Issue 45.15
Most people don’t build their own computers. They go to the local store or online and order one that was designed by a major company and built (most likely) in a third world country such as Malaysia, China, Mexico or the Philippines. The cost of the computer is most likely between $400 and $1200 depending on speed, versatility, features and included software. If it is an Apple product, you can usually add about 40% to the cost.
What determines the cost? How much does each part require of the purchase price you pay? The answers may surprise you. The first cost is the case and power supply. These run from $80-$200 and provide the framework and power for the rest of the components. Higher cost usually creates more reliability and style. The next basic is the motherboard or main board. Everything else is controlled by this and plugs into it. This part usually costs from $75 to $200. Directly associated with this are the items that determine your computer experience – the CPU (Central Processing Unit), the cooling assembly for the CPU and the memory. CPUs run the gamut from cheap and slow (Celeron) to basic (i3) to high performance (i5, i7 and Xeon). AMD also makes CPUs in similar configurations but uses a numbering system. The corresponding prices go from $50 to $500 and the fans to cool them also cost more for the high performance items, running from $40 on the low end to around $150 on the high. Other cooling systems such as liquid cooling are even more but are only necessary on extreme systems. Memory typically runs around $30 per Gigabyte.
Hard drives (where your programs and info are stored) run from $60-$150 depending on capacity and speed and DVD player/recorders are typically around $50. If you upgrade to a blue-ray player you are usually looking at $100 and a blue-ray recorder can easily run $200. Wireless receivers average around $40 but are optional if you use wired internet. The other significant option is the video card that controls your monitor. Basic video service is included on most motherboards, but you can choose advanced performance features with add-on video cards that come with their own CPU, fan and memory. The high performance versions usually cost from $100-$250 but I have seen video cards that run in the thousands of dollars for extreme gaming systems. Finally comes the OS (Operating System). Linux is free but very few people use it and it is not compatible with some software and hardware. Windows 7, 8 and 10 all cost about $150 off the shelf but you can get what are called OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) versions for half that if you build the system from scratch.
There are other bells and whistles you can buy, but if you add these costs up and add something for the labor of putting them together, you will see that a basic system would cost at least $550 with 4 Gigabytes of RAM and Windows 10 plus the labor to build it. Reasonably powerful systems would cost upwards of $800. Why then can the big computer companies sell them for $400-$800 including some profit? It is because they buy the parts in lots of thousands at large discounts and use cheap labor overseas to build them. It is estimated that it costs them about $320 including transportation for the base level systems. They insure them for a year which has a cost and then the seller wants 10% profit or more (which is not much).
Hopefully this will give you a little info you can use in determining what to buy and how much to pay and remember – make sure you always have a backup of anything important.
Shaun McCausland has worked in the computer industry for over 33 years, 26 years of it locally with Bits ‘N’ Bytes and Musicomp and currently works as a computer consultant. If you have questions you can reach him at 435-668-7118 or shaun@musicomp.net.