More Awesome Than You!

Due to the prior events (the blowing up of my graphics card which the replacement has yet to come back to me).....my daughter's friend offered to build a gaming computer for me for $500.00 (US $'s) plus cost of parts....he gave me a figure of around $1600.00 (for everything, depending on what case I decide to go with)....so I was wondering mainly about his labor fee.....is $500 a fair price to pay someone to build a computer.....he will also transfer my data that I need and will set up some type of switch system between my old tower and new.....the old one will be for my personal stuff....like bill pay etc....the new one will be strictly for gaming.....so is this :

a.) Good deal take it and run!!!

Or....

b.) Boy are you a sucker!!!!

 Thanks everyone, Tgdrysix
 I have to add he is saving money for school....so I don't mine paying him if it's a fair price....and I don't have any idea how much work is involved in building a computer sooo.... :-\....just looking for some feedback..... :)

I've been building my own machines for years.  It takes me around an hour to get the hardware setup.  Putting in hard drives cards etc takes minutes however connecting the silly little led lights up can be trial and error due to some motherboard instructions ;)  Personally I help my friends for free but if I was to charge someone I would probably stick to £30-50.  Creating a backup of the current drive isn't a hard thing to do either.  I actually have two machines sharing a monitor, keybord and mouse and the cabling for that is plug and play.  Setting up a home network can be done in a few minutes these days too.

That's a wee bit high on the price scale, but not in the danger zone.  A good tech is worth about $60 to $100/hour.  That's what I would charge, at least, if I did freelance work.  You're typically looking at a 2 hour minimum payment on such work as well.  If he has to obtain the parts himself, you're looking at another hour or two.  So it's not out of the realm of possibility, but it is at the high end of the scale.

In terms of just building a PC and installing the operating system and software (and making sure it runs) you are looking at 4 to 8 hours of work.  Unless something goes badly.

hmmm..I just upgraded my system, new mainboard, processor, memory, video card and power supply. Pretty much the same amount of work as a "new" build, and it took me all of 10 minutes to install them in my old case. I formated my hard drive and reloaded my OS, like a new build, took 15 minutes. Asume I had to install my 2 rom drives, a floppy and the hdd (physically screw them into the case bays) say 10 minutes. Install drivers and OS, 30 minutes.

I was online again in about an hour.  Average hourly rate at a computer store for in shop work is $50-$70 an hour.

So, do the math..$500 for about an hours work.

Depends on how much you want to help him out.

the rest of his "fee" is $1100 for parts? I'd like to know what he's building, my new parts came to $491 for mainboard, processor, video, memory and power supply.. I reused my case, dvd, cdrw, floppy and hdd, and that is including shipping. This was less than a week ago also, so I'd say very recently.

He will be ordering the parts for me and then putting it all together at his house, hoping something doesn't go badly..... :o .....thanks for the feedback....tgdrysix

For $1100 you'd better hope the parts are gold plated....  Does the price change if something does go wrong, and it takes him considerably longer than planned?

Exactly how much is "£30-50" in US dollars.....and this is what I am aiming for "machines sharing a monitor, keybord and mouse and the cabling for that is plug and play"....I already have a network set up with the other computers in the house....2 laptops, a desktop upstairs and my desktop downstairs that will have the new tower added to it....And free is good.....doesn't apply in my case unfortuantely.... :(.....but the money would be going to a "good cause" so it wouldn't hurt as bad to pay him....even if it's a little on the high side.....but not extremely so......thanks for the feedback.....tgdrysix

No.....he'll get it fixed/working for the same.....I don't have the parts list here....he has it but if I get a copy I'll try to post it....thanks for the feedback.....tgdrysix

$52-88.  The Belkin switch (http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=202717&pcount=&Product_Id=177448&Section.Section_Path=%2FRoot%2FPeripheralSharing%2FOmniview%2E%2E%2ESwitches%2FDesktopSeries%2FCASeries%2F) I purchased 2 years ago was £20 ($35).  I have my main server and my partner's machine in a computer cabinet.  As I rarely need to log on to the server I use a switch to conserve space.

i built computers for a living for 2 years at a local computer store. I built close to 2000 in those two years.

I think he's ripping you off.

On the other hand, when you have no way of doing or knowing how to do something yourself, and no friendlies to help you, I suppose you'll have to pay. But, if I were going to (for whatever reason) spend that much money on a computer, I would buy from someone that provided me a warranty. Like HP or Dell. And it takes a LOT for me to recommend that.

Good luck

*$1600* for building a computer? That's OUTRAGEOUS! For that kind of money, I could have two NEW computers! This is robbery!

You really think so?   It's for both the parts (all the guts that go inside to run it) and the labor.....and it will be of the highest standards for a gaming computer....more than I'll actually use and/or need.....(of course it will be only the tower....not the monitor or keyboard or other accessories)....I was pricing the dell XPS's and after "adjusting for preferences" the thing was almost $4000 bucks.....so maybe I'll get him to tweak his stuff he's looking to use....it's all from newegg (?) and another site I don't remember the name it starts with an "x".....I've seen the list of parts and it seemed reasonable.....the most expensive things are what I figured to be the most expensive things.....anyway thanks for the feedback.....tgdrysix

Thanks for the feedback.....all of my other computers are Dells (4 in all) and I was looking at the XPS's and he said he could build me one cheaper than that.....sooo I was just seeing if it would actually be cheaper for me to get him to do it ......again thanks, tgdrysix

Dells are ripoffs.  They use substandard, bare-minimum parts, often lacking in upgrade options. They charge outlandish prices, the cases are ugly and bloated, wasting immense amounts of deskspace because they tend not to stack well, not being properly blocky, and funny-colored to boot. And they COST TOO DAMN MUCH considering how many corners are cut in the parts, and they have weak cooling systems and are thus prone to overheating....or would be, if it weren't for the fact that their parts are so lousy that they can't actually put out any heat because you can't *DO* anything with them.

"that they can't actually put out any heat because you can't *DO* anything with them"   WELL YEA !!!! .....that's why I'm having one built....  :P ;) ;D.....so does he seems soooo expensive now?......tgdrysix

I think $500 labour is a lot, probably too much.

As for parts, I don't really know.  There are lots of websites out there where you can buy the same components for around $500-600.

I work in a car dealership, as a Service Advisor, and $500 is 5 hours of labour.  That seems like a lot to install hardware and transfer software (even if you don't want to try to install the hardware yourself, installing software is not hard).

We have a local computer shop who charges $30 - $60 /hour.  You may have one too.

Because he thinks you're stupid and is trying to rip you off. Just order the parts and assemble everything yourself. It's not really hard, everything goes in a specific labelled slot and can't really go anywhere else.

Just order the parts and assemble everything yourself  Okay come clean you just want to point and laugh at me!!!! ::).....I don't care if the dang slots were color coded and had specific instructions like "put this here you blundering idiot".....I don't think I would even attempt this....ordering the part myself ..... well I'll probably wind up doing that.....that I could possible handle......the other just go ahead and have a good laugh.....tgdrysix

Is he paying for parts and legal copies of the OS and several application suites of which he will give you the boxes and discs and all CD keys and manuals for?  I suppose the cost of materials might push $1,000 at that point, but I typically only buy the hardware and the OS, provided I don't have a spare key lying around at home.  I have all the software I would want at home.  Yeah, my version of Photoshop is a bit out of date and I'm running Office 2000, but they're legit and it's not like I use them in any professional capacity or anything.

Yeah, I'm one of those weirdo's who wants a legit OS.   ::)

Personally, I'd charge $100 to $200 for labor on building a PC for someone depending on if I knew them.  Of course, I'd also charge them if they broke it and I had to fix something later.  


In my time estimate above, I didn't look at it as "I'm building a machine for myself".  This is now a paying customer situation, which means everything gets installed and tested in the proper order.  Even if that test is as simple as "does the program load".  If I'm building a machine for myself, I don't sit around and wait for the boring stuff to finish.  I wander off while it reformats and then installs the OS and installs a bazillion security updates.  If I'm building it for someone else, I sit there and make sure nothing goes wonky, since I am getting paid for it.

Is he paying for parts and legal copies of the OS and several application suites of which he will give you the boxes and discs and all CD keys and manuals for?  I suppose the cost of materials might push $1,000 at that point, but I typically only buy the hardware and the OS, provided I don't have a spare key lying around at home .   I'm not exactly sure what you are "talking" about here but I want to really really say yes....he sure is....I vaguely remember him mentioning something about window professional edition.....keys to something or other....I just nodded my head like I knew what the heck he was talking about..... :-[......I'll probably order the parts myself.....after I get a list from him telling me what to order that is..... :-\.....I will however question him again regarding this matter but will pay attention this time around.....thanks again, tgdrysix

NZ$50 - $100 is what I charge for building and setting up a PC for someone. Mind you I only charge $30 an hour if I can do it at home and wander off between the loading bits and it's low also because I'm a newbie at this and quite slow and thorough - don't want to have to replace bits if I break them.

Hey, that's exactly the same switch I use!  :D  I like it because it lets you share audio too, which most switches I've looked at don't.  It uses a key combo to switch, so I don't even have to have it taking up desk space; it hides out underneath my desk.  I paid about $60 US for it from Best Buy online.  I even lucked out on the shipping, because they were offering 2-day shipping for the price of standard.

My ex-husband built all our PCs, and he built some for people he worked with.  He worked in a computer shop for a short time, and he said people make it sound like it's a big deal, but there is nothing to building computers, especially after you got a system worked out.  He'd usually charge around $50 labor, and either they would obtain the parts and bring them to him, or they'd tell him what they wanted, and he'd look the stuff up on Pricewatch and let them know how much it would be. 

My brother-in-law builds PCs on the side, but I don't know what he charges for labor.  He's helped me a few times for free, but I'm family, and I help him out because I want to learn. ;D

I don't think anyone is laughing, but seriously, if you can stack lego's you can build a computer. All the advice has been dead on. You are getting charged too much and the best suggestion really is to take your parts list to a local shop and see what they would charge to do it for you if you are that uncomfortable attempting it yourself.

I believe Gethane was suggesting Dell as an example of getting warranty coverage, which most home builders won't give you. Even brand new parts can be wonky and fail. Joe computer builder will say, aww thats too bad. A larger manufacturer will replace it for maybe the cost of S/H. They will also provide legal copies of all software such as windows, any office programs, etc.

Read the advice given, and do what you are most comfortable with. Good luck

"i if you can stack lego's you can build a computer"  I hate legos they hurt really bad when you step on them!  :( ;) ::)...I have my parts list....most the the prices seem reasonable.....they will run about $1000 us dollars.....including the tower....I finally picked one out.....the person that will be building the computer for me works at a computer store....so I couldn't exactly bring in the parts list .... :-\....at least not to that one....I would have to check around for others to see if they "do that"....thanks very much for your help and suggestions....I have to decide this week what I'm going to do.....I'll be talking to him again soon so I will ask about adjusting his "labor" quote....tgdrysix

Good luck with your computer and have fun in the process. ;)

By the way, I can't stack legos.

I'm curious to know where most of you guys get your computer hardware and software.  I want to build my next computer myself and am curious where to go for the best prices and quality products.  I am pretty good with computers, have upgraded and maintained all of my previous computers myself and know I can build my own.  But I don't know where to get the stuff.  I have bought parts from newegg and tigerdirect in the past, as they seem to have lower prices than any chain store around.  Are there any other places I can look to find good prices?

If you're shopping on the web, you'll find there are sites that compare prices for computer parts.  This can save you from being ripped off, but more importantly it means that online shops have to price competitively anyway.

I keep hearing newegg(sp?) being mentioned as a good site for prices.

Check out Pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com/)

My husband bought me a Dell Laptop for my B-day last year.  I haven't had any problems with it. 
I like my Dell Laptop.

**hangs head in shame**

Every tool has it's place, if the tool you use is fit for the use and you haven't had any problems... then you're one up on the universe. ;)

I am going to tell my brother-in-law what Pescado said about Dells, even though he has no idea who Pescado is.  I know he'll get a kick out of it.  :D

The other "site" I'm looking at for parts is ....www.xoxide.com....not a large site but has very reasonable case prices....good luck to you too.....wish I had the know-how and the nerve to attempt this myself.....I know my weaknesses and I'm not afraid to show it.... ;D ;)....tgdrysix

"My husband bought me a Dell Laptop for my B-day last year.  I haven't had any problems with it.
I like my Dell Laptop"

Don't feel bad I have 4....2 laptops and 2 desktops.....never really had issues with them other than I need more "gaming power" for my sims than my desktop has and it would be almost as expensive to up grade than to start from scratch....besides I want my desktop for personal computer stuff and my gaming computer for gaming stuff only.....so if I have an issue with one it won't effect the other.... :)....tgdrysix

Tattle Tail..... ;) :D....Tgdrysix

With laptop/notebook computers, you really don't have a choice but to buy a name brand computer since AFAIK you can't build these yourself yet, so you are stuck paying their prices.  Laptops also tend to be behind desktops as far as techology, and the parts cost more than their desktop counterparts because they have to fit into a smaller form factor.

and you can't get spare parts for as long as you can for desktop models - again the special design for that particular form factor.

I've been told Sony is best but priciest, Toshiba is very good and not so pricey. I'm going for a toshiba when I've paid for the camera and the car... sigh.

I have an old Toshiba laptop my ex-husband picked up used.  I was using it to surf the web and stuff as a secondary computer even though it was very slow because of the older processor and small amount of memory.  But the battery was getting bad because it would not hold a charge.  I mainly just used it plugged into the electricity though, but one day it would not boot up at all.  I figure the battery must have just given out although I had it plugged into the electricity and I tried using an unfolded paper clip to press the reset switch.  I looked up replacement batteries online, and it seems that they run about $50.  But I can't figure out how to get to the battery, or else I'd see if I could replace it.  Any ideas on what to do with it?  My grandma is interested in buying it from me to play games.

They usually just unclip from the bottom of the case somewhere. My old laptop battery doesn't work but it does still go when it's plugged into the mains. Are you sure it's the battery?

Not 100%, but it was going out, and that's all I could think of that it could be.

You might need to look inside, check everything is connected & seated, one of the things that go in laptops are the plugs along the back & sides, things are swopped in and out much more frequently than with a desktop PC.

It does sound like a power thing. Though if the mainboard is dead you wouldn't even get a startup type beep. Were you experiencing any weirdness in performance before it stopped booting? Hanging or freezing or weird graphics or anything?

Not that I remember.  I will get it out sometime and try it and see what happens.  I don't remember a beep or anything when I turned on the power switch.

I mean when the board starts up, when you push the power button to make the laptop start. If the laptop has power but the board is dead it won't beep. But if you're not sure about whether it's getting power, I don't know. You said it had no lights too, I think.

Sometimes wiggling my connections seems to work.  :P  I'm just learning the technical side, you probably need to ask someone to look at it. Do you have a pet techie?

My bro-in-law is the one I usually go to with PC questions, but he doesn't know a lot about laptops.  I pulled it out of the closet and plugged it up to see what happened.  I was surprised when it actually booted up.  It said Resume failure, which I wasn't really surprised about.  It said to hit any key, which I did, and it loaded Windows and wanted to do scandisk, so that's what it's doing now.  I'm not sure what happened. 

One thing I noticed, I was trying to make sure the fan wasn't blocked when I set it down, but I couldn't tell any air was coming out.  I looked closer, and the fan is not moving.  I'm not sure I remember it ever moving.  I never looked that closely before.  I did think it was odd that I never felt any air coming out, but I thought maybe it was just so small because it was a laptop.  I wonder if that has anything to do with it?  I don't really want to put much money in it if it's not worth it.  But if I sell it to my grandma, I want to make sure it's going to work ok.

I know one of the things my techie ex-partner used to do was literally clean out machines. They can collect a lot of dust over the years, a hairdryer on cold would probably be OK. I've seen him use a vacuum cleaner on blow, but don't know if I'd be that brave.  :-\

Then you could see if the fan is moving or not.

My bro-in-law recommends doing this once a month.  He cleaned out mine really good once, even took apart the front panel.  He has an air compressor, though.  He says it's cheaper than buying cans of compressed air, which is what I've been using.  But I don't have the money or space for one right now...so I'll keep using the compressed air unless I can manage to get him to do it when he has a rare spare moment.  :P  He has it in his garage, and it is horribly loud, but it sure gets the dust out.

EDIT:  I just checked on the laptop, and it is still running scandisk.  ???  It's not even gotten very far.  But the fan is moving now, where before it definitely was not.  I can feel air coming out.  The underside is very warm, but I read a while back that it is a known fact that these laptops get warm near the power supply when plugged into the electricity.  I just try to be very careful.  It is too warm to sit on your lap for long.

My old laptop is a 300Mhtz and also is too hot to sit on my lap. Good for surfing, typing, emails and kids games for the holidays. :)

PS If it won't complete the scandisk, you may have hard drive problems. There's something in scandisk that allows you to ignore sectors with errors, I had to do that on my old one, luckily the errors don't seem to have cascaded out of the blocked area, it's been like that for several years now.

Don't be afraid of it, I built one with my dad when I was ten- people freak out when they look inside computers, and think it is some kind of rocket science, but it really isn't. It's just plugging together a few parts that can't fit in any other way, and if you screw up, the worst that can happen is that it won't work when you start it up right away, and you have to move something. Dealing with software is hard, hardware is easy.

I've always found the opposite to be true for me.  I could handle software great, but the hardware was a bit of a challenge for me.  I'm learning more about hardware though, now.  Mostly because I'm forced to since my ex-husband used to deal with all the hardware stuff when we were together.  My bro-in-law helps me but he's not there 24/7, but he does like to talk and he could talk about computers forever.  So I have learned a lot from him in the last couple of years.  Plus, Google is our friend.  :D  There is so much more information out there now than there used to be, and it's helpful to have another PC where you can get online and look stuff up when your other PC is laying on the desk with its guts spread out.  :D

You do indeed learn the best by doing things yourself.  The most important thing to be aware of, though, is ESD (electrostatic discharge).  Static electricity is your PC's worst enemy.  So always power down your PC (duh!) before working inside, and disconnect from the power supply.  My brother-in-law even told me the other day to press and hold the power button after disconnecting from the power to totally discharge the electricity that is held inside the motherboard.  I had a memory stick go bad, and he said they are the lowest voltage component at only 3v, so they are very sensitive to any kind of static discharge.  Always make sure you discharge any static electricity you may be carrying by touching the metal frame of the case before touching any of the components inside.

Whoever told you that lied. Sony makes shit laptops. The AC adapters are intentionally designed with a mean-time-to-failure that happens to be just slightly longer than the warranty will last. Don't buy those. Secondary RAM jack is also made in a similar manner.

Really, laptops are very very expensive, and if you want to get a good one, you basically have to custom order them. They'll run you about $25K, but mine will survive being submerged to a depth of 2500 feet, being dropped from a height of 4 floors, and can be used as a bulletproof riot shield and withstand a direct hit from an AK-47 at 100 meters and still be unscathed. Mild drawbacks include being the "incredibly portable 42 pounds" (actually more like 50), and of course, as with all laptops, the impressive battery life of one half of ten minutes. Fortunately, mine has two battery ports which thus enable the battery to be hotswapped, so you can carry the extras you need on a bandolier.

Does your laptop go by the name of "Lappy 486?"

No, it was pre-Lappy 486 era, but I did like the marketing blurb on Lappy 486, it's so true.

My iBook has served me well, the only problem that I have been having it that it is slow with new programs.  :P

My old laptop is a P90.  I could barely even run The Sims 1 on it.  :P  Not to mention that I barely had the hard drive space for it.

Good god man, if you keep shooting, kicking and dropping them, no wonder the bloody connections get loose!  ::)

It doesn't. I didn't buy a Sony, I just saw the horror stories of those who did. Don't buy a Sony.

The word 'mine' usually means that you possess it, Pescado...or was it owned by one of your multiple personalities?

You're just jealous you don't have one.

But I don't like Sony. Why would I want one anyway? And my giving that sort of response, kinda causes one to assume that you do possess such a object.

No, it just means I learn quickly from even the negative experiences of others, which is why I don't make the same stupid mistakes you do.

So why would I be jealous of an inferior object?  And as for making stupid mistakes...I'm not the one who owns a Sony laptop. :)

wouldn't the correct word be inferior?

I don't own one. I've just heard lots of horror stories from people who do. I have a very nice, custom, expensive one that happens to be Lythdan-proof.

Is it Pescado-proof?  :P

Which Pescado? The tall-taled fishman or the gun slinging hitman?
Hmmm..I guess that would be one and the same after all ::)