Build & sell computer? (For business plan)

hey there. i don't know whether you know it or not, but i found it pretty useful when i spent a month working in a pc shop doing custom builds for people.
its possible to automate the entire windows xp installation, and if you have a lan setup you can make it auto connect to the net, do a windows update and automatically download useful freeware such as spybot, ad-aware, anti-vir and so on. this can be done using a boot disk. i don't know the web address anymore, but if you browse around you should be able to find it. it saves a lot of time during a setup after a build and can be done on a large scale. and time = money :rolleyes: .
 
barnettgs said:
That was some useful information!

Of course, Dell and other major manufacturers are selling good system at a reasonable cheap price...In fact I have always recommended my friends to buy PCs from PC World or order it from PCWorld.co.uk website so if they have any problems with it, they can always take it to PC World.

Dell offers unbeatable value for money but any problem you have with system is big hassle to phone Dell & try to arrange your pc to be picked up for fix if any part broken within a year. I was told several times how hard it is to call Dell to get your pc sorted. Also few cost-cuttings are visible such as keyboard/mouse ports missing so two usb ports are used for keyboard/mouse so have to be very carefull on system specification when ordering! I just found this out on my friend's latest dell system a couple of months ago!

Dell's proprietary motherboard is almost unreplaceable if it broke and you don't want to buy expensive component from Dell. You face a new system rebuild with a new case/motherboard plus maybe Windows XP if Dell warranty is over.

However, it is not really a problem for them if everything goes well. I went to set up Dell PC for my friend, I noticed that there are so many proprietary and junk softwares. I had to uninstall several of them apart from drivers (which was tricky deciding which is driver and which is not driver!) because you get silly pop-up messages from Dell Update and some useless demos or 6 months trials, it's as if their Dell systems are being sponsored by commercials!

Add to that, a guy I know got £850 dell system recently with excellent graphic card yet there were no system restore CD, nor Windows CD! It means you have to go through the hassle of calling them to ask for it but hey, you get what you paid for.

Computer newbie would be confused by thing like that, I just think a clean and simple Windows XP default install should be left like that and let users install their own softwares like AVG free edition.

The reason I wanted to build PCs is that you can get it working exactly (also Windows XP) as you would like it to be when you sell it to customers which is why I build for myself. Also easier to find firmware/software updates for motherboards if you build system with a popular model/make motherboard. It means paying a bit more but you are actually paying a bit more for convience.

It is just like you would rather go for a good local fish/chip takeaway at higher cost rather than going to McDonald, not knowing the whether the 'quality' of food would be good or bad depending on staffs working there!

I think I am getting better idea of how much should I charge...it would be £100 or more per system. At least £100 should be more than enough to cover labour and any unexpected issues!

I was told recently by a computer shop owner which is 'Don't charge too cheaply or customers will take the advantage of you!' :p
Click to expand...

Pre-built systems by certain companys can tend to use cheap components and cheap cases, this amounts to heat and less life time of the product. You have exceptions when for example you buy from www.overclockers.co.uk , but even so, not everyone feels safe to buy online. There is definately a hole in the market for people like us to sell to the consumer, its a matter of educating people in what they're getting without over-complicating it to a point where they're simply not interested anymore.
 
Something u may also find interesting.

After dipping there toes in the water and testing the market by selling the odd end of line p.c , Tesco's will now be setting up in store p.c departments to sell laptop's and full systems...
 
I've been thinking deep into this as well. I am however only just about nearing 16 and I'm just a lad with no idea what to do in life.

I built pc's for people on a fairly regular basis. Most systems have been higher end, simply because I can only compete or do better prices than big names in the higher end sector. As said above, lower end builds require cutting corners in quality to even compete, which in most cases I havn't been prepared to do.

Building a lower end build for a friend in a weeks time. Consisting of:
Antec Aria w/ 300W PSU
Celeron D 331 2.66Ghz
512mb PC3200
80GB WD SATA
Asus P5RD1-VM
17" TFT, Keyboard, Mouse, WiFi router and adaptor
XP Home

For £499. This was with my profit margins almost down to a minimum, and as you can see my price is hardly that competitive. The only reason why they are dealing with me is because I have been able to explain the difference in quality, and that they can get support direct from me without having to be stuck on the phone to someone abroad for hours.

On a business point of view rather than a sale via friendship, I really wonder whether I could do such a sale.

Perhaps just keeping it as a business on the side of a career is a good idea.

Mul
 
I feel its just too hard to compete against the big names with competitive prices and support. Even though the support could be pricey and poor, people will feel better if they know they have it there. When i got my first pc from pcworld many years ago, things went wrong and so i would phone for support.

If someone still cant solve a problem then they can just send it to be fixed or get a replacement. Unless you offer this then there is little chance you will be successful. People like to feel at ease when buying something they know little about and support makes them feel at ease. Plus the big names reach a much wider audience with tv ads and a website to attract customers. Just as someone has already mentioned, as soon as people see a pentium 4 pc on tv they want it. I was the same when i was younger, my friends had pentium 2s and when the new pentium 3 came out i wanted it so my parents bought it for me (i was spoilt lol).

My neighbour purchased a pc from a local pc store. Its tiny with only three employees and a store which is the size of my bedroom :D They had good prices but they used cheap parts and cut corners (just like others have mentioned).

There are people that know nothing, a little or a lot about pcs. Which is the larger group? The people who know nothing. These people will go to pcworld and buy a pc off the shelf. The people who know a little will upgrade their pcs themselves to improve performance of an off the shelf pc. People that know a lot will simple build their own. The question is what kind of people will your business try to target???

Looking at it, IMO online shops like OcUK are targeting the people who know a little and people who know a lot and providing them with the best parts at very competitive prices. Something pcworld, dell, tiny etc dont offer.
 
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