> I thought it was cheaper to buy Dell/HP and let them deal with any support issues. Is it really cheaper to build your own, considering there's no support? Th

> I thought it was cheaper to buy Dell/HP and let them deal with any support issues. Is it really cheaper to build your own, considering there's no support? This has changed somewhat with the decline of Moore's Law. Companies are keeping equipment longer, past the point that OEMs typically provide warranties or even parts. When you know that's going to happen you want to start with something that uses standard parts rather than vendor-specific ones.