Introduction
Our last look at iBUYPOWER was with a fully loaded quad-core system and Triple SLI 8800 Ultras. Today we're looking at a different tier system, a Gamer Paladin F860-a that falls into the upper midrange bracket.
iBUYPOWER - Overview
We spent some time looking into the company, website, ordering process, and so on in our previous review. Reseller Ratings has a score of 8.49/10 for the last six months, and 7.16/10 lifetime, which is reasonably good (but as we've said before, reading the actual customer comments is often more helpful than the raw scores).
We found that their profit margins were very low (i.e. good value for the consumer), but as is so common with suppliers of this sort, it's difficult to provide a high level of personal attention and uniqueness that high-end buyers often look for. However, for mid- and entry-level systems, value often takes the forefront, and in this arena we think that low-margin suppliers particularly shine.
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Hxx - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
You're basically paying $255 for the commodity of having it aseembled for you.san1s - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
don't forget paying for the building the computer was assembled in, the worker's wages, power/water bills...$255 over is a very good deal
Rasterman - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
I totally agree, in fact its quite a good deal IMO, if you are building a similarly specced machine you would be crazy not to just get a pre built one with being fully tested, warranty, etc, although I think the case is quite ugly in this one IMO. I was astonished how little markup there is, I thought it would be well over $400.What I would love to see is Newegg or Zipzoomfly offer a build option, order all your parts from them, and pay them $200 or whatever to completely assemble, test, and warranty the build, that would be awesome. Probably the biggest bonus I can see to this is getting a known working system, I can't stress how infuriating it is to get all your parts and build your system only to find out one component is bad then having to wait to get another. With a build option they could handle all of this for you and more quickly. And even worse is getting a glitchy product that causes intermittent problems.
Hxx - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
FYI u can get a glitchy product that causes intermittent problems with a prebuilt computer too. They're just "testing" it - whatever that means.vol7ron - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
i agree. and not only that, moved into an apartment where i dont really have space to build anymore. this is what i'm looking at doing next.MadMan007 - Monday, April 20, 2009 - link
How much space do you need to build a PC?poohbear - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
why do u guys even bother reviewing these pre-built fully loaded systems? most of us are enthusiasts that like to MAKE our own comps, it takes all the fun out of it if u pay someone else to build it for u. Seriously, just review parts, who cares what some company that caters to rich folks can offer.snookie - Monday, June 1, 2009 - link
"most of us are enthusiasts that like to MAKE our own comps,"Most of us? Who are most of us?
Check their prices. Hardly catering to "rich folks".
Hxx - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
I agree, however unfortunately not everybody can follow a walkthrough on "how to build ur own computer in a few easy steps".vol7ron - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
it's not a waste of time. putting my own parts together was fun when i had time (and excess parts to test). it's no fun when you have multiple dead parts all at the same time and you don't know what it is, with no voltmeter to check.this is exactly as someone else said, taking newegg, putting it together, and charging a premium for the service. it's like getting a dell, with actually good parts. not to mention, if it's not working when you get it, just send it back; no need to hassle with the testing.
i also would like to see other "competitors" in this genre as cyberpower seems to be the only one and they're a little pricey.