When did buying a prebuilt PC become a taboo in the PC community?

[Ragedaug]

I hang around in the PC building communities on reddit, facebook, etc and recommending a prebuilt PC is a recipe for downvotes or getting made fun of. Not everyone has the time or the skill to build a PC. The amount of posts on tech support forms from people screwing something up is really high. Nobody can recommend a prebuilt without being shit on.

It's only taboo for people who know what they are doing. If you don't have the skill, it's understandable. If you don't have the "time", that seems more like an excuse.

As many have mentioned, you get more power/speed for your buck if you build your own. That said, I always recommend my sisters and parents buy prebuilts, because I don't live near them, and I know if it breaks, I'm tech support, and sometimes doing that over the phone isn't easy - especially if there's a suspected hardware problem. So since building your own can be finicky at times, I find them the best deal I can with the major brands and push them that direction. They aren't gamers either and often you can actually find a good deal on a low-end PC, so long as you don't click to upgrade any of the default options, that is cheaper than building your own. Since they are just checking email and and social media, that works just fine for them.

But if you know what are you doing and are a gamer, and you buy a big-brand prebuilt anyway, most folks would look at that as either lazy or having more dollars than sense. So that's the only time where the "taboo" comes in.

[Twdft]

Prebuilt systems usually have one expensive component that drives the ad for it, and to make up someof the rest is cheap shit. That's were the disregard of brebuilt comes from.

Check your local store which sells all components individually, do your own research what you want/need. Make a list of it all, the store will be happy to assemble it. Costs like €50 but the good thing is that they test everything. Sure it's easy to DIY, but support your local business and get a working machine.

[Ragedaug]

Dunno about west, but on east there are problems with vendors, trying to sell crap nobody needs in prebuilt setups. Defective ones in the worst case. It's like buying tomatoes in local vegetable shop. Do you pick them yourself or rely on seller's choice?

That's a great point. Was just helping my sister assemble a swing set from a pre-boxed package they purchased. Some of the lumber was a bit wonky and my sister was asking about that. I told her that's because the seller is just grab whatever plank is next, that if she went to a lumber yard to pick out the lumber herself, those are the boards you would toss back.

[Temp name]

sadly no longer the case.

i was torn between buying a prebuilt and building one for a friend. ive always built my own, for the last 15+ years.

the prebuilt we ended up buying cost 805 usd after tax. the parts alone for the same, cheapest possible parts, cost over 800 before windows and tax.

i asked on a few forums because i always had the notion that prebuilts were overpriced garbage. people kept linking me builds that were cheaper, but didnt include windows, or were missing ram, or were amd - ive always had horrible luck with amd, always. nothing could compare to the prebuilt for 750usd spec wise.

the wait was pretty long to get it, not gonna lie. it took a full month, but thats likely due to current world events. it got here, we unboxed it. i was personally expecting the worst. hooked it up, no power. whoops, the surge protector was off, easy fix, first thing i checked. it started up, no problems. installed some games, no issues. logged into games, set graphics to max - or as close to max as i run with a 1080, smooth as silk. no issues whatsoever.

been a couple weeks now, no issues, no frame drops, still running max/close to max graphics. had some screen tearing in wow, but thats what vsync is for.

Just curious, what were the specs on the prebuilt? Were it on sale too? Did it use a HDD or an SSD? If SSD, which model specifically?
And AMD is literally just better value in low-budget builds than Intel nowadays. Paying full-price for Windows is stupid

[ldev]

Because of children.

Children never been in a corporate environment. This quarantine they were first time hearing about Zoom and seriously suggesting... Discord. They believe all you pay for is "name". They have no idea what enterprise support is. They also have a shit ton of time and not enough money - personally if I will continue being in current living standard - I will never ever spend any time whatsoever assembling a PC. When I was kid, assembling PCs was fun, but it's manual labor, and manual labor is just not cool, kids.

And there's poor people.

Like, why people buy Lexus CT200h when it's literally a Toyota Prius?

[Super Kami Dende]

I hang around in the PC building communities on reddit, facebook, etc and recommending a prebuilt PC is a recipe for downvotes or getting made fun of. Not everyone has the time or the skill to build a PC. The amount of posts on tech support forms from people screwing something up is really high. Nobody can recommend a prebuilt without being shit on.

It's not really taboo, it's mostly just idiots thinking putting things together makes them far superior or something.

[Amarys]

Prebuilt PCs usually use cheap crappy parts, like PSU, motherboard etc. and focus on flashy cases with all sorts of bells and whistles that are basically useless when it comes to performance or longevity. Also you're paying the salary of those people who assemble them.

Building your own always gets you a cheaper and higher quality PC.

[Qstall]

2012 I'd say

[Amarys]

It's not really taboo, it's mostly just idiots thinking putting things together makes them far superior or something.

How ironic..

Companies that make prebuilt PCs don't manufacture the parts. You think they build them for charity and aren't interested in making a profit then?

[Aflakk47]

I bought my current computer from NZXT's BLD service and will almost definitely do it again when I upgrade in a few years. Sure, it costed more but to me the all-encompassed warranty and one stop for troubleshooting should it be needed is worth not having a potential headache with DOA components, or potentially breaking something myself when assembling it. Plus, unlike prebuilts from say Bestbuy, NZXT will send you ALL the component manual's/driver disks/whatever that came with the parts you chose instead of a 1 page guide on how to plug in and turn the computer on.

[Super Kami Dende]

How ironic..

Companies that make prebuilt PCs don't manufacture the parts. You think they build them for charity and aren't interested in making a profit then?

How is that at all ironic? And who is even talking about Profit or anything like that? I was quite literally talking about the neckbeards that think because they connected a few plugs together and installed Windows are somehow greatly superior to someone that just cbf with the hassle.

I built all my PC's since I was 13. Now that I'm in my early 30's I prefer to just buy prebuilts. The latest one I bought cost $150 more than all the parts put together and I got Windows for Free and have a 5 year warranty replacement. Which is far better than if I bought it all and made it myself and wasted my own time and had any issues within the 5 years.

[bullseyed]

When did buying a prebuilt PC become a taboo in the PC community

Over 20 years ago.

[Neuroticaine]

I hang around in the PC building communities on reddit, facebook, etc and recommending a prebuilt PC is a recipe for downvotes or getting made fun of. Not everyone has the time or the skill to build a PC. The amount of posts on tech support forms from people screwing something up is really high. Nobody can recommend a prebuilt without being shit on.

Buying prebuilt's always been a bit of a taboo among the PC gaming "elite" - even during the peak of Alienware and such. A lot of PC gamers take pride in building their own systems and look down on people who pay a premium for prebuilt when you can usually do it yourself for cheaper. It's a weird comparison, but it's like the folks that build upgrades/addons to their own houses. The people who, say, build their own decks are much more proud and vocal than those who just pay to have it done.

That said, people are dumb. If you want to buy a prebuilt, that's perfectly fine. Don't let idiots on the internet make you feel bad for it. Do what's best for you and fuck what other people think.

[potis]

The whole prebuilt notion has existed since 2000 easily.

As someone already mentioned, the problem with prebuilts isnt the cost, its the trust to the vendor.

I wont say 9/10, but 95/100 vendors will have like 2 actually decent expensive builds, overpriced by 20%, with proper parts, and 20 other builds that are wearing some decent CPU, whatever stock but decent GPU left, with leftover RAM/PSU/low-end SSDs and in many cases in later years, full on H for Intel A for AMD motherboard chipsets that tend to crap out in less than 3 years averagely.

As example, there are tons of prebuilt PCs with 2400Ghz RAM for AMD for the last 3-4 years, when its a known fact that you want 3.2Ghz to get that 10% oompf extra, and its an even bigger oompf, on R 3000 series, when the cost difference is like 5$ at some cases, all because, stock has to go.

[Lahis]

Prebuilt PCs are usually terrible on one or more ways. They cheap out on parts and build quality and deliver sub-par performance.

[Ragnarohk]

Can you build your own laptop? Because that's all I use

Thought so

[Spiral Mage]

I'd just make the case that building one yourself from a list of parts you research and purchase is going to be a much smarter option that's all. It's not taboo to me so much as I'd be concerned for whoever it was getting the best they could for their money. You might even be able to buy parts on sale a few months apart and assemble the whole thing later and save a lot of money.

It also places the warranties in the laps of the companies which in some cases, is a good thing, depending on who you bought from.

[Amarys]

How is that at all ironic? And who is even talking about Profit or anything like that? I was quite literally talking about the neckbeards that think because they connected a few plugs together and installed Windows are somehow greatly superior to someone that just cbf with the hassle.

I built all my PC's since I was 13. Now that I'm in my early 30's I prefer to just buy prebuilts. The latest one I bought cost $150 more than all the parts put together and I got Windows for Free and have a 5 year warranty replacement. Which is far better than if I bought it all and made it myself and wasted my own time and had any issues within the 5 years.

I called it ironic since you called those who say custom builds are always better idiots. It's not because they connected those wires but because you can get higher quality components for the same budget. Besides, parts get a warranty too and you can upgrade your custom PC part by part.. upgrading a prebuilt one generally voids the warranty.

[Temp name]

How is that at all ironic? And who is even talking about Profit or anything like that? I was quite literally talking about the neckbeards that think because they connected a few plugs together and installed Windows are somehow greatly superior to someone that just cbf with the hassle.

I built all my PC's since I was 13. Now that I'm in my early 30's I prefer to just buy prebuilts. The latest one I bought cost $150 more than all the parts put together and I got Windows for Free and have a 5 year warranty replacement. Which is far better than if I bought it all and made it myself and wasted my own time and had any issues within the 5 years.

But did you get a boutique built one or just one off the shelf from your local electronics store/Amazon? Most people are fine with boutique, but the random ones from local electronics store/Amazon are fucking dogshit

[TonyT]

I think a lot of it comes from where you buy it from. You are almost never getting good value when you buy a premade PC from somewhere like PC World or (Insert non-UK mainstream store here).

You can get decent ones online, but normally picking a pre-made will include some more expensive parts which don't really offer you much performance or fit your needs exactly.

If you hate or can't build a PC, the best thing to do is to buy from a company who let you pick your individual parts and then assemble them for you before shipping out. Novatech for example do this in the UK.

That really depends on outside factors as well. I currently have an alienware, simply because Video Cards were so crazy expensive during the Bitcoin craze, that it was cheaper to buy this machine than buy all the parts and a GPU. This machine also came with a pretty nice hands off warranty.