Have you ever built your own computer?

Further reading your comments it sounds like windows is the best choice considering your primary use is email , photography and word processing. Ash

I build one, and I am happier with it than i would be with one I bought. I put windows vista on it and its a pretty powerful machine. The nice thing is you get to pick and choose what goes into it and don't have to spend money on things you don't need. It does take some work to get everything right and put it all together though so know what you are doing before hand.

Yes. I have built my System many times. Except my Laptop, all the Desktop Computers I had so far, are just assembled ones. I have never bought a complete PC so far in my life. Since I have some knowledge on the computer assembly and also I had a friend who sold the Computer parts, I always preferred to buy the components from my friend's shop and assemble it myself. I had proved to me more cheaper and effective than the bought one. I can chooose the components myself and not bound to any particular brand. It always true that different brands do good at different parts of the Computer. So, I can choose the best brand for a part and use it for my system. I do the install of the Operating System and everything else needed to get my pc ready for me. Most of the time, I do build and repair my system myself.

If you are looking to buy parts for a computer look no further than newegg.com Thats where I buy all of my computer parts from. They have the best prices and newest stuff. I have built computers before and it's worth it if you want a gaming rig. But what you are describing is an office/home type computer and should be purchased from a megasuperhuge computer manufacturer (ie. Dell.)

if you are on a tight budget... having onboard video card will cut your cost on building a computer. choosing a average processor could be enough for the things you are doing at the moment. windows xp could be a little pain in the pocket but linux is free.

I was used to building my own computer, but today I prefer to buy them ready to use. And the last one I bought I have windows 2000 on it, but I seriously thinking about putting a Linux on it, cuz of my work.

However if you must have linux and windows you should consider partitioning the hard-disk and installing each OS on each partition. Then u can setup the machine to ask you when booting which OS you want to us. This is going to be a little difficult to setup but it is an option for you to consider. Ash

Hi, Firstly bldg your own computer is expensive and frankly not worth the pain when ready made are so cheap now, especially desktops. However the thrill of bldg your own is good. Ash

Yes I do have experience building desktop computers. I mean assembling the computer from scratch using the various components available. I did this when I was working in a computer firm where we had to maintain and troubleshoot computers. We built computers for the firm once in a while and install windows operating sysytem and other applications that may be needed by the firm.

I built one once in highschool, it was a bit complicated because you had to deal with all the jumpers and chipset configurations, it was a pain really, but the satisfaction of building your own computer is certainly worth it.