Quote from FightTheFuture:
What do these computer manufacturers do basically? Just assemble parts from various suppliers? Do they put pressure on suppliers to lower costs thus lowering quality? Do they even demand quality parts other than something less than DOA?
There was a time that box makers used to design everything on their own. That was the time for Digital, IBM, Data General, Unisys, Burroughs and such. Oops... I lost half the readers.
Then Sun came up with their unix workstations using all off-the-shelf components. What a concept! They sold their workstation cheap. What used to be sold for over $10k/$15k (a "workstation") could be made/sold for $5k. They grew rapidly. Then the proliferation of "personal computers" using Intel 80286 and Motarola chips. Things heading more generic and homogenious. Dell was the one to broke the $1000 floor on PC's first. That opened the flood gate to a different level.
When I opened up my HP/Compaq box (sorry I am not a Dell user), I see that the chassis was custom. Other than that, you can pretty much pick all the components off the shelf. Motherboard, CPU, fan, memory, disk drive, DVD-RW, power supply. Really. Everything! And... even the chassis! So... really... nothing stops you from creating your own label.
Quote from FightTheFuture:
Or build my own which in Bolimomo's thread said it only took him 4 to 5 hours. More like 50 hours for me to just think of getting started.
Well I don't really think it will take you 50 hours. After making sure all components work together, you just need to assemble everything. And if this is not your cup of tea, you can hand the job to the technicians in the shop to do it for you. I bought all my parts from Fry's. They offered to assemble (and test of course) it for me for about $100. If you think you will spend 50 hours on it, then obviously $100 would worth it.
It is an alternative to buying from Dell if you have lost confidence on their product quality.