Are you considering buying a computer from CyberPowerPC, and are wondering whether or not they’re any good?
Between people online sharing their experiences and marketers trying to make a sale, it’s hard to know who you can believe.
In this article, I’m going to be giving you an honest assessment of CyberPowerPC – both as a company, as well as their computers. This article does not contain any affiliate links, so I make no money regardless of your decision. Therefore, I’m able to give you my full, unbiased opinion of the company and their computers.
Let’s get to it!
Are CyberPower PCs Good?
Before we can tell you whether or not CyberPower PCs are any good, it’s important to understand what CyberPowerPC actually is.
CyberPowerPC does not create or manufacturer the parts that make up their computers, in most cases. Instead, they are simply a service that assembles and ships the computer to you, for an added fee.
This means that the actual components themselves are what determine the quality of the computer, along with it speed and capabilities when it comes to tasks such as gaming, video editing, and so on.
So, this review is going to focus more on CyberPower’s service – how good of a job they do at assembling computers, along with their customer service if things go wrong.
Back to the question. Are CyberPower PCs good?
Contrary to popular belief, most people have no problems with ordering from CyberPowerPC. Their new computers arrive in perfect condition, and turn on just fine the first time they go to use them.
When something does go wrong, it’s usually something simple, like something being unplugged.
While CyberPower certainly has its downsides (which we’ll talk about in a moment), its strengths come in convenience.
You get to save a couple hours spent building a computer, and the computer may arrive quicker than if you ordered parts to build it yourself. Additionally, CyberPowerPC often has new parts that may be out of stock on other computer hardware stores like Newegg.
So, if you want to get your PC as quickly as possible (even if it comes at a higher price), ordering from CyberPowerPC can be a good option.
The Downsides Of Ordering From CyberPower
Despite the added convenience of ordering a prebuilt PC, it isn’t something I’d ever do again – at least not for desktop computers.
Let’s look at some of the reasons you may not want to order from CyberPowerPC.com.
Price
The first, and most obvious one is price.
Because CyberPowerPC does little more than assemble and ship the computer for you, they make most of their money on the markup.
This means that you could do all of the work yourself (which realistically, only takes a couple of hours) and save yourself a considerable amount of money.
This can be spent on even better parts, or even games and software to enjoy with your new computer.
Unreliability
Next is reliability.
The fact of the matter is, nobody will ever put as much are into your PC as you will.
CyberPowerPC surely wants to get the computers done as quickly as possible, and user reports indicate that they can sometimes do a rather lousy job at putting the computer together. Parts may arrive not fully secure, or it may not be wired in a way that allows heat to move through the case as optimally as possible.
Since this is essentially the service that you’re paying for, it’s a shame that so many people have problems with it!
Although CyberPowerPC systems are tested before they ship, this unfortunately doesn’t mean that they will last.
In all fairness however, it isn’t uncommon for computer parts to stop working several weeks after they’ve been shipped – even if you order them yourself.
Lower Quality Parts
Typically speaking, you’ll want to know the exact parts list for every component that you can – then look up the reliability of these parts on other websites.
When parts aren’t specified, it appears that CyberPowerPC often utilizes very cheap parts for these components.
A few examples include cases and power supply units (PSUs.)
CyberPowerPC operates on thin margins, and looks to cut costs wherever they can. So if they can sneak in some lower quality parts – even when the rest of the PC is made up of high quality components, they certainly seem to be doing so.
The issue is that a poor PSU for example can affect usage of the entire computer. Desktops are only as strong as their weakest part, and you give up a lot of control and assurance if you do not know every single component that is used.
Terrible Customer Service
Finally, we get to customer service.
In an ideal world, you would never have to contact CyberPower’s customer service, because everything would work perfectly. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
Users online have reported that CyberPower is one of the worst companies in the business when it comes to customer service, and doing something as simple as sending the computer back can be a nightmare.
It’s said that they simply don’t understand or don’t care once they’ve got your money, and the entire process of getting replacements for broken parts can take over a month. Additionally, many customers report being on hold for hours while they wait for a customer support representative to assist them.
My advice – pay extra for an extended warranty and insurance. CyberPowerPC may also offer a service that prevents you from having to pay return shipping if the product needs to be sent back to them, which may be worth purchasing depending on your tolerance for risk.
It’s Not All Doom And Gloom, However
It should be noted that despite all of the potential downsides from ordering from CyberPowerPC, the problems are likely not as prevalent as you might think from reading around online.
It’s important to keep things in perspective. Most people that have a good experience with CyberPowerPC are not going to go around forums yelling about it. They’re going to be quietly enjoying their computers like everyone else.
And even when something goes wrong, it’s usually something small that you can easily fix yourself, without having to send the PC back. Think plugging something in that came unplugged, or putting the CPU fan back on.
So, if it seems like everyone online is saying that their desktop arrived broken, or that they had a terrible experience, don’t worry.
Although these complaints are legitimate, CyberPowerPC wouldn’t still be in business if most people had a bad experience. Most people’s computers arrive perfectly fine, and they never have any any reason to use CyberPower’s customer service anyway.
CyberPowerPC Vs Building Your Own PC
Often times, there’s a battle in people’s minds on whether they should order from CyberPower, or build their own PC from scratch.
Almost everyone agrees that building your own PC is a superior option – myself included.
There are a few reasons for that:
First of all, you do save a considerable amount of money – which can be spent on better parts, extra peripherals, or games to play on your new gaming PC.
Remember that CyberPowerPC isn’t a manufacturer – they just buy the parts and assemble it for you, and then charge a hefty markup for the service.
Secondly, you have more control over the reliability of the parts. My first desktop that I built over 10 years ago is still going strong, because I was able to choose specific parts that were known for their reliability. All I’ve done is upgrade the graphics card once, and I can still play today’s AAA games on high / ultra settings. With CyberPowerPC you may be able to choose some of the components, but not all of them.
Next, you should know that building a PC really isn’t that difficult. It is much harder to ‘screw up’ than you might think. Connectors are built so there’s only one place they can go – you can’t put them in the wrong place by mistake (and even if you did, nothing bad would usually happen.)
It’s like putting together Legos – things just fit perfectly into place.
Finally, you will need to know basic troubleshooting anyway – such as what plugs into what, in order to fix issues that will pop up during your usage of the desktop anyway.
That is, unless you want to pay a lot of money to have someone else fix it – and go without your PC in a meantime.
Building a PC is a lot easier than it sounds, and can be done in just a few hours. Therefore, it’s not worth giving up all of these benefits and spending all that extra cash just to have CyberPowerPC build it for you.
That’s what most people believe, anyway.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s now look over some of the most frequently asked questions regarding purchasing from CyberPowerPC.
Do CyberPower PCs Come With Wi-Fi?
By default, most CyberPower desktop computers do not come with built-in Wi-Fi cards, though most laptops do.
Typically, you can add a Wi-Fi card when customizing the computer, which runs for about $20-40 extra.
Of course, you will still be able to connect to the internet using ethernet, even if you don’t buy a Wi-Fi card with your PC. Additionally, you can install these later on yourself if you end up wanting one.
How Long Does It Take CyberPower Computers To Arrive?
The exact timeline can vary, depending on the computer ordered and the time of year.
Most computers are shipped out 5-10 days after ordering, though computers that are already built may ship faster.
Additionally, computers that require parts that are on backorder (or are ordered during holiday rushes) may take significantly longer – 20-30 days or more.
Who Owns CyberPower?
Currently, CyberPower is privately owned.
This means that it does not appear to be owned by a larger company, nor are shares in the company available to purchase.
Conclusion
Typically, it’s a better idea to build your own PC than to purchase a pc from CyberPowerPCs, or other companies like iBuyPower.
While prebuilt PCs don’t have as many problems as the internet may have you believe, there is simply little reason to purchase one if it can be avoided.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about CyberPower computers, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister