By Angel Lopez Bello
Welcome to the 21st century and anyone, and I mean anyone, can build a computer. This is not your dad’s or even your grand-dad’s computer either. It is easy because so many companies have sprouted up to make it easy to get the equipment you need and the skills you need to assemble a computer at home.
Why build your own computer? That is easy too. There are two main reasons and one that is just cool. First building your own computer means that you can make it just the way you want it. You can customize your hardware to what you are going to do with it. If you are just using it for school work, then you can get by with some cheaper components. If you are going to use it for graphic design or gaming, then you need to upgrade.
The second reason that building a computer is better than just going to Best Buy, or even worse, Walmart, is because it is actually cheaper. You can save money by only putting in the components you actually need to get your job done, and assembling a computer with parts is just cheaper than having someone else build it for you.
Be careful of that pre-assembled computer that someone is offering at a great price, because it means that they skimped somewhere. You will usually not get what you think, and then it is often too late. So cheaper is good, build it yourself!
You can also spend more money on the parts that you will really need to get the most out of your machine. By saving on a smaller hard drive which you would not need for online gaming, then you can spend more on the graphics card and processor, which you most certainly will need when building your gaming computer.
The hardest part of building your own computer is selecting the components that you want and then making sure that they are compatible with each other so that your machine works and works smoothly. That would require a lot of reading and research, but online sites have taken the guesswork out of this step as well.
A favorite, and in my humble opinion the best site is Newegg. They allow you to customize different machines, take all the guesswork out of building that machine and finally ship it all to you for a great price. You can select an economy machine with a few upgrades, or a gaming computer, or a money-is-no-object space alien machine. Prices range from less than a thousand to as much as you want to spend and everything in between.
Finally, the best part of building your own computer is the feeling you get when you are using it, knowing that you built it all by yourself. You get a sense that you can do it. That is the just cool part. You designed it, built it, and use it. That confidence really matters whether you are gaming or just doing homework.
