answer:You’re forgetting that when you buy single parts to build one computer, you pay more than if you were buying and building in bulk. Also, technology has improved over time, making decent computing performance much more affordable than it was even 5 years ago. I honestly have not been disappointed with the quality of computing power or dependability. I don’t go through PCs like toilet paper, though. I have bought four laptops and one desktop in my lifetime. My first laptop lasted five years, although it didn’t cool very well and I went through two or three hard drives before the motherboard kicked the bucket. The second laptop got stolen, and was replaced with laptop #3 about two years ago and it is in like-new condition. It does not have a cooling issue, has slightly better specs than my 1st, and I paid less than half the price of the first (and that was before my Vista refund, which knocked the price down to less than #4). The fourth was an Eee for travel. My only gripes with computers are (1) widescreen, a pathetic scheme to get people to accept less screen area for the price and (2) glossy screens which are extremely reflective and hard to keep clean.