends I usually ended up playing console games anyhow!