Why is oem hardware cheaper

Dedicated maintenance providers can reduce costs considerably, and their promises of lower expenses do not come with caveats. IT leaders do not need to sacrifice quality, reliability or trust to save money. Instead, third-party support vendors use operational excellence to gain an edge when it comes to pricing.

Parker April 15, Three reasons why maintenance providers can get by with such low prices include: 1. Advanced contact center models Many support issues can be handled over the phone, but OEM contact centers are not usually treated with the utmost importance. Process excellence Some third-party hardware maintenance vendors focus so much on streamlining processes that they are able to considerably reduce or eliminate overhead.

Specialization OEMs often find themselves needing to adjust service models based on new hardware and respond to the market in a reactive way. About the Author. Parker, Park Place Assistant. Get Started. I still build our PCs for two reasons. Note I have to get two PCs whenever I do an upgrade, one for myself and an identical one for my wife.

First, I am not building to the cutting edge so I can build new machines when the price is right. At least historically, I have built when things timed out such that I could get good previous generation components at discounted prices shortly after the new generation has come out. The pre-built machines don't do this or don't include the price breaks. Second, because of the SAF spousal acceptance factor the pre-built machines cases are usually unacceptable. The wife wants clean lines, no LEDs, no exposed fans, no dark color cases, etc.

Most pre-built machines do not meet these requirements or charge a premium for them. The current PCs are white with black trim. For the next build in another years that might have changed. I'd still build my own, but that mostly because I wouldn't go replacing everything at once. Friends and family get referred to Dell, or if they're more computer illiterate to Apple, so I can claim I don't have the knowledge to support them not an endorsement or dig at Apple, simply to cancel any future request of "can you fix X".

With 3 boys in this house, the days of having a single central PC will surely come to an end eventually, I may start going prebuilt then. Or teach them to do it on their own, they have ample time to waste on learning. Quote: I really couldn't find a similar 4x13x14 case this size that would house a full size graphics card.

Well, yeah I find that prebuilts would need enough upgrades to be worth it, that it's still better for me to build in the end, probably not any cheaper, though.

RAM upgrades are expensive on prebuilts, SSDs are still too expensive, you have to get a tacky case OP has some mild examples to get a decent video card, and none of them have detailed dBA 1m v.

If you don't need any of that, then sure, go prebuilt, especially if you're careful about upgrade pricing. Typically, you can get by cheaper making it yourself, if it's a midrange computer or better, but you still need to weigh the cost. With a typical retail system that has a worthy power supply for a nice video card, or a custom-made white box PC, maybe less. Building a PC isn't rocket science, but it is time out of your life, and the savings from spending that time on it may not be worth it.

The last part you cannot pay any major OEM for, and still get decent performance. Oh, and no annoying bright blue or white blue LEDs, unless I were to need them for some reason one of several ASRock motherboard features I truly love. Of course, I've actually spent a bit more than that, not being happy with my original fan and PSU choices, but those parts will be re-used elsewhere, so not a huge deal.

But, today, I'd have bought a slightly faster CPU. Quote: You can't undercut at the bottom end of the barrel, but you absolutely can do better than the listed system. Especially if you re-use a lot of the components that don't need to be changed out. I have no idea what year I bought my case, but it's been a really long fucking time. This is why I still build my own. Buying an entirely new computer every time one component was out of date would be a terrible waste a money that I could spend on something else.

Semi On wrote: Quote: You can't undercut at the bottom end of the barrel, but you absolutely can do better than the listed system. I usually change mine cause I get tired of looking at it but even many of those OEM's that make gaming centric PC's, you can reuse the case or parts all you want usually But I was more referring to the mostly console gamers that were underwhelmed with the PS4 and Xbox one.

I noticed quite a few various forum threads across the net this past year where such people inquire about PC gaming or in threads where it's PC vs Console and the main thing I keep seeing PC gamers recommending is for them to build it themselves and how much cheaper it is to be a PC gamer The bios settings alone might make it a frustration for many and most people don't seem to be very mechanically inclined.

My contention wasn't a one size fits all of course but these steam machine type PC rigs have the potential to lure away many more console gamers if they can be marketed as a plug n play device.. At least Syber had the foresight to include a gamepad and mini touchpad keyboard and I think Steam is installed to boot up into big screen mode by default Sometimes there's awesome deals, but I find that many OEM boxes are built so that they can advertise a certain spec.

So, if there was ever a power supply or motherboard failure, you would have to get the OEM parts or replace both. Plenty of room in the case, just no 'slot' nor screw holes for it. If you don't ever plan on upgrading the box, I guess it's ok. But it sure looked to me like the OEM figured out every way to cut corners and to make it so that some key components could only be purchased from them.

I mean really, the power supply manufacturer would have had to make a special run of power supplies just for this OEM; motherboard manufacturer too.

Quote: 3 the power supply AND motherboard had proprietary power connectors. I thought everyone quit pulling that shit 10 years ago. Ardax wrote: Quote: 3 the power supply AND motherboard had proprietary power connectors.

Yeah, name and shame that brand I still do it because its fun. I do it because I don't need all the stuff they put in OEMs. And being able to pick and choose each part with the ability to upgrade when I have more budget is always a plus. Dell Precision Workstations a few generations ago think Core 2 era had a proprietary additional connector-- you could connect a standard ATX PSU but it wouldn't boot without that connector That said these tend to be enterprise-marketed desktops and workstations, all the consumer-grade junk I see from Dell and HP uses standard microATX motherboards and PSU's and whatnot, so if you're seeing this on a consumer-grade box I too am very curious what machine you saw it in!

That said, they are made to be swapped easily. Anand review quote: Quote: The PSU appears to be fundamentally modular but also a proprietary design with all the pro's and con's associated with that ; if the PSU in a system fails, you can actually pull it out of the back of the system then slide a new one in and have the system back up and running in under a minute, no rewiring required.

While on the one hand this leaves you at Dell's mercy for getting replacement units, on the other hand the tremendous value in retained uptime and lack of service time may very well make up for it. Besides, when you're paying for enterprise class workstations, features like this are what makes a design better than the competition. As others have said, I still build my own because I don't have to replace the whole thing at once.

My case is fine. My optical drive doesn't need an upgrade. My PSU was a bit oversized at the time I bought it, so even with degradation over time, it still has plenty of life left. Why would I pay an OEM for all that other shit?

I'll join in with those reusing parts. Unless something changes or my case breaks breaks, I've found my case for life. I monitor my hard drives, and they'll get replaced as they show signs of failure, though the boot drive will end up an SSD. My optical drive will be replaced when it breaks. The power supply will be replaced periodically, or if other circumstances require it. All this will save me money whenever I feel the need to upgrade. Did I save money on my original build as compared to an OEM?

But it's more flexible than an OEM machine, and it has already ended up cheaper over time. Another thing to consider is that DIY can get you something that OEMs refuse to sell, whether it's a niche market or whatever other reason. HTPCs, for example, aren't very popular, and if you want a decent TV tuner, options are even more sparse. It's been said before and it'll be said again: except for some professional and enthusiast offerings, most people simply don't use the processing power we already have.

They hire third-party providers to produce components that are designed exactly the way they would turn out if the brand had made it itself.

There is nothing extra that OEMs add to a product, except maybe label it with the logo of the brand or the manufacturer. Some OEM units also do not bear any branding at all. Most manufacturers do both. Because brands typically have a longer production cycle to build an entire system, their pricing can be higher. Parts made by OEMs are cheaper because they are made through simple production lines.

Companies produce a specific part that no longer needs to go through other distribution channels and can be sold straight from the factory to meet specific needs or demands.

They also do not spend much on advertising their products or provide any technical support or invest in customer service provisions, so they can afford to sell parts and equipment at a much lower price. This is a win for the consumer.