DESPITE being overshadowed by branded models, Whitebox PCs are gaining popularity, especially in niche markets.

According to IDC Malaysia's associate analyst, personal systems Jaygan Fu Ponnudurai, non-branded computers are growing at a gradual rate in the country. This trend is mainly spearheaded by the consumer and the small and medium-sized enterprise segments, he says.

As of the second quarter of this year, Whitebox PCs have contributed slightly more than one-third of the total desktop market in Malaysia.

There are certain aspects of Whitebox PCs that give them an extra edge over their branded counterparts.

"Customisation is the primary feature that differentiates Whitebox PCs from their branded counterparts. For example, with Whitebox PCs, gamers can easily add memory space and graphics cards to suit their gaming needs," Jaygan says.

"Besides that, Whitebox PCs allow users to include a high-end cooling system, which is a common enhancement gamers would make."

Although the PC market is very competitive, IDC believes that demand for Whitebox PCs will not fade away.

"Consumers, particularly the cost-conscious ones, will opt for Whitebox PCs because they are cheaper. Customers who only require basic configurations to get online or simple word processing for the use of young children tend to prefer Whitebox PCs," Jaygan explains.

Commenting on the factors that may hold back Whitebox PCs' uptake, Jaygan says the main concern is after-sales service.

"The turnaround time most often is longer compared to branded PCs. As Whitebox PCs comprise various components from different vendors, retailers will have to send each faulty component back to a particular vendor, and this takes time."

For example, if the graphics card is faulty, the retailer needs to send it to the vendor, which takes up a significant amount of time.

In certain cases, some vendors do not want to be responsible for the faulty components and place the blame on other components such as power supply or motherboard, causing delays in repair and replacements.

By comparison, branded PCs have a local service centre in major cities and their turnaround time can be minimised because the local service centre keeps an inventory of various spare components.

"Also, branded PC vendors relieve their customers of the trouble faced by Whitebox PC users when trying to get a component replaced as branded PC vendors usually guarantee the well-being of a PC as an entity," Jaygan says.