New Egg offers to build your computer for you

Quizzical

For many years, gamers have had the option between buying a prebuilt computer that is likely loaded with cheap junk parts and building your own.  I'm not against building your own, but a lot of people cannot or will not do that.  There are sites that will assemble a computer for you and let you choose parts, but many such sites have a poor selection of parts.  Some sites offer a better selection than others, and I've helped people pick out parts for such built to order computers.

So now New Egg has decided to leverage their large selection of parts and offer to build your computer for you.  The parts available are restricted to what they have at their California warehouse, which is a subset of New Egg's full selection, but still quite a lot--and massively more than a site like iBuyPower will offer, let alone the awful selection you'll get at Alienware.  Also importantly, the selection has quite a lot of good parts available of the sort that you'd want in your own computer, rather than giving you five options, all of which are bad.  Well, at least unless the GPUs are all out of stock because the miners have bought them all.

The catch is that they'll charge you an extra $99 to assemble the computer for you.  Basically, you have to buy a full computer of New Egg parts at New Egg standard prices, and then for an extra $99, they'll screw everything together for you.  That's likely to be quite useful to people who want a good gaming computer but cannot or will not build their own.  I'm not sure what this does to shipping costs, which are real costs that should be considered when comparing prices.

In case you're interested, the link to the new tool is here:

https://www.newegg.com/tools/custom-pc-builder

Asm0deus

Lately most of us have been calling them scalpegg so guess that explains my opinion on this new service, like hell I would build a PC using all scalpegg bought parts at standard prices......

Sandmanjw

$99.00 is really a good deal. Most people would not find a local shop that would be that reasonable, and that is beside the buying all the parts, getting them shipped and packing them all to the local shop.

Hell I build my own systems, and I usually buy from new egg anyways since they are most often in the same price range as other shops and have the biggest selections of parts.

Recently had to build a new system, wish they had this then would of used it in a heart beat. Having big hands and fingers and worsening eye sight in the old age...makes working on all the small wires and plugins a pain to me. 

Sounds like a win for everyone to me, both people that build systems, and people that never build their own, would most likely not mind paying that fee.

Asm0deus

Problem is newegg has ridiculously high prices lately thus the name scalpegg. They doing this for $$ cause they know they will make their cash on you buying the parts from them.

I build my own and will never again limit myself to buying parts from one place much less newegg.  I think I haven't bought anything from them in about 5 years as it invariably always quite a bit more than most other places.

Granted I my experience is with newegg.ca from Canada so I guess ymmv if in the USA etc.

Ridelynn

$99 isn't a bad assembly price, assuming it also includes some basic testing to ensure all the parts actually work, and work together. That's one big issue i have with DIY computing, it's not uncommon to need to RMA something out of the nearly dozen or so individual parts that go into making up a DIY computer.

On that same point, are they also offering to install an OS and drivers? Or do they have some software suite or something they run for at least basic testing, if not more comprehensive burn-in testing.

Another issue I would investigate would be shipping - individual parts all come packaged individually and are relatively robust. A full computer, though, with parts like heat sinks and such that get mounted internally, needs a bit different consideration. I wouldn't just slap it all back into the box the case came in and call it could - or at least you shouldn't. 

Lastly - how are they handling warranty / service? If there is an issue with the computer, do they offer repair services, since they are the ones that put it together, or do they just pass the equipment warranty along and say "Good Luck"?

Kyleran

Lame, no laptop building tool...

rojoArcueid

I learned how to build my own PC so i don't have to pay $100+ for it. If you tell me that assembly cost is part of the already high price of buying a PC + taxes and shipping, i wouldn't mind. That extra $100 is unnecesary IMO.

FrodoFragins

I tend to pay the assembly/testing fee, not from newegg, and have been happy.

Iselin

I miss NCIX. They always used to do that and it was just $39 to build it for you although they only did that once for me since I was able to do it myself back in those days.

Best of all they had a huge selection of parts and they matched online prices you found anywhere else as long a you sent them a link to the other site.

They over-expanded with their brick and mortar stores (they went from 3 to about 12 in a short time) and that was ultimately their demise.

I dealt with them almost exclusively for decades.

Ridelynn

Apparently the configurator is extremely limited and quite pricey.

Sovrath

rojoArcueid said:

I learned how to build my own PC so i don't have to pay $100+ for it. If you tell me that assembly cost is part of the already high price of buying a PC + taxes and shipping, i wouldn't mind. That extra $100 is unnecesary IMO.

I've built two pc's and I'd gladly pay $100 so I didn't have to.

Sure, there is some satisfaction of looking at a newly built and (eventually) working PC.

But for me that's fleeting.

For the few issues I had to troubleshoot in order to make the damn thin work, $100 dollars is worth never having those issues again.

Mendel

I built my first 5 PCs, and I bought the last 2.  I've seen enough of the build-it-myself systems, and am happy to let someone else build it, as long as I can choose from a reasonable selection of parts.  The $99 assembly charge is pretty good, but the standard NewEgg prices aren't.  With any luck I won't need a new computer in the next two-three years, so there's likely to be better solutions to be had by then.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Scorchien

For the last 15 years i have a PC store near me that builds me a top of the line PC every 2 years .. Never have had a problem ..

    And they can generally beat the high end PC companies prices easily for the same exact PC minus the label

Randomuser2020876

I wouldn't shop Newegg if their scalping asses were the only place with automotive air fresheners. 

Quizzical

Asm0deus said:

Lately most of us have been calling them scalpegg so guess that explains my opinion on this new service, like hell I would build a PC using all scalpegg bought parts at standard prices......

When there is a shortage, the options are to let things sell out and then be out of stock or to raise prices far enough to keep them in stock.  What customers really want is for you to keep parts in stock at or below MSRP, but that doesn't happen during a shortage.

What has happened a lot is that New Egg raised their own prices on some parts that were in short supply, but not far enough to keep them in stock.  Other sites that sell through New Egg raised their prices a lot more and managed to keep them in stock, so you see those prices on New Egg's site, but they're not really New Egg's prices.

There have been other companies demanding ridiculous prices through New Egg's site for quite a few years now.  It used to be that New Egg would have the same part in stock, so you didn't care if some other site also offered to sell it to you at double the price.  Now that New Egg is often out of stock, the higher prices from other sites are a lot more visible.

If you don't want to pay high prices during a shortage, the real solution is, don't buy during a shortage.

Quizzical

Ridelynn said:

Apparently the configurator is extremely limited and quite pricey.

When I was experimenting with it yesterday, it seemed awfully limited to me, too.  In particular, it said that there were no power supplies available at all.  Then I deleted the partial build that I had assembled and suddenly there were massively more options than before.  I think it was starting with some broken cache as a default, and I had to clear that to see the real, intended options.  Hopefully that's just a bug that they'll fix quickly.

rojoArcueid

Sovrath said:

rojoArcueid said:

I learned how to build my own PC so i don't have to pay $100+ for it. If you tell me that assembly cost is part of the already high price of buying a PC + taxes and shipping, i wouldn't mind. That extra $100 is unnecesary IMO.

I've built two pc's and I'd gladly pay $100 so I didn't have to.

Sure, there is some satisfaction of looking at a newly built and (eventually) working PC.

But for me that's fleeting.

For the few issues I had to troubleshoot in order to make the damn thin work, $100 dollars is worth never having those issues again.

i understand that, but i still have the mentality I had when I lived in my home country where $100 USD used to be almost 2 months salary. It was easier for me to learn to build a PC than paying for it.

Cleffy

I don't think I would trust someone to assemble a PC in CA for only $99. At that price, the management will probably want 8-10 pcs assembled in a day per person. Sure it usually only takes 20 minutes to fully assemble a PC, but not well. It can take hours to even days to assemble something perfect. 

Asm0deus

Quizzical said:

Asm0deus said:

Lately most of us have been calling them scalpegg so guess that explains my opinion on this new service, like hell I would build a PC using all scalpegg bought parts at standard prices......

When there is a shortage, the options are to let things sell out and then be out of stock or to raise prices far enough to keep them in stock.  What customers really want is for you to keep parts in stock at or below MSRP, but that doesn't happen during a shortage.

What has happened a lot is that New Egg raised their own prices on some parts that were in short supply, but not far enough to keep them in stock.  Other sites that sell through New Egg raised their prices a lot more and managed to keep them in stock, so you see those prices on New Egg's site, but they're not really New Egg's prices.

There have been other companies demanding ridiculous prices through New Egg's site for quite a few years now.  It used to be that New Egg would have the same part in stock, so you didn't care if some other site also offered to sell it to you at double the price.  Now that New Egg is often out of stock, the higher prices from other sites are a lot more visible.

If you don't want to pay high prices during a shortage, the real solution is, don't buy during a shortage.

Thanks for the insight even if it was a tad condescending since I am already fully aware of all this shit being that I having been buying and repairing electronics since vcr/betamax.

I even worked in C/S for this kind of stuff so I bet I know how some of the shadier tricks work from the inside you might be surprised about...lol

If you read correctly though my point is newegg has had shit price since before this whole chip shortage...like I clearly posted I haven't bought much of anything from them in about 5 years or so not out of any hate of them or love of some other place but simply because their prices went to shit.

Kyleran

Asm0deus said:

Quizzical said:

Asm0deus said:

Lately most of us have been calling them scalpegg so guess that explains my opinion on this new service, like hell I would build a PC using all scalpegg bought parts at standard prices......

When there is a shortage, the options are to let things sell out and then be out of stock or to raise prices far enough to keep them in stock.  What customers really want is for you to keep parts in stock at or below MSRP, but that doesn't happen during a shortage.

What has happened a lot is that New Egg raised their own prices on some parts that were in short supply, but not far enough to keep them in stock.  Other sites that sell through New Egg raised their prices a lot more and managed to keep them in stock, so you see those prices on New Egg's site, but they're not really New Egg's prices.

There have been other companies demanding ridiculous prices through New Egg's site for quite a few years now.  It used to be that New Egg would have the same part in stock, so you didn't care if some other site also offered to sell it to you at double the price.  Now that New Egg is often out of stock, the higher prices from other sites are a lot more visible.

If you don't want to pay high prices during a shortage, the real solution is, don't buy during a shortage.

Thanks for the insight even if it was a tad condescending since I am already fully aware of all this shit being that I having been buying and repairing electronics since vcr/betamax.

I even worked in C/S for this kind of stuff so I bet I know how some of the shadier tricks work from the inside you might be surprised about...lol

If you read correctly though my point is newegg has had shit price since before this whole chip shortage...like I clearly posted I haven't bought much of anything from them in about 5 years or so not out of any hate of them or love of some other place but simply because their prices went to shit.

Funny story, sometimes price isn't everything, service and or availability can more equally if not more important.

In Florida the number one grocery store with about 60% of the market is Publix which is probably one of the highest priced stores outside of specialty grocers like Whole Foods.

They keep dominating year after year by providing superior service, keeping store shelves fully stocked day or night, having an army of checkout staff at any given moment (no self service checkout here), BOGO deals, super clean stores, friendly, helpful staff and best of shopping carts where the damn wheels never wobble and glide like a dream.

Not saying NewEgg is anything like this, perhaps they are no better or even worse than others, but it's possible they offer some thing which keeps people coming back despite having higher prices.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Sovrath

Deathkon1 said:

I  bought a external hardrive from them I stored backups for my pc when I was in highschool and it corrupted every dam thing I put on it I wouldn't trust them for anything much less letting their  idiots build a pc, will just slip someone I know fresh out of school that isn't getting paid what he should a flat $150 

Which by the way hate to break it to you the more people in the trade your in the less you matter and the less they know they can pay you at least in america this is the case which is why I wanna leave within 5-10 years just right before the reality check for alot of people my age

Is the bad hard drive their fault or the fault of the manufacturer? I suspect it's the latter.

Unless they gave a guarantee that every hard drive is opened and checked by them.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Sylvinstar

Deathkon1 said:

Sovrath said:

Deathkon1 said:

I  bought a external hardrive from them I stored backups for my pc when I was in highschool and it corrupted every dam thing I put on it I wouldn't trust them for anything much less letting their  idiots build a pc, will just slip someone I know fresh out of school that isn't getting paid what he should a flat $150 

Which by the way hate to break it to you the more people in the trade your in the less you matter and the less they know they can pay you at least in america this is the case which is why I wanna leave within 5-10 years just right before the reality check for alot of people my age

Is the bad hard drive their fault or the fault of the manufacturer? I suspect it's the latter.

Unless they gave a guarantee that every hard drive is opened and checked by them.

I guess based on this then that if you buy something unless it has a nice and shiny virtual sticker saying its been checked to work that you can assume even if it doesn't work you wont need to go through 3 hours of phone calls only to be told they can't refund you 


I spent $80 on something I couldn't even get a refund for pfff lol omfg no never again that was my money not mommies and daddies money I worked for the money to pay it like I always have, I have never had it easy I never got things handed to me I can hold grudges until hell freezes over if I buy from you and  it doesn't work and you wont even refund it guess what I ain't paying or buying jack from you ever again

After they told me I couldn't get a refund after going through many hoops all it managed to do is make a nice popping sound in the fire pit in the backyard and a bad smell with kerosene mixed in

Perhaps things have gone south at New Egg since I last purchased there?  Granted it has been a while, but  I built a PC almost exclusively from parts bought at New Egg and the hard drive came with a bad boot sector right out of the box.  Went through the refund process and had shiny new drive free of charge within a couple days.

Sovrath

Deathkon1 said:

Sovrath said:

Deathkon1 said:

I  bought a external hardrive from them I stored backups for my pc when I was in highschool and it corrupted every dam thing I put on it I wouldn't trust them for anything much less letting their  idiots build a pc, will just slip someone I know fresh out of school that isn't getting paid what he should a flat $150 

Which by the way hate to break it to you the more people in the trade your in the less you matter and the less they know they can pay you at least in america this is the case which is why I wanna leave within 5-10 years just right before the reality check for alot of people my age

Is the bad hard drive their fault or the fault of the manufacturer? I suspect it's the latter.

Unless they gave a guarantee that every hard drive is opened and checked by them.

I guess based on this then that if you buy something unless it has a nice and shiny virtual sticker saying its been checked to work that you can assume even if it doesn't work you wont need to go through 3 hours of phone calls only to be told they can't refund you 


I spent $80 on something I couldn't even get a refund for pfff lol omfg no never again that was my money not mommies and daddies money I worked for the money to pay it like I always have, I have never had it easy I never got things handed to me I can hold grudges until hell freezes over if I buy from you and  it doesn't work and you wont even refund it guess what I ain't paying or buying jack from you ever again

After they told me I couldn't get a refund after going through many hoops, all that external hardrive managed to do is make a nice popping sound in the fire pit in the backyard and a bad smell with a hint of  kerosene mixed in

Really?

You're saying you purchased a defective item and they wouldn't refund you? Is there something else to that story because that seems highly unlikely.

Unless of course, you are telling me that the only thing they would do is replace the item?