I like Micro Center. I've bought two desktops and a laptop from them in the last two years, and have no complaints. However I don't believe you save money over buying from a major manufacturer like Dell, Toshiba, or Asus. I watch the ads from other stores (especially Fry's) and look for bargains where I can find them, but I find Micro Center's prices to be competitive and the people there to be good. I've never used their service dept. because I'm my own tech, but I have had to exchange a few components I've bought, and never had a complaint. I've been dealing with them since 1989.
I've had a few conversations about doing this in lieu of buying from a big manufacturer.
The benefits being extolled are that you can customize and get exactly what you want. More importantly, some folks have said that one can get individual components (e.g., hard drive, motherboard, etc) of higher quality than those used by the mass manufacturers. Finally, some have said it works out to not only be better from a quality standpoint, but cheaper as well.
In my area, there is a store from a nationwide chain that does this -- Micro Center. Perhaps there are others that I'm not aware of.
I'd be grateful to hear perspectives on the pros and cons of doing a custom build, and certainly also to hear if anyone has anything good or bad to say about Micro Center.

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