Is there any money in building and selling computers?
Just looking though the local rag and a small independant computer place is selling low spec computers (sempron2600/onboardgfx/160gb/512mb/DVDRW) for Ã,£499.99

i just priced up building a similar system, but with a separate pci-e 128mb ati card and a sempron 3000 and it came to under Ã,£350inc so that would be Ã,£150 profit.

is it that easy or has the market gone? most people i speak to are only interesed in laptops.

Market has mainly gone now, i rarely do builds these days, i just seem to get repairs and upgrades.  People want laptops, and they want them cheap.  Since you started gettting Ã,£399 laptops on the market the arse fell out of the desktop market.  

Thing is most of the cheap lappys break in under 18 months, but all people see is a laptop for less than a decent desktop box.

edit : forgot to mention, a lot of businesses still want desktops, but cracking their market is a nightmare.

/waits for Sam.

the problem with building computers is that the noobs are such a pain in the ass

forget it

no

QuoteJust looking though the local rag and a small independant computer place is advertising low spec computers (sempron2600/onboardgfx/160gb/512mb/DVDRW) for Ã,£499.99

Fixed.

I used to make a fair amount of extra cash out of it but dont seem to do it now for two main reasons:

1. The larger number of computers I sold, the more that came back broke for what is usually either a very silly reason or shown to be incompatible over time.
2. Prices dropped like a stone and people wanted something for nothing. As a result a lot more people try to build their own desktop or want a solid warranty from somewhere known like PC World.

Dont bother unless you can compete with somewhere like eBuyer on price or Alienware on quality.

Quote from: DEViANCEIs there any money in building and selling computers?
Just looking though the local rag and a small independant computer place is selling low spec computers (sempron2600/onboardgfx/160gb/512mb/DVDRW) for Ã,£499.99

i just priced up building a similar system, but with a separate pci-e 128mb ati card and a sempron 3000 and it came to under Ã,£350inc so that would be Ã,£150 profit.

is it that easy or has the market gone? most people i speak to are only interesed in laptops.

Whoever is selling that system is WAY overpriced.

On Dell at the moment you can get this: Athlon X2 4200, 1024mb, 250gb sata, XP Pro, 19" tft and other extras for Ã,£410 delivered.

The only way that you can compete is by cutting your margina dn pushing other things such as service as a plus point.

I get asked to build PCs for my customers as theyd rather go to someone who can do everything (transfer data and secure the system with decent .... non-norton..... products). But it depends on how you market the systems and what competition you have.... but really Sam is right, when Dell are punting systems of that spec and quality you cant get close.

Cheers
Tongy

No there isnt..
It really aint worth the hassle. The public are morans & think a computer is like a VHS or TV. Any user error problems & theyll blame the computer.


and I bet for that Ã,£499 system has a legit copy of windows?

I think the money would be in repair now, either home repairs and laptop repair is the big thing now, I see a lot of adverts for laptop repair.

I was starting to do PC repair in homes, just on the side and was charging Ã,£20 an hour.

Although now Im outta the game and dont know how to catch up tbh.

a lot of adverts does not equal a lot of business.

It equals a lot of competition!

Quote from: M3ta7h3ada lot of adverts does not equal a lot of business.

It equals a lot of competition!

So you start 16 companies and all advertise in the same magazine

Quote from: TongyOn Dell at the moment you can get this: Athlon X2 4200, 1024mb, 250gb sata, XP Pro, 19" tft and other extras for Ã,£410 delivered.
Cheers
Tongy

If I try to equal that on the Dell site I get a price of Ã,£620 inc vat

Quote from: Ceathreamhnan

Quote from: TongyOn Dell at the moment you can get this: Athlon X2 4200, 1024mb, 250gb sata, XP Pro, 19" tft and other extras for Ã,£410 delivered.
Cheers
Tongy

If I try to equal that on the Dell site I get a price of Ã,£620 inc vat

Well perhaps the deal has ended, but it was here: http://www.hotukdeals.com/?tag=d01e11a

Cheers
Tongy

Quote from: mr_rollI see a lot of adverts for laptop repair.

meaning lots of companies will write your laptop off for you

They invariably only do software repairs, hardware repairs dont happen.  The favourite thing with cheap lappys is the Power input breaking off, ive got 2 here with the same problem.  Ive got them because not one shop in the town will do the reapir, they will do basic upgrades, and swap out faulty HDDs and RAM, but they wont touch any actual repair work.