Self Build vs. Dell/HP etc.

[Lonz]

This discussion came up with me and my former collegue earlier on today and was wondering what your stances on it were.

 

Basically the pro's and con's of a self build vs buying from an online retailer such as Dell or HP.

 

My argument was that the money you save on a self build outweighed the cost of replacing something going wrong. However his (valid) point was that a Dell engineer, for example, would be brought out within 24 hours to your datacenter and sorts the problem out for you without you having to worry about anything apart from a bit of downtime.

 

Both obviously have their advantages and disadvantages. I would like to think that a Dell ran more stable, but after all they are very expensive in comparison and the range of products isn't necessarily the best for what you might need catering for. I don't particularly want to pay an excess for an old technology, which is what may only be within your budget.

 

The conclusion I drew from the discussion was one basically of confidence; more than likely everything will be OK on a self-build, and if you think that way then that's the way you should probably perspire. Your physical hardware is afterall, under a manufacturers warranty so you won't be physically out of pocket on the long run. If you're one who worries about the littles things in life, then perhaps someone like Dell would be ideal.

 

I see it that the two dilemas meet twice on a business path; once on a start up, and once when you may feel you have grown large enough to the point where you may need to employ extra building/engineering staff to tackle the problems yourselfs, or take the financial hit elsewhere and employ for a Dell-like manufacturer.

 

Discuss, if you will...

[ECF]

Th advantage with buying from a retailer is you get a longer support contract than if you build your own.

 

For Dell small business clients they normally offer 3 years onsite within 24 hour hardware support. You can even get 8 hour response time if you pay the extra $.

 

If you build your own,you simply get whatever the hardware manufacturers warranty is. Which is usually 60 days to a year. And that is simply a replacement warranty. You still need to get an RMA from the hardware company, send it back and wait for the new stuff to arrive.

 

Dell sends their techs out with everything and everything that may pertain to the problem, and the problem gets fixed right there 90% of the time. Dell will also troubleshoot the problem before the tech is even sent, whereas you would be required to troubleshoot your own hardware and find the cause. Then convince the hardware vendor that it truly is their problem.

 

I work with Dell on a daily basis, and have had minor problems with their hardware from time to time. Here is an example of their support.

 

We have 3 of the same type Dell laptops. Suddenly the displays on them start to go all screwy. Wavy lines, etc...

 

We call Dell, they send out the tech the next day with 3 new displays and replace all of them, even after the tech figured out it was a bad cable connection between the display and motherboard. Rather than rip apart cables, he simply replaced the displays with new ones, adn the problem was solved within 24 hours.

 

We have also had problems with their servers as well. Tech shows up the next day with a new motherboard and new RAM. RAM was not needed as it was an issue with the motherboard, but they did actually bring it just in case.

 

With Dell they are required to fix the issue on the spot regardless of what hardware needs to be replaced. And all 3 times I have used their support, they did just that. Which is why you pay for it