Off the shelf - You walk into best buy and say gimme that one.

Made to your specs - Call up HP and say I want this this and this.

Self made - You buy piece by piece and BUILD Frankie.

What do you use.

Just curious. lol Although I haven't built myself a PC yet, I prefer "self made"   Other than laptops, I've never bought anything that wasn't self-made. Only my very FIRST computer, which was a custom built, was made for me. Ever since then I've built my own.

I prefer custom built computers for several reasons. First, I know exactly what is going into each one, everything is hand picked. Second, warranty. Most off-the-shelf or even made to your specs from Dell or HP or whoever only come with a year or two warranty. The place I gets PARTS from warranty them for 3-5 years, depending on the component. This WORKS to my advantage when I build computers for clients, as I can give them a 3-year warranty on anything I build without having to worry about losing money, as I can get the parts replaced for FREE during that period.Self built all the way.  Mostly the same reasons as quaxo, plus it's usually a better price.  Also I trust my own handiwork - not that I think Dell/HP/whoever else can't build machines, but if I do it myself I know what I've done and have only myself to blame if it doesn't work.  If I got a prebuilt machine I'd take it apart and put it back together immediately, for my own peace of mind.  Yeah, I'm like that.
My laptop was prebuilt, but upgraded and rebuilt by me.  The old family computer was custom made, and their current machine was prebuilt but I've since altered it completely. Quote from: blockHEAD on June 19, 2009, 09:52:56 PM

Although I haven't built myself a PC yet, I prefer "self made"