Well gettin something such as a dell or doing random things is great, and cheap. Although, if you want gaming, or high end processsing, you build. I dont know what you will be using it for, so its a toss up. No Vote.
Well, the deals are there. For example, dell is terrible for comps, but they comp with an lcd, etc. A build it yourself comp doesn't always do that... although the chance of running into terrible customer service is uncommon... lol...
I've never done a complete home build, but I'm voting for it anyway - seems like a much better idea, you don't have a stupid manufacturer's warranty stopping you from upgrading or changing your OS. Sure you might get warranty on the individual parts, but that's not as big a problem.
Yeah, and although you won't get customer serivice with a custom, it's usually crappy service anyway. If you buy your own parts, know what goes where, etc. you should be able to solve any problems on your own, right?