It's never a bad idea to learn how to deal with your own computer repairs and/or construction. There are a lot of good websites that deal with hardware reviews (Tom's Hardware - http://www.tomshardware.com/, for instance) which run articles about building computers, too, including really nice "build a gaming computer for $x" articles that include full parts lists with links to buy them.
An intermediate route I've gone before is to buy a computer from a budget manufacturer and address any shortcomings. Most budget manufacturers (CyberPower, for instance) use off-the-shelf parts, so you can look up what they use on a hardware review site and see if it's good or not.Â
A good example is a $500 gaming computer I built recently for someone: I started with a $430 CyberPower PC with a good motherboard (which is probably the most important thing to spend on, since everything else literally plugs into it) and decent components. Reviews said the power supplies CyberPower uses was weak, and prone to zapping components, so I spent $60 on a very solid power supply and ended up with a really nice and reliable gaming computer without having to take the trouble to build out the entire thing.
But yeah, from what I've heard, AlienWare has completely gone downhill since they were acquired.
An intermediate route I've gone before is to buy a computer from a budget manufacturer and address any shortcomings. Most budget manufacturers (CyberPower, for instance) use off-the-shelf parts, so you can look up what they use on a hardware review site and see if it's good or not.Â
A good example is a $500 gaming computer I built recently for someone: I started with a $430 CyberPower PC with a good motherboard (which is probably the most important thing to spend on, since everything else literally plugs into it) and decent components. Reviews said the power supplies CyberPower uses was weak, and prone to zapping components, so I spent $60 on a very solid power supply and ended up with a really nice and reliable gaming computer without having to take the trouble to build out the entire thing.
But yeah, from what I've heard, AlienWare has completely gone downhill since they were acquired.
