Wow, such malice against computer builders! Well I too built computers once. I switched from having a G5 + a homebuilt PC to just a Mac Pro in 2006 (since it was cross-platform).
I used to spend hours online, looking for the best components for the money, ending up with a pile of super-high quality parts for 1/2 the price of Apple/Dell.
Then I'd have to spend time putting the thing together, toiling over it for like an hour!! Sometimes I'd cut my hands on those sharp wittle edges when I'm taking a sip of beer instead of paying attention.
Building the computer enticed me to want to keep upgrading it! I was an addict! I would upgrade 1 component, only to feel free to replace another just a few months later!
I'd be cutting my hands all the time replacing my video card with one of the hundreds available. Plus my beer bill was adding up! I'd give the old components (year or two old) to my family or resell them on e-bay to Mac users who just now got a ROM/mobo from Apple just releasing "the cutting edge hardware!!.... 2 years late"--my old junk was their discontinued obsolete treasure!
I always saw mac users as collectors of antiques--savoring the sentimental value others got from old technology. Fools like me senselessly tossed out components without regard to the memories they represented. I can't believe what a fool I was to sell my X1900... I played Half Life 2 on that for the first time *sniff*
Having choices was confusing. Now I prefer Apple products. Whenever I want to upgrade, I just take a big snort of cat urine and clear that idea right out of my head! I never have to dig around in my case anymore, since there's barely anything I'm allowed to replace! My hands are now cut-free!
My PSU goes bad? I take it to the store and lose my computer overnight. Important work to be done on it while it sits there waiting to be serviced? I quit my job. Out of warrantee and can't afford the proprietary yet low quality replacement? I commit suicide. See? Simple.
And when my Mac gets long in the tooth, I just sell the whole damn thing on e-bay. I don't even have to research what I'm going to buy next, Apple does my thinking for me. What if I feel like replacing at the end of a "product cycle"? Well I either wait for months for some kind of sign Apple's going to revise their product line (telling you in advance would be wrong, you see... that's why they sued those jerks at Think Secret), or I pay last years price for last years computer, which was exorbitant even last year. A better arrangement couldn't be designed by the deity himself!
Apple thinks my $3,000 Mac should come with a Maxtor hard drive and NEC optical, and I should pay hundreds for them. I have no choice! I can't check the box before I buy! Maybe a Seagate this time, or a Hitachi, or if I'm lucky, a WD. It's like I get entered into the equipment-failure lottery every time I buy a new machine--how exciting! My heart swells with joy at the lack of thought I put into my purchases now.
Surely this is a responsible and mature way to make an expensive purchase.
