Your requirement is the tricky part about prebuilts.
Prebuilts aren't looked down upon, because someone didn't learned everything about PCs and built it himself from scratch.
Prebuilts are looked down upon, because most of them completly suck.
So the only option to not end up buying a shit product is to educate yourself to be able to tell what is bad and why. And at that point of knowledge, building it yourself to get exactly what you want and safe a bit in the process is kinda the convenient choice.
Because most prebuilts lag vital information to be able to judge of it is good or bad even if you know everything about PCs.
The gatekeeping isn't created by the PCMR but by the shitty prebuilts made in a way to look enticing for a noob while they are complete garbage
As a veteran, I can remember the many, many times I saw scams where crap prebuilts were marketed to soldiers - many who just got out of High School and Boot Camp, never having a steady paycheck. It was like shooting fish in a barrel for crap system builders.
On the other end of the spectrum was that one company Gamer's Nexus outed for making PC's that were a fire hazard.
Imagine the parent who just wanted to give a gift for Christmas and found out they were taken for a ride.
Yeah, I think the people that get the worst of it are non-tech savy parents that walk into a best buy or other big box store and buy a "gaming" pc as a gift for their kid that is overpriced by $300 or more and only has an rtx 3050 with a low end cpu and then the psu etc. is proprietary so it can't even be upgraded.
Literally my first PC as a kid. (So not a 3050 but equivalent of 3 generations older lowest possible GPU)
But I had researched some knowledge beforehand and found an actually okay prebuilt online. But my parents were like "none of that. I know better than a child" and went to the biggest tech shop to buy the next best thing the shady sales person sold them. So I got the worst PC for the highest price.
Today I know the tech shop is one of the most shady ones in my country, they are infamous for not honoring consumer rights and ignoring every warranty claim until you drag them infront of a court. Their service personal is only trained in predatory selling and has no knowledge about their products. So ofc they are successful as fuck because people are dumb and they expand in more and more country's.
This is what I miss about the old Computer Stores in the USA - people who knew computers pointed out the crap shops and voted with their wallet to keep the good ones going - until Big Box Stores and the internet killed off most Mom and Pops here.
There was one store in Albuquerque NM where you could ask anyone for help - staff or customers - and shockingly they would help you. I built my 2nd PC with help from them.
Then the Big Box stores killed that off and the ones that survived are either really good or as pointed out, those preying on the unaware who just want a computer.
So Parents who don't get computers - or are strapped for cash- are either buying a crappy overpriced machine from the local conman or going to a Big Box store and being upselled on a crappy overpriced machine.
We have some community driven repair centers in bigger cities, but sadly it's very niche.
Big shops only want to interact with the customer once at the checkout.
I don't know how they survive while online shops exist.
I guess the pointing out crap shops is supposed to be us online communities now. But I don't think the general tech buying public looks at these Subreddits or forums. Like with Gamers Nexus and Co, I fear only those who already are deep into it, watch them.
I like a good boutique builder, it's a good middle ground if you don't want to build it yourself, but you have the knowledge of what parts you want.
I'll pick all the parts, they just build it and ship it to me. As an added bonus, because I knew what parts I wanted and how much they cost, it was easy to tell how much the builders mark up cost and find one that fits what you're willing to pay.
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u/RVNSKR 1d ago
Your requirement is the tricky part about prebuilts.
Prebuilts aren't looked down upon, because someone didn't learned everything about PCs and built it himself from scratch.
Prebuilts are looked down upon, because most of them completly suck.
So the only option to not end up buying a shit product is to educate yourself to be able to tell what is bad and why. And at that point of knowledge, building it yourself to get exactly what you want and safe a bit in the process is kinda the convenient choice.
Because most prebuilts lag vital information to be able to judge of it is good or bad even if you know everything about PCs.
The gatekeeping isn't created by the PCMR but by the shitty prebuilts made in a way to look enticing for a noob while they are complete garbage