Yeah, the Suites are not designed to be optimized for use by your average Street Samurai. The reason that they get Nuyen and Essence discounts is because it's a bundle of 'ware taht's been designed to work together, and then has been mass produced.
Anything put together via customization that is not mass produced like this is effectively going to resemble a bundle of Cyberware that is one grade higher than normal, both in essence discount and in cost. So say you take Standard Grade Wired Refelxes II, Dermal Plating II, and a Smartlink. They're standard grade for all normal purposes, but they would have an essence discount equiv to, say, Alphaware. But, because it's a complete custom job, the nuyen price will resemble ALphawares price markup as well.
So at the end of the end of the day, it's easier to just buy what you want in Alpha and move along.
(This is my understanding, at least. Suites are really things that were created for NPC use, to make things easier for GMs. They're not geared toward players as much, and it's why there's often one or two peices of non-optimal or under-leveled gear in there).
Bull