Branded Vs Assembled PC Purchase for SMEs – Part 1

The effective use of computer technologies is one of the main factors that influences success and survival of businesses, especially SMEs. But when small or medium business owners decide to buy a computer for their business purposes, they often struggle to choose the right one. Most importantly between an assembled and a branded one. To help you during your PC purchase, we have provided a series of articles focusing on real aspects here.

Branded PCs Have Their Own Advantages and Disadvantages
In a branded computer, all the parts will be pre-assembled by a branded company with a single brand name. Some of the examples of good branded systems are Dell, HP, and Lenovo etc. However, you need to understand that branded computers will not have all the parts from one company. Most of the parts inside the CPU will be from other brands. All the branded computers are similar to assembled computers but they are mass-produced in factories.

Advantages of branded PC:

  • They will configure the system and check for compatibility of the components
  • They will do the quality checks
  • Assembled by good international brand so we can expect good quality
  • We can expect good service support – onsite, phone and website (common issues, FAQ’s)
  • Generally they are preloaded with operating system

Disadvantages of branded PC:

  • Branded manufacturers get the components at a cheaper price as they buy in bulk amounts. But still the cost will be 20 to 30 percent expensive when compared to an assembled PC
  • Configuration choices are very less
  • You may not know the original manufacturers and specifications of each and every component
  • Components from sub-contract manufacturing may or may not be from the best-brand
  • Sometimes, you need to pay extra money for unwanted additional features you would not use as the branded manufacturer chooses the components for example, DVD writer or OS installation
  • Parts warranty does not extend beyond the support period

If you want to stay away from service support issues or don’t want to upgrade your system in future, then branded PC is a good choice for you.

Branded Vs Assembled PC Purchase for SMEs – Part 2 >>

Branded Vs Assembled PC Purchase for SMEs – Part 3 >>