2. Store bought vs. custom built.

     Let's face it, who can resist that lovely OEM machine sitting in your local store for such a low price.  Small custom PC builders cannot compete on a price basis with large manufacturers, and how do you know that small store will handle warranty/support issues.  Here's why to buy a custom machine, and what to look for in a custom builder.

    Large manufacturers attempt to lock out competition by buying parts from the lowest bidder.  What this means to you is that even though it sports high specifications, it may not include very important quality parts, such as a good quality power supply, a quality optical drive, video card, etc.  Off the shelf machine generally offer underpowered power supplies, onboard video with shared memory, low speed hard drives, and other attempts to lower costs while short-changing the customer.  A mass manufactured PC does no good if the low quality power supply burns up the machine.  What good is tech support if you have to wait for hours to talk to a foreign call center?  What good is a warranty if the terms are so complex the buyer doesn't know what's covered and what is not.  If the machine has to be returned for warranty, will your data be returned to you safely?  Does the manufacturer even care about your data?  A lot of manufacturers do not give you a full retail copy of the operating system; instead they substitute a recovery disk that fails to operate if certain parts are replaced.  Likewise, they shove unneeded software at their customers without regard to the performance, security, or the needs of their customers.  If you need any more reasons to buy a custom built PC over a mass merchant PC, we can give them.                                                                                         

    A small builder can compete with mass merchants by offering quality parts, software options, backup options, knowledge, support options, and by acting as a middleman between the customer and parts manufacturers to solve warranty issues.  (Part manufacturers generally offer longer warranties than a complete OEM machine).  IE, memory normally comes with a lifetime warranty, Seagate hard drives with a five year warranty, etc. On a price basis, the perfect custom builder will offer part prices comparable to current internet market values. These are what you should discuss with your builder. 

   At Cagletech, we offer this and more.  We retain optical copies of all records of parts purchased to keep the customer from having to keep up with paper trails for warranties.  We offer remote support options, perform data recovery on failed hard drives or infected systems, off-site secure backup, fix rather than format or replace, and much more to make sure your data is safe and secure.   On a price basis, CagleTech generally charges lower than internet market prices for hardware!   Ask us what else we can offer.   We'll do our best to meet your needs.