Well, the software is an issue still, no matter how one slices it. And lets face it, probably most of us have our own, and even some rather expensive pieces of software, like the C++ compiler I have sitting in the closet. Bloat can also be something one doesn't always want...
But setting all that I've mentioned previously, there comes:
- freedom to upgrade
And on the cooling that someone mentioned, it doesn't go without saying that I've seen some pre-built that run hotter then I would like to see my hardware run. I'm sorry, but anything over 60 c on the CPU, or even over 50 c, I'd rather not see... I also prefer to keep margin in the systems in a variety of ways from temps, to timing, to margin on the PSU, etc... I just don't like running things near to the limits of their respective tollerances.
- If something does go wrong (and though I've mentioned that a block order of business PCs is one area where I wouldn't commit myself to building as there's just too many for 1 person, and also matching PCs can be useful for ghosting one install to all other PCs to avoid multiple installs, etc), one is stuck with either:
- Yes, I could fix that, but if I do, the warranty will be voided. This while corporate heads are breathing down one's kneck about lost productivity costs that downtime is incurring on the companies bottom line.
- No, to keep the warranty, you'll just have to wait for their own guy to arrive, and tollerate lost productivity till then.
Any action that could cost them the warranty, I wouldn't be ready to do, until I get it in writting and they've signed off on the thing. It protects one's butt latter on, and helps insure one's own job security
All in all, not all businesses can afford downtime, albeit that's also why they have backup servers and the like. Anyone want to hazzard a guess at how Ebay or Amazon.com would be effected, if they were to suffer downtime?