HP forum: Should I buy HP or build from scratch

Luckily I bought my HP from Costco. They provide Costco Concierge(tech support) with tier two HP support when necessary.

2/07 I purchased HP Pavilion A1777C for $1300.00, Vista 32 bit. By June 2008 after over one hundred system recoveries, 4 to 6 hours most weekdays on the phone with tech support, Costco replaced with a M8407 c, Vista 64 bit. It is great it works almost 30% of the time. It had a new hard drive at 6 months and two optical drives within the last 7 months. Amongst many issues, the sound quit. Two hours with tech support-no solution. A friend noticed I had both the HDMI and Audio cable plugged in. Unplugged the Audio and Voila, Sound. Of course they had both been plugged in since June 08. Why a sudden conflict?

Both Costco Concierge and HP Tech support have admitted that they have over 15 pages of case notes on the current computer. The store has offered my money back. I hate to give up Costco's free lifetime tech support and tier two support......dare I purchase HP again?

My Photosmart 3150- HP quote "nah, that doesn't print photos" "You need a Photosmart 5180 if you want to print photos" (1 new and 5 refurbished later..) Photosmart 5550 for printing DVDs. was defective and replaced with 5580 because they dont have any refurb 5550 left. What happens when the 5580 dies?

India keeps asking for error message despite my insistance that there is no error message. Costco is quite good, but one issue resolved, leads to another call in a couple of days for a different issue. HP Corporate customer service is rude and annoyed to have to speak to lowly customers. They promise call backs that NEVER happen.

I have $1300 to build a computer and a 22 year old tech savvy friend who has offered to build. But I won't always have his tech support. Suggestions? Ideas?