Agreed.

I built one of my big systems for around $500 thanks to ebay. It's just a matter of knowing what your looking at and what you're doing. You can build yourself one for a lot less, however if you don't have much computing experience in hardware building or even software building then it can be tricky if you don't know what you're doing and I wouldn't advise you build it unless you do know someone with some computing experience that can help you.

im not a big gamer and what i do play is not on pc, however, you'd definitely be cheaper to build one yourself since you wont have to foot the price of the flashy alienware cases and whatever other crap makes them so special (i doubt theres very much).

i dont see what "building" software has to do with it. its not like he'll have to write his own operating system or drivers installing software now is mostly so idiot proof youd have to severely mentally impaired to not be able to do it.

for $1000 you can create a killer gaming rig, and if you don't want that you can get a Dell with excellent parts for only slightly more. Alienware uses exactly the same parts Dell does but with a huge markup in price. It isn't worth it. Most people are afraid to build a computer because they don't know what they're using and they don't know what they want. Look at everything inside of your machine, study up on what's modern and how much power they have, and you can quickly judge what's required to make a box of your own.