I have an opportunity through my work to purchase a new PC in the next few months, and have my work pay for it (I will then pay my work, spread out over 26 paychecks).
I have been considering a custom build from Ibuypower.com.
Has anyone had experience with them?
Thanks for the help!
I’ve bought my last two systems from them (grad student in computer science). I’m sure they weren’t the rock-bottom cheapest – after all, I could’ve gone to Frye’s or NewEgg, order the parts, and put it together myself. However, I’ve been there, done that, and have not the time nor the desire to do the requisite legwork. I happen to think they’ve got a pretty good selection in their configurator – not too many options so as to be overwhelmed, nor too few so that I didn’t find one that had everything I wanted. At a decent price.
The first system I got from them (inherited by my wife) worked (is still working) like a charm. I seem to recall having one issue with it – for the life of me, I no longer remember what it was, indicating that it wasn’t a show-stopper of any sort. What I do remember is that I called customer service and it got taken care of right away. The second system, which I’m using now, has had only one issue (that is ongoing) – it takes inordinately long to get to the boot screen. Not ibuypower’s fault – I looked into it a long while back, and it seems that others have had the same issue with this model of ASUS motherboard. At some point, I’ll flash the BIOS…at some point…
So, on the whole, I’ve been entirely happy with their products. If and when I get another system, they’ll likely get my repeat business (although I will, of course, check out some other places for price comparisons before actually buying).
Their customer service is very good, but it needs to be. Every system my friends have ordered from ibuypower has had some minor thing wrong with it that needed to be fixed. If you’ve got the patience, you can have it sorted out quite quickly by phone, usually.
Mostly, I feel like they put together systems on occasion using components that are not ideally compatible with one another. If that’s the fault of my friends’ customizing decisions, I guess that’s that, but the company really should limit your choices in that case, or give an advisory.
I’ve considered buying a desktop from them when I get back to the states.
I remembered what the issue was – it had to do with the firewire board, and it was on the second system I bought, not the first. Specifically, I needed to switch the header from one location (motherboard) to another (extension card).
On preview: what Crocodiles And Boulevards says may be the case. But I know – from having played for (literally) hours with their configurator, salivating over my new system) – that they do, in fact, do some component compatibility checks. Perhaps not enough, but at least some.