alt Hacker NewsWhy shouldn’t it?
Why should we have to buy a whole new computer if we want to upgrade one thing?
The car example is also telling. Yes most people buy pre-built, but the vast majority of pieces can also be bought to repair or replace.
Why shouldn’t it?
Why should we have to buy a whole new computer if we want to upgrade one thing?
The car example is also telling. Yes most people buy pre-built, but the vast majority of pieces can also be bought to repair or replace.
"Why shouldn't it" does not answer the question, which is "what made desktop computers (and servers, to a certain degree) a unique popular product that customers routinely build out of parts".
I am not questioning repairs (which almost never happen, as PC hardware in general is very robust these days) or upgrades to factory-built PCs (which should account for probably 1% of the PC component retail volume). I am wondering why there is an entire industry selling colorful boxes (as opposed to brown cardboard with a part number) with things that are not usable in any way when taken out of the box and are only functional when combined with 10+ other things in somewhat nontrivial way. Forget about "why shouldn't it" and "it was like this forever" and look at this phenomenon with a fresh eye. This is ridiculous (in a factual way, not saying this judgmentally).