Dell just assembles and tests computers.

A friend had an early Intel 486-based PC and thought they could make money assembling and selling computers.

Most cuts came in sales and marketing, but the company also dropped jobs assembling computers.

Lenovo started to assemble and sell computers under its original brand name, Legend.

"We need appropriate technology - the kind that will one day allow us not only to assemble computers but to manufacture their components," he said.

Before long, he was assembling computers for relatives and friends.

Last year researchers at Yale and Rice universities took steps toward the same goal of assembling computers from molecular components.

One model he looks to for Basic Elements is Dell because of its skill at assembling computers from many locations and distributing them efficiently.

Compaq said that Packard Bell disassembled many of its returned products and used their parts to assemble computers that were then sold as new.

Windhorst started his entrepreneurial career at the age of 15 by operating in the area of assembling and selling computers.