Anyone else notice how cheap new prebuilt systems are?

geneo said:

That includes everything - all audio, desk etc. 81% reusable for next build, which will be a while.

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That's the good part about building your own - you can reuse parts.

jvickers said:

That's the good part about building your own - you can reuse parts.

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Right, correct way of looking at it is to amortize the cost over the lifetime of the part. For instance I splurged on a PSU that has a 10 year warranty and should provide consistent performance for that long.

badrobot said:

You don't normally include monitors or other generic peripherals. Just the main PC component like CPU, mobo, power supply, RAM, etc.

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I don't think that's what my wife has in mind when she asks me how much my computer cost to build. I didn't add in the keyboard, mouse, speakers, fans, etc. She'll mean for me to include those items as well if she ever asks.

Only my first computer came out of the "household" money. I retired 2 years later, got a job in a computer store, went to building machines and for over 25 years all my computer expense was earned outside of the household money so I never had an issue with the "boss". Her quilting retreats are a different matter. But as to the cost question, there's been some really good buys lately, somewhat leveled off to a bit lower from what was caused by COVID and work-at-home demands/needs, what I would need in a Desktop would be cheaper than parts for a Custom build when considering the added cost of the OS for the Custom.

Berton said:

Only my first computer came out of the "household" money. I retired 2 years later, got a job in a computer store, went to building machines and for over 25 years all my computer expense was earned outside of the household money so I never had an issue with the "boss". Her quilting retreats are a different matter. But as to the cost question, there's been some really good buys lately, somewhat leveled off to a bit lower from what was caused by COVID and work-at-home demands/needs, what I would need in a Desktop would be cheaper than parts for a Custom build when considering the added cost of the OS for the Custom.

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I learned a long time ago not to discuss whose money is whose. We consider it ours regardless of who brought it in, even when I was working as an adjunct professor and she was pulling in a huge paycheck.

But you still have a good point as long as that's what you agree on. Quilting is quite expensive as well. My step-mother quilts, and my father has spent a ton of money on her. I think her sewing machine, which they bought used, was just under $10,000. They opted for the "lower-tech" version without the laser.

My wife has plenty of things that cost more than things I have (like her car), so don't feel all that guilty about how much I spend on a system considering I use it all day, every day. It's not top of the line. I refuse to spend $1,300-$2,000 on a video card when I most use office productivity software to teach.

I was never impressed with HP's desktop offerings but their laptops are solid, rugged machines. I have one from 2005 that is still going strong with it's single core CPU. It's been rode hard and put away wet for its entire life. Currently it has a triple boot system of Windows 98SE, XP Pro, and Windows 7 Home Premium. It runs all of them. It even had Win 10 on it for a couple of years and did okay.
I have another quad core one from 2011 with the first generation AMD Llano APU and it runs 10 without a hitch. The only Dell I have experience with is the Optiplex 990 I bought refurbished for my housemate. It cost all of $125 and has a Core i5-2400 in it. It came looking brand new without a scratch or trace of dirt and runs great. It's a solid little unit.

badrobot said:

It is not just a touch pad and a second screen, it is also a launch pad for apps. Maybe like a secondary taskbar ( or a touchbar ).

https://imgur.com/a/DO1c9E1

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That is amazing. I like it. I've always heard good things about ASUS products so what don't you like about it?

If you want to change the PSU in Dell desktop cases, you may find that an ATX won't fit.