Gaming How to convince my mum to let me build a pc for her

Sop

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My mum wants a new computer and is willing to pay up to $1000, the problem is she wants to get it from a store or dell or something I fixed her PC for her and it cost her well over $200 and I think it would be better for her and me just to get a cheap casual gaming pc.. Buying from stores/websites (AUS ones) easily costs 2x-4x more than building your own.
So how can I convince her?
 

Wabsta

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DON'T! TAKE MY ADVICE! DON'T!
Let her pay the extra money.
Because that extra money she pays, means, that you are not responsible for anything in the computer breaking. If something goes wrong, and you built it, it's ALWAYS your fault.

So let her buy an expensive one, where she can blame the company she bought it.
 

Berthenk

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Wabsta said:
DON'T! TAKE MY ADVICE! DON'T!
Let her pay the extra money.
Because that extra money she pays, means, that you are not responsible for anything in the computer breaking. If something goes wrong, and you built it, it's ALWAYS your fault.

So let her buy an expensive one, where she can blame the company she bought it.
Oooh, that's a good one, should've used it when my mom wanted to buy a shit-ass expensive pre-built piece of bollocks.
 

Social0

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Wabsta is right, do not build it for her, let her buy a computer. You will always be the one to blame for anything that goes wrong so don't do it!!
 

tajio

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Have you ever built a PC before? If you have then it's okay and if your mum is fine with it then why not?
biggrin.gif
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Just tell it's cheaper, more reliable (parts wise) and you can repair if it breaks.
 

Panzer Tacticer

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Wabsta said:
DON'T! TAKE MY ADVICE! DON'T!
Let her pay the extra money.
Because that extra money she pays, means, that you are not responsible for anything in the computer breaking. If something goes wrong, and you built it, it's ALWAYS your fault.

So let her buy an expensive one, where she can blame the company she bought it.

Take the advice, and you got this from an adult.

Sometimes adults need to be taught a lesson.

AAAAAFTER she has her pointless purchase, and when she's stuck with it, THEN make her a system on paper that she COOOOULD have had, for less, and likely with newer superior parts for a great deal less.

If you can manage it, have the entire conversation put on video, and explain to her that the next time she lectures you on buying something she thinks is a bad idea, you show her the video.

Adults are NOT always smarter or wiser in all things, and occasionally we need to have this explained to us.

Like for instance, only idiots actually take their computer into big bix retail locations for repairs and service. PC experts my hairy butt crack.
80 bucks an hour will likely buy you enough beer to make your kids entire computer class happy. And those geeks actually know what they are doing more often than not.
Plus, they are not working for people shoving parts out the door by lying to you.
 

Miss Panda

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tajio said:
Have you ever built a PC before? If you have then it's okay and if your mum is fine with it then why not?
biggrin.gif
.
Just tell it's cheaper, more reliable (parts wise) and you can repair if it breaks.
This ^^^. I built my last two computers*. Definitely the way to go, no sending the whole thing away when it goes wrong (including all of your private information on the HDD). And you end up with everything finely tuned to YOUR requirements not someone elses. Makes upgrading much easier and cheaper too.
And point out how unfuture proof a Dell is. Non standard parts which can end up costing silly money. Dell good for laptops rubbish for PC's. Also make sure she releases that unlike you most PC manufacturers don't have a technician on hand 24/7 to drop by her house and sort out a problem.




*Yes the same woman who cannot work out how to run homebrew on her new Supercard DSTWO. I haz a sad!
 

naved.islam14

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Wabsta said:
DON'T! TAKE MY ADVICE! DON'T!
Let her pay the extra money.
Because that extra money she pays, means, that you are not responsible for anything in the computer breaking. If something goes wrong, and you built it, it's ALWAYS your fault.

So let her buy an expensive one, where she can blame the company she bought it.
Wabsta is correct in some ways but you can also, let her buy one, if anything happens to it keep telling her "I told you a custom PC was better!" Then build her one custom PC if something goes wrong and you can't fix it you can tell her "You messed it up again, just like you did with that other PC!"
 

Originality

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If she buys a pre-built computer from a shop/website, she'll have warranty to fall back on. Considering that a lot of adults I know will almost certainly obtain a ton of viruses and never even know about it, the warranty is the easiest option to fix it.

However if you have sufficient confidence in building computers, you can get a better computer for less money than a prebuilt. Just be sure to put some of that money you save into a genuine version of Windows and a commercial anti-virus suite. Also consider investing in advance: a desk vacuum, compressed air spray and an extra (cheap) USB mouse. From my own observations, they will all be needed within 6 months (and a genuine copy of Windows saves some hassle if you ever need the computer serviced in future).
 

Fishaman P

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Let her buy a $500 computer, then build one for her for $500.

Then she'll see that the one you built is WAY faster.

Also, if one computer breaks down for some reason, she has a fallback.
 

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Basically for your mom getting a very cheap Dell computer is going to meet her needs just fine. Yes it will have a crappy video card. Yes you cannot add internal drives because it comes with only 2SATA slots. But really you know she'll never fill the 160GB drive it comes with anyways. Why go through the hassle of sourcing a good computer when she's not going to use 99% of it. Just make sure you get the biggest hard drive, and 4GB of RAM and everything else will be fine.

You WILL be on the hooks for support though. Assuming the computer doesn't melt, it'll be mostly stuff you can just remote in to fix. I use LogMeIn Free to remote control my parents computer. Allows me to fix 99% of problems over the phone. I even have a webcam there so they can pick it up and move it to look at physical issues (usually printer problems).

I did hit a bad one on my in-laws' computer. I got a refurb, but the internal video card was 'wierd'. It would crash but only once very few weeks so it was hard to trace. I just threw in a $50 vid card and fixed the issue. So maybe just avoid refubs so you don't have those kinds of headaches.
 

Originality

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I know a lot of "mums" that can easily fill a 160GB drive. Consider that only 140GB will be accessible and 25GB will be used for the OS... then consider the things "mums" like to do. Hint: Digital camera. Pictures and videos. Lots of pictures and videos.

I also know a lot of people who would then go on to torrenting lots of movies...... you can never have too much hard drive space.
 

doyama

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Jolan said:
Don't build her a PC, talk with her and help her reach the conclusion she's better off with a laptop, then help her buy the perfect laptop to suit her needs.

Why a laptop? Most power users don't even need a laptop why would you recommend one to him? The increased costs and decreased performance almost never justify the portability.
 

MelodieOctavia

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Wabsta is right on.


I built a computer for my dad, and every single PEBKAC error, he would call me down staris to fix it always cussing and fussing that he should have bought a dell in the first place.

Take it from me: MOST adults 40+ are like this. Most of them don't care to understand what the actual problem is, and they almost NEVER seem to stick the blame to themselves if it is appropriate.
 

Sop

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Ok so I will be using it too, the price it will cost is around $600 and my mum isn't dumb enough to get viruses or something like that..
Edit: she wants a desktop and she can easily fill a 250gb hardrive..
 

Chhotu uttam

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Sop said:
Ok so I will be using it too, the price it will cost is around $600 and my mum isn't dumb enough to get viruses or something like that..
Edit: she wants a desktop and she can easily fill a 250gb hardrive..
make a chart/brochure of pc which you are going to make for her and compare it with which your mum wants.
 

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