Build vs Buy - the Clevo edition

At the request of others, I am posting the comparison I made for myself when trying to decide whether to build my own laptop.

This idea was started after reading a very good article on Legitreviews.com about building your own Sonoma laptop. That article, from Sept '05, can be found here - http://www.legitreviews.com/article/228/1/
The article compares building an Asus chassis vs buying the same thing from Alienware. They save $1800 over alienware. True testament to how insanely overpriced Alienware is.

In addition to being stupidly overpriced, Alienware does not use the 570A chassis in any of their builds, so is not included in my table. They do use the same chassis as the 9890. Comparing those is left to the reader.

The Parts
The reasoning behind this parts selection was simple. Keep it under $2000 total cost. Prices are as of 3/5/06.

Code:

PART	                      Website           Price  Shipping	TOTAL	

Asus DVD/CDRW 90-N951G100      www.buy.com	$71.99	$0.00	$71.99	
Pent M 750 (1.86GHz)       www.mwave.com	$248.00	$6.00	$254.00	
1G Ram (1x1G pc4200) Kingston 	 www.newegg.com	$71.44	$4.81	$76.25
Hitachi 80G SATA	         www.newegg.com	$115.00	$4.99	$119.99	
Intel ABG wireless	           www.buy.com	$32.99	$0.00	$32.99	
					
				[size='5']$555.22	Total parts[/SIZE]

There is an $8 mail in rebate on the RAM as of 3/5/06. I did not count it in pricing.
I also own a legit copy of Windows XP PRo, so that is not included.

The Chassis
Is, of course, the Clevo M570A.
Cheapest price on Chassis alone is from www.ISTNC.com @ $1300 + $30 shipping = $1330

Total cost for build it yourself - $1885.22

Buying it prebuilt
I chose 4 of the dealers listed in the stickied thread on this forum, plus RJtech.com and ISTNC.com. They were chosen because of their excellent reputations They are listed in no particular order. Three of these dealers offer a discount of 2.5% if you pay cash. See their respective websites for full details on getting this discount. Discountlaptops also offers a "refund" of your shipping costs if you write a review of your laptop on their notebook forums. I did not include that deduction.
Shipping from Sager is unknown. If someone can fill it in, let me know.

Code:

DEALER            	COST    	Shipping    TOTAL	SAVINGS

www.istnc.com   	$1,916.00	$30.00	$1,946.00	$60.78
				
www.discountlaptops.com	$2,013.00	$25.00	$2,038.00	$152.78
2.5% Cash discount 	$1,961.99	$25.00	$1,986.99	$101.77
				
www.rjtech.com   	$2,054.00	$0.00	$2,054.00	$168.78
				
www.powernotebooks.com	$1,998.00	$35.00	$2,033.00	$147.78
2.5% cash discount	$1,948.05	$35.00	$1,983.05	$97.83
				
www.pctorque.com	$2,023.00	$0.00	$2,023.00	$137.78
2.5% cash discount	$1,972.43	$0.00	$1,972.43	$87.21
				
www.sagernotebook.com	$2,119.00	??	$2,119.00	$233.78

Interesting to note is that Sager does not offer an option for a single 1G Ram module, nor do they let you buy a machine without an OS. So a good chunk of that extra $233 is the cost of WinXP (roughly $80 for XP Home).
All other dealers have the option for 1G single dimm and no OS.

Bottom Line
The bottom line is that you save any where from $60 to $233 dollars depending on what dealer you want to buy from.
What to do with that $60?
Upgrade to P-M 2.0 GHz - approx $55
add another 512M RAM - approx $50
Add the Bluetooth module - approx $50
Upgrade to DVD burner - approx $45

You may notice that I did not purchase any extended warranties. This is because you can't extend a warranty on a build-it-yourself. Or maybe, because you built it, you could say you give yourself a lifetime labor warranty.

All parts should carry their original manufacturer warranties;
RAM - Lifetime
Hard drive - 3 YRS
CDROM - 1 YR
CPU - 3 YRS
The major area of concern would be with the chassis itself, particularly the monitor. This is the one thing that would likely have to go back to the dealer if there is a problem. The chassis comes with a 1 yr warranty from each dealer. I do not know whether you would be able to get an extended warranty on the chassis alone. I have not contacted any dealer regarding this.

If you can build it yourself, and know how to fix it when it breaks; building it youself may be worth it. Since most problems are caused by faulty hardware, replacing the hardware is rather trivial if you built it in the first place. You just need to know the RMA process for the manufacturer, and get a new part.
You also benefit from saving money on repairs. This is a hidden cost. If something does go wrong and you need to send your baby back to the dealer, you will most likely have to pay shipping at least one-way. This will run you probably $30 minimum per instance. Fix it yourself, no shipping cost. Plus you lose the use of your laptop for a bare minimum of 3 business days. And that's if you pay for overnight shipping there and back, which is likely to run you well over $100. With regular shipping and an average repair time of 2-3 days, you're looking at losing anywhere from 4 to 10 days to get your laptop fixed, depending on how far you have to ship it.
And if you are unlucky enough to need/want a repair out of warranty, you will likely be paying labor charges, in addition to any parts you may need. That can add up fast. Fix it yourself... Well that depends on what your time is worth. Which is basically the root of any repair scenario.


So the real question of value is whether that $60+ makes up for the service and support you get from a good, knowledgable and reliable dealer.

Please note:
All of the dealers listed here and on this site have EXCELLENT reputations. You will not go wrong buying from any of them. This is purely an educational exercise in economics, and is not meant to "take" business from them in any way.

Thank you.

 

Excellent, that's a very valuable resource. You have certainly done your research.

The fact that the price difference between building it youself and the price of some resellers is only about $60 means that they are giving you a good price - they put it together, give you great service, etc. Agreed that you can't go wrong with any of those resellers.

Thanks a bunch for posting your research, definitely going to help our forum members.

Chaz