i'm thinking of buying a new machine, should i go for a good value machine from dell or get one custom made by a smaller firm??

IMHO avoid any namebrand system. They have a propensity for building with proprietary parts of doubtful quality and limited upgradability. Support/service is often provided by foreign based callcentres staffed by people unable to provide anything other than scripted responses. They often do not provide full operating system instal disks, only 'System Recovery' disks. Go with a local reputable supplier and have a system built to meet your current needs with potential to upgrade for two or three years future needs. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and his wife will never forgive you.

If you can, you should just buy the parts yourself, and put it together. It's really easy...you just need to take precautions (discharge static electricity, etc). If not possible, then get a custom made one from a mom&pop store (ie: a small shop). In my area, there are computer fairs every weekend (they move to a new venue each week)...alot of smaller shops go there. Otherwise, you can buy a proprietary machine, but you pay quite a bit for the software and brand name. Sometimes they use lower quality components, and your upgradeability is limited. The software they include you will have paid for, but might not be interested in using (the last time i bought a proprietary machine, it came with stuff that only a lawyer would use).

Yeah with namebrand pc's you are paying you are paying too much for a pc. I can build a system myself that is 600-1,000 dollars cheaper then what a namebrand pc wants for the same exact pc that I built. Plus when you build it yourself you know what you are getting. With namebrand pc's you don't always know what you are getting and can be later surpised to find out that you can't add on something because your pc can't support it. If you don't know how to build a pc, then the next best thing is to know someone that does. That way you can buy all of your parts and have them build it for you.

I totally agree with the above posts. I'd never buy another off the shelf computer, especially now like Richard59 said, most don't even give you a system disk. Do a Google search, there are tons of sites that will aid you in building your own, some are dated but the prinicples are the same. If you do your research properly and ask questions first, you should have no problem. Most importantly, don't be in a hurry, take your time. You'll learn a lot more building it yourself than you'd ever learn by just pressing the start button on an off the shelf unit.

If all you need is a no frills PC, an OEM system will do you just fine plus you'll also save a ton of wad. However if you have the patience, time and you love a challenge, it may not be a bad idea to start thinking along the lines of building or having someone customise and build one according to your needs. Do not type anything in this space.

I agree with the above posters. A custom PC (from a small, trustworthy shop) would better suit your needs. You'll also know what you're getting, and they usually can provide a better "hands-on" personal kind of support. Also, on a side note, Sabertooth, I think you've mixed up your words on your "... save a ton of wad" statement.