Learning From Mistakes

I love reading about the builds every month, but in every build, something always seems to go wrong (I appreciate the honesty). For this reason, I’m afraid to try building my own system (I don’t have parts laying around). Maybe you will consider showing us the cost to buy a pre- built, comparable system from a reputable builder? Perhaps the cost differential isn’t high enough to warrant trying to do it myself (or maybe it is)? – S. Jaber

EDITOR- IN- CHIEF, GUY COCKER, RESPONDS: I’ve had feedback from readers saying they love that we include the errors and mistakes we encounter when putting together builds, because truth be told, even experienced builders like our staff writer Sam have issues. It’s why I wanted to include a new feature in our digital magazine where Sam and I discuss the challenges of that month’s build, and how we’d do things differently if we were going to do it all over again.

I hope you like the new feature, which you can check out on page 16.

Overcoming problems and fixing errors is very much the Maximum PC way, and that undoubtedly appeals to a smaller, more patient, methodical, and problemsolving audience than the mass market who just wants to buy a preassembled and tested desktop or laptop. Believe me, when I’m tearing my hair out because a build just won’t work, or I need to send a GPU back for repair and have to wait a month for it to come back, I run headfirst into the open arms of my laptop, which I know will just work. But because you’re able to specify your own components, save money, and easily upgrade, there’s just no beating a self- built desktop PC.