DELL or DIY

Was asked to help a relative buy a new computer. Initially, thought that buying from Dell might be better, what with all the recent hype about how cost effective they were. Made a trip down to Sim Lim Square to compare and realize that despite all I heard, it is apparently still cheaper to go the "DIY" route.

Ok, actually it is not really DIY anymore since the shops will install everything for you, mainboard + CPU+casing. All you have to do it connect up the monitor, speaker, mouse, keyboard and viola, it's all done.

You can get a quicker CPU, DVD burner and a good LCD monitor, all at a lower price than even the so-called Dell promotion I saw on their webpage. Flip-side is that you do not get customer support but guess there is always me to call upon for simple stuff ;-)

So if you need a new computer if you are able to tell a VGA cable apart from a power cord, would advise you to go the Sim Lim way. Heck, even the mouse and keyboard cables are color coded now so you can't even get that wrong !