So should I invest in a miner or invest directly?

Assuming almost everyone here on Steemit is either a crypto-freak or a really serious writer who wants their work to have maximum visibility, I ask for some advice.

Yes, for the last couple of days I have been violently (correct adjective?) surfing the web in search for more information about these cryptocurrencies. As per my last (and first haha) post, I came to Steemit thinking I could help build the community indirectly by mining. Most (read: all) of my initial motivation towards Steemit was lost when I found out proof-of-work mining has been disabled.

(Sigh...)

Anyway, I gathered courage and went ahead with exploring the Steemit community. Seems nice. Plenty of crypto-related tags too.

So yeah, back to the question : Should I invest in cryptocurrencies directly or should I invest in a miner?

Investing directly --
Pros :
(OR Cons for building a miner)

1. Saves time (don't have to buy components, build miner, connect to mining pool, debug etc)

2. Doesn't need a large upfront investment. I do not possess a past computer, so I shall build one for this purpose only (not a great gaming fan. Yes, I know, I can sell the equipment later on, but then who wants to go through the hassle?)

3. I don't know how to build a PC.
   In fact, any and all knowledge of building PCs has been acquired in the last week due to my sudden interest in mining. I only know that a miner needs many good GPUs, large amounts of RAM, a sturdy power supply unit, and a motherboard which is compatible with all of these components. If building could be such a hassle, I can't even imagine how tough debugging could prove to be.

Cons :
(OR Pros for building a miner)

1. I am interested in computers and would love to build one and run it.

2. College provides free electricity and internet. This is a situation I would love to make use of.

3. The ROI (if the miner is implemented correctly would come out to be around 2 months, after which all of it is profit. Compare that to investing directly, where I would have to depend on (and believe in) the bullish market trends of cryptocurrency.

4. Miners are cool.

Also there is a third option I could try out : Buying hashing power online (like in Nicehash), but that's for another post.

I would love your opinions about this. Help a newbie get started?