A popular debate these days seems to be, when buying a computer, about going with name brand computer (i.e. IBM) or a clone system (i.e built at home).

Whether the system is for a business, or a simpler set-up at home, the question remains the same.

There are good and bad aspects about both, and rather than banging on forever about all the techo stuff, lets be brief.

Name Brand Systems.

The Good.

•  You can get fantastic package deals - as in, everything thrown in at a set price. Take it home, unpack it, plug it in - off you go!

• Comes with a warranty!

• Support -  Available 24/7/365. A support team will offer assistance if you cannot make it work. Who amongst us has not forgotten to plug in that one, but essential, cable? Maybe you have inadvertantly deleted an essential windows file, or just cannot find scandisk.

The Not so Good.

•     Many name brand systems, have jammed as many things as possible in there. If number-crunching is your game - then the latest whiz-bang gaming graphics-card is not much use to you. Similarly, if gaming is  your thing, then the latest MS Office won’t get a lot of use.

• Usually there will be a particular anti-virus program, pre-installed. You may have your own preferred program and sometimes the existing one can prove difficult to adequately remove, prior installing your own.

• Somebody else has decided, for you, what it is that makes up a good system. This leads to your system being pre-installed with a lot of extranious programs, just sitting there taking up valuable disk space. Bloatware, as opposed to software.

• If you want to add more things to your system (i.e. memory, hard drives, faster video card, etc.) you have to find out if it is compatible with your specific model, etc.

Clone Systems

The Good.

•    You can start from scratch and personally choose each and every component. Total freedom over the decisions in building your eventual system, is in your hands.

• If you want to replace or upgrade particular components, with a clone system all you have to know is what type card (AGP, PCI-E) and just go get another card, pop it in and voila, done!.

• Good deals on parts can be found at various online shops, or swap-meets. Auction sites are a little bit dicey, as you could very well end up with  parts cannabilised by some some fool, looking for a quick buck - having just recovered parts from a machine someone backed over with a truck.

• You NEVER pay for more than you want You put in exactly what you need, no more no less, and when you want to change something, you just go get it.

The Not so Good.

•   No warranty except manufacturer’s warranty on parts and whatever warranty comes from where ever you bought the part. NOTE: If you buy a retail box processor (CPU)(AMD or Intel) they usually come with a 3 year warranty. Hard drives are starting to have 3-5 year warranties (Maxtor and Western Digital) and Memory has always been lifetime warranty (as long as I can remember).

• No support. Other than computer savvy people that you know.

• If you don’t have a pretty good knowledge of what you want you could end up with a very expensive box of components.

Things to consider:

• What is it that you want the system for. (data, graphics) ?

• What are your expectations for the system?

• What is your budget?

• How much knowledge regarding repair and maintenance do you have?

• What are your capabilities?

Hopefully, these few tips will have helped you, in your decision about purchasing a Computer System.