For example, I only buy/use old high-end (for their day) business class laptops and put linux on them. They work for everything I need to write and surf.
I also bought an iPhone that was already a few years old and plan to keep it until it stops getting security updates from Apple. I also moved from Android to Apple not because I like iPhones better (I don’t, really), but because the years of security updates (versus maybe one or two, on Android) matters to me.
I found this to be true these days, as well. I started building and repairing desktop and laptop machines a long time ago, and I don’t bother building them new anymore due to cost.
The issue seems to be that the build-it-yourself market caters almost exclusively now to the gaming crowd. If you want a gaming PC then you can still get a good deal building it yourself, but if you just want an inexpensive computer it’s going to be tough to beat a prebuilt.
The last time I built a PC for myself was 2012 and I’ve been looking at replacing it. I have to say the state of the DIY market today compared to 10 years ago was a bit surprising.
You are right. I’ve been browsing sites for PC parts the last several years, just for fun. And it never dawned on me that almost everything on them was trying to sell gaming-relevant components.
Benefit comes after the initial purchase whether you got it pre-built or made it yourself. Since then you can upgrade parts as needed after instead of doing one large system upgrade. So just buying a GPU if that’s what you need to upgrade instead of buying a whole new system. Or just dropping in a new CPU if your motherboard supports multiple generations like the AMD boards.
It’s one of those big impacts you see going with a replaceable desktop pc over a laptop. Especially if gaming, since if you find you want a a faster cpu or GPU now your only option is just buying a whole new brand new one paying for all the other parts again.
I remember going to computer shows back in the day where the parts were way cheaper than what you could get with a pre-built. It was to the point where you’d question if this stuff was legit or possibly stolen. It just happened to be that these parts were coming straight from the vendors in China and weren’t being marked up crazy. Those were fun days. Now everything is very serious.
<sigh> Yes.