Quote Originally Posted by 'xss',index.php?page=Thread&postID=166814#post1668 14
yeah I agree with you there, problem is we live in a tiny mountain town where the closest computer shop is 4+ hours away. Dont know of anyone who really knows about computer where I live and with 3 kids a road trip for a computer does not sound fun if you know what I mean.
By this measure, I fully expect nearly all custom-built computers by qualified people using quality components to have far fewer problems requiring service over a 4 year period.

Your 4-year service plan may be included, but you'll need to read the fine print on how far they're willing to travel without a hefty fee associated. There are risk assessment teams on major corporations who use cheap parts that given a cost vs risk ratio, will choose to take the chance it fails to save money. I'd rather have proven parts that have an extremely low chance of risk, and large company power supplies & motherboards aren't in that category. That's just asking for a *need* to use that 4-year service plan, instead of just having quality components that will rarely ever fail in that time period. This is why I don't bother building $400 computers for people - you have to cut corners on quality that just ask for service problems in the future. Big companies do that with their "high-end" machines.. cut corners to balance risk-vs-reward in their favor, instead of lowering risk to customer as much as possible.

Want a good computer from quality parts? Try supporting forum members who run small-shop computer businesses. They know multiboxing, and they'll give you a better deal than Dell. Infamous Platforms (www.infamousplatforms.com) is a member here - Sina. It looks like all components of the computers they build are quality pieces (although I don't see the brand of power supply), so the chance something will fail is small. Contact them and see what they can offer you for multiboxing..
Sina's contact info.. as of Sept 3, 2008:
support@infamousplatforms.com
469-867-2066


-The greatest way to prevent hardware damage to a computer is to ALWAYS run it on a good battery backup (APC ES 750VA is around $90-100 at Circuit City), and always use a good power supply.
- The greatest way to prevent software damage to a computer is to ALWAYS run a router, firewall, updated anti-virus, spy-ware remover, avoid torrents & porn sites, and don't click "Accept" to install something if you don't know what it is or trust where it came from. When I used to work at Best Buy a few years ago, I was stunned how many service-related problems were due to user error and virus/spyware problems, usually caused by porn/warez sites.