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When I purchased my last computer, I was faced with a dilemma: Do I purchase a complete computer or do I build one myself? As someone who uses a computer frequently, I'm fussy about how it works and what types of features it has. I want something that can handle anything I throw at it, but that is also affordable.

When I started to look for a computer, I saw some nice computers, but they weren't exactly what I was looking for. Even some of the better computers lacked the amount of RAM I wanted, or the hard drive had considerably less storage than would be adequate for my collection of music and videos. On top of this, most computers lacked a TV tuner card to watch and record television shows. For me, this option is a must. The few computers that did have the necessary tuner card installed, so called "media center" computers, were exorbitantly priced. Tuner cards are rather inexpensive, and I couldn't justify the price.

This led me to consider building my own computer. I began by planning my dream machine. I planned out every detail and priced every component I would need. This computer would fly! There was just one problem: The components were going to end up costing me close to %5,000. It would have been an incredible computer, but how do you justify spending that much money on something that would be obsolete in the not too distant future? If I had bought less expensive components, then I would have ended up having a computer with specs that are similar to the store bought computers I didn't like. That didn't make sense, so I came up with another idea.

It's pretty hard to compete with a computer company on price. After all, they have economies of scale on their side. On a per unit basis, it's cheaper to buy 10,000 hard drives than 1 hard drive, so I decided to compromise. I bought what I considered to be a nice computer that had a large hard drive, lots of RAM, and a speedy processor. I then bought more RAM, and a tuner card. Shortly after bringing it home, I felt I had a special computer. It ended up costing less than the typical media center computer and had approximately twice the RAM. Over all, I'm happy with my decision, and when I'm ready to buy another computer, I'll follow the same plan.

This method really provides the most bang for your buck. If you are familiar with computers, adding memory and a tuner card is quick and easy. If you don't know how to upgrade computers, it's really quite easy. For those who aren't comfortable taking their computer apart, you could always ask a friend or have the store make the upgrades. Either way, you will end up getting more computer for less money.

Learn more about this author, Damien Baldino.
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