Mar
15
Pre-built might work for typical users. But pre-built didn’t work for Google. And pre-built doesn’t work for me.
We aren’t typical users. We’re programmers. The x86 commodity PC is the essential, ultimate tool of our craft. It’s the end product of 30 years of computer evolution. And it’s still evolving today, with profound impact on the way we code. If you treat your PC like an appliance you plug into a wall, you’ve robbed yourself of a crucial lesson on the symbiotic relationship between software and hardware. The best way to truly understand the commodity PC is to gleefully dig in and build one yourself. Get your hands dirty and experience the economics of computer hardware first hand– the same economics that have shaped the software industry since the very first line of code was stored in memory.
Who knows, you might even enjoy it.
Quoted from:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000814.html
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One Response to “Some very interesting words about assembled/custom built computers…”
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I agree completely - it’s the only way to go for a personal machine. I usually order machines for the workplace in bulk though - it’s more cost effective to buy generic similar machines for a cache of people who have similar responsibilities (accountants, computer labs, etc.)
I wish the laptop market was a little more developed in this regard, I’d love to build my own clone of a MacBook, but be able to choose my own components.