I think the other reason is warranty/support. They assume that a bigger company will offer them greater technical support (and being non-technical they would want that as a safety-blanket).

Also, does that figure include laptops?

As well as sales to businesses? I know of many companies that will only purchase branded PCs because of the warranty/support they are guarenteed from those companies (onsite support, component warranties etc).

Another fear would be that a smaller company could go out of business, leaving their customers with nowhere else to turn for support.

The answer to the question : Why do people buy branded computers? is really simple. That's the way we buy everything else.

We don't buy a fridge, TV or motor car by shopping around for the components and then getting some clever chappy to put them all together. It just doesn't happen.

Imagine being asked how many cam shafts you want. Or how many and what sort of transistors you would like in you telly.

To most of us a PC is simply another useful box that does things. We're buggered if we know how it does them or what the doodads are inside that make it work.

The fantasy part of buying brand name computers is the foolish belief that somewhere there is a manufacturer who cares when his product doesn't work. That's the real scandal of buying brands -- you don't get what you think you are paying for.

The paradox is that you are likely to get much better after-sales service on a no brand computer from the local cobbler-together who you get to know personally.

Actually -- let's face it -- there's no such thing as after-sales service on a computer. Computers are still regarded as in prototype stage of development and if anything goes wrong the best you will get from the vendor is a caveat emptor shrug.

Wasn't it you that told us not to give advice re computer purchase to friends and relations lest something that invariably goes wrong lands us up as the the free 24 hour support?

One problem in big organsiations is when they have "preferred suppliers". When I started working at my current employer, I was told I had to get either a Dell or an HP machine (or a local equivalent).

Given that I am quite happy with my home computer (not dissimilar from the workhorse PC of the time), I wanted to get a fairly similar computer. Unfortunately, trying to get an NVIDIA graphics card or an AMD chip proved highly difficult (I did succeed on the AMD chip though).

Most frustrating, though, was that having priced a computer for a friend, I knew that my boss was paying about £200 over the odds for the privilege of having an HP logo imprinted on the side of the case. Particularly a waste given that step 1 was to wipe the hard disk and install Debian.

I don't think advertising affects too many people's choices on buying a branded PC. It's more the guarantee they think that buying a branded PC will give them: a better quality product and also after sales support. I've asked a few people I know who bought a branded PC why they chose this, to which many people's reply was that they knew nothing about PCs so buying a branded one meant they could get support when they had trouble.

After many years of building my own - I bought a Dell, for two reasons: 1) it was a laptop and 2) I was sick of building/troubleshooting etc.

If theres a problem, I ring India and insist that the machine is looked at either onsite or sent by courier to Sydney. Both times that I've had a problem it has been something that couldnt be fixed by the reinstall that they are first to insist.

The first thing that I did when I got my machine was to start again software wise - gets rid of the Dell bloatware and I can dictate the terms to which software is installed and what is installed.

Would I buy another Dell? Maybe not, at the time Dell were the only company offering 17" WS laptops - but now they are standard I might move elsewhere.

How much did the handlebars of your scooter cost Charles? Or the brake pedal? How much would you have saved by trawling the internet for scooter parts? Why did you buy a branded scooter? What happens if it chucks a sand-shoe? Who will you turn to? So many questions, probably only one answer. CW, the hole is deep enough already. Stop digging!

Companies buy brand names mainly because of the warranties that are offered. This is on top of any possible 'buying power' negotiated price. We buy Acer machines because we get a very good price and extended warranty.

From a support viewpoint, it also means that we don't have to carry spares for a multitude of makes and models - once they fall out of warranty! All the machines are basically the same and you become familiar with them.

However! There is also no way on this ball of dirt that I would put one in my own house! As CW stated, you get an inferior spec level for a higher cost.

Consumers buy brand PCs because they are available at the department store and you can buy them on 18 months interest free terms. They go looking for a new fridge and come home with a PC instead.

Bundle together a new digital camera, a printer, and an MP3 player and boy, will they do a deal for you!

Lots of insightful comments here, I am particularly in agreement with apal. I suspect people hope that they can end with something like many other electrical goods, ie that just works and if doesn't you take it back. I'm sure for Dell the we come and fix or take it back policy (and add-on you pay extra for) has definate appeal for small business and even larger ones, as for instance my university. However all the local techies hate them, cheap, poorly designed, always underspecified, difficult, often impossible, to upgrade via added bits and so on. And a pretty high failure rate to boot(sic). But this promise of service and warrenty has to be the seller since the prices are so much over the odds.

Computers remain worse than cars (don't forget the rust-proofing) and almost on par with phone plans when it comes to bafflement of consumers trying to buy them. Of course this is partly because they are complicated and they are changing very fast all the time.

I'm sure there's a good living to be made by being a computer buyer, just as there is for being a "car buyer". But overall I've found it best to deal with small dealer, often part of a franchise, with whom I can build a real relationship. That said I will say that on my experience Acer are better than Dell or HP. I though IPEX were good too but I don't even know if they are still in business.

Oh and three cheers for Charles' contributions to clearing the fog around computer purchasing over the years as well.

I am a regular computer nerd, very familiar throughout the years with buying motherboards, RAM, video cards and all the other hardware and putting it together. I must have built dozens of PCs.

Now I'm not doing that anymore. It's mostly a matter of time. Firstly, I don't have the time I used to to keep abreast of the technology in as much detail as I would like. Secondly, I don't play games so much any more, so the need to squeeze the best performance out of each dollar is lessened. Finally, I run a business now and so there are too many PCs to provision. I call my sales rep at Dell, get a quote within minutes and execute the order. 10 days later a box shows up. Nice.

The last PC I made for myself, I chose the components but had the shop put it together. I think for the next one, I'll get a Mac Pro and run Windows in a virtual machine - the ultimate commodity PC!

I work as a techie at a school and we buy a mix of computers. If it is just a desktop, Acer get the call. Sure, they are underpowered when you consider 'Bang for buck,' but it's easier and takes away a few problems in relation to troubleshooting hardware issues. They can fix them. More cost efficient that way.
They get wiped, configured to our needs then ghosted.
As for home machines and I have 6 - Macs, pc's and linux - I would never go for a brand name. Apart from the Macs. But that's obvious.
Sick of the restore DVD's brand name pc's have. They should be called destroy DVD's.
Without a Linux live CD an uphappy PC with a restore DVD as your only hope is computer suicide. I always give a Ubuntu live CD to anyone I have fixed a computer for. Just so I know that I can rescue their data. Can't read it sometimes, but at least rescue it
Until manufacturers wake up to that, anyone with a modicum of knowledge will avoid brand names unless they get a proper copy of XP.
I have dealt with many people who have been in this situation and in frustration they have paid for another copy of XP just to run system restore.
The language I hear when I inform them of what will happen if they use the restore DVD isn't nice. Someone desperate to get information off their computer, the brand name helpdesk less than useful and me telling them to 'just pull the hard drive, whack it in another box and then I'll talk you through getting access to the files' is not what they want to hear.
Restore in XP isn't great. I prefer how '98 did it. On Macs it is beautiful. But I have only done it to see how it works. Disk utility on Macs is very powerful once you get into it.
So my personal preference is;
if it's a dumb machine that saves on a server, doesn't do much except word processing, email and server based apps and no chance of an upgrade during it's life, go for the brand name.
Anything more than that, get it built.
Get a maker who has multiple outlets and I know its infantile advice, but I tell them (possible buyers) to buy from a company with a big ad in the Greenguide. If they can pay for that each week, they may be financially solvent. One company always has a full page ad and their service is spot on. Our preferred supplier at school.

i work as a computer technician @ wesleyan university-philippines, one main reason why we choose branded is that we get better technical support from the retailer/dealer! the provide faster solutions if we encounters problems!