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"In fact, if the average consumer ever figured out how simple it was, Dell would go under within a week."

Or maybe not. I've been using Dell for a couple of years now, and have found that Dell often can provide fully assembled boxen for almost exactly the same price I would have to pay for the parts. Add in the cost of the labor, and it's a no-brainer.

For a small business, Dell is a terrific resource (no I don't have any other business relationship with them.)

As for the anti-gun issue, I sent an e-mail to their marketing department when the story broke (you know, the guys who call every few months seeing if there's anything else you need to buy...) , and got a very rapid response quoting Michael Dell's apology, and stating clearly that a low-level employee had made a mistake. If they were trending that way before, I think that their thinking has been fully corrected. (For whatever reason, IT folks tend to let people know their opinions on just about every issue, and also tend to be, shall we say, libertarian in their approach to the second amendment. I reckon that Dell got a real earful over that gaff and that they'll be extra-careful in the future.)

Over the last several years I've been able to put state-of-art computers together for myself, family, and friends for about $600 - $750, excluding monitors, mainly from parts bought at MarketPro shows around the D.C. area. I'm guessing that the little Ma & Pa stores that put systems together have to buy more parts than they need to get good price breaks, and then sell off the excess mother boards, disks etc. etc. at the shows. Flat panel monitors or anything terribly unusual could be bought from pricewatch.com or ebay.

By contrast, the computers I've seen being sold at stores for under $1000 have always appeared to be things which have sat on shelves for a year and a half or more and are not fully up to date.

and have found that Dell often can provide fully assembled boxen for almost exactly the same price I would have to pay for the parts.

Strange that I should read this over and over.

This makes sense if you choose the absolutely cheapest parts available.

If one even marginally recognizes the value of quality, documentation, drivers and reliability, this becomes a "no brainer" in a whole different direction.