Often comparisons like those arent apples to apples. For that extra $150 you can often get better individual parts. Not all parts with similar surface specs are the same
My comparison is apples to apples. That's the whole point of it. It is comparing what it would cost to build one's own equivalent to that Dell system and finding that the Dell is cheaper.
"For that extra $150 you can often get better individual parts." I'm perplexed by that. The build it yourself system costs more than the Dell, not the other way around. Do you mean that the parts I list for the build-it-yourself system could be better than what I list and still cost $645? I picked all of the cheapest stuff on Newegg. If you pick better stuff, it will likely cost even more than what I list. But that's beside the point anyway as I was already assuming that it's fine stuff (even if I was picking stuff so cheap that it isn't fine stuff). I was being obliging in favor of the build-it approach, and still the Dell is cheaper.
My thesis:
-- You can't beat the price of that Dell system.
-- That Dell system gives me the performance I'm after in AH today and likely for a couple years to come, so I don't desire to pay for more performance or features that don't matter to me.
-- Dell systems for me have had perfect reliability, so you can at best match it, not beat it there.
