RCBH928 wrote:Are pre-built PC towers still a thing?
Most people opt for the laptops and many people find themselves adequate with the modern smartphone. Those who are looking for serious computing build their own since they can pick each component to their liking and choose the prices. I understand its even cheaper this way.
There was a time when owning a computer meant you owned a PC tower (or horizontal!)
Prebuilt desktop machines are still a thing, even if they're not as large a market segment as before. Keep in mind that businesses still buy quite a lot of desktops, and there are still plenty of places on earth where not many people have a computer at all that could potentially get into the market for one.
Along with the shift to mobile OSes, something to consider is that most basic computing tasks haven't really demanded new hardware. Folks that are just using a PC for the internet and the like have tended to find that their hardware has remained good enough for a while now. Doubly so if they upgraded to an SSD and maybe a little more RAM. Laptops have evolved a fair bit, and have become a larger market segment, but the upgrade cycle is still slower. If those users do upgrade, the appeal of dedicating a corner of a room, if not a whole room, to having a desktop PC setup is probably unappealing as well.
For home use, desktops are moving towards being an enthusiast purchase more than the standard thing. As overall PC sales have gone down, gaming-oriented hardware sales have increased.
While building a PC isn't exactly difficult, cost savings are not a given. Typically, you aren't saving money if building on the low end, unless you're recycling parts and using a free or pirated OS. Those are low-margin systems that Dell (or whomever) can offer at low prices due to economics of scale. Higher end systems do tend to have fatter margins, and in turn a lot more room to save money by building it yourself. However, the more typical reason to do so is to choose components or build strategies (plus it can just be more fun). There are plenty of places online that'll let you customize just about every part and only charge a modest fee to put it all together too.
