"Office" prebuilts
Many large companies, such as Dell or HP, sell fully-assembled computers to the masses. They are very popular with people who want nothing special out of a computer. But there are some issues.
- There is a very large markup. Along with the price of the actual parts, companies have extra fees for the builders of the systems, as well as the company income. Not to mention packaging and preinstalled programs (most of which will be rarely used). For example, the Dell Optiplex 9020 Mini Tower starts at $1238, but all the parts are worth $648. That's nearly a 100% markup!
- The parts are not optimized. Even if there is little markup in prebuilt computers, which is exceedingly rare, the parts rae not optimized for the task. For example, the Dell 9020 uses an Intel Core i7-4790, which is almost $300. The i7-6600k would nearly outperform it, but only for $200! The extra hundred dollars could be put towards a discreet graphics card, which the 9020 lacks.
- Prebuilts come with preinstalled programs. If the manufacturer is affiliated with companies that own certain programs, they can be downloaded before you can get your hands on your computer. For example, it is possible for a company like HP to ship their computers with a garbage antivirus program that takes up almost all the processing power. For example, Linus from LinusTechTips on Youtube bought a pre-built PC with the pre-installed anti-virus updater taking up 40% of processing power.
- You don't get to choose what goes in. Even if you don't have any knowledge about processors or motherboards, you should have some say about at least how it will look on your desk for the foreseeable future.
- It is hard to find a computer where yo can upgrade it in the future. Many computers have motherboards in unique shapes that make it impossible to find parts, and to transplant your system into a new case. Come system memory is soldered to the motherboard, making it impossible to upgrade. Some CPU coolers are even soldered on, making it impossible to even swap out your processor. While adding a graphics card to a computer is normally easy, some cases don't even allow that.
"Gaming" prebuilts
Gaming computers from large companies tend to have the same issues as office computers do, but some, especially those from small manufacturers like CyberPowerPC and iBuyPower, have unique problems like:
- Incorrect parts selection, While office computers also have this issue, it is much more prevalent in gaming systems. Because some parts look better on paper, they are used in many "gaming" oriented builds.
- The quality of build is worse. Because most "gaming" rigs are bought from smaller companies, there is normally a far inferior build quality. For example, a CyperPowerPC that my brother purchased physically became dusty after only a few months, and many "gamer" frills on the case began to fall off. On the software side, his preinstalled antivirus was not functioning and it was slowing down to the point where he could barely scrape out 30fps on Minecraft on an $800 rig. Note: a good $800 custom computer can get hundreds of FPS with ease.