“DIY vs Buying: The Growing Popularity of Self-Assembled PCs in the Computer Market”

I know I don’t need to convince you, after all, we also have the results of our last year’s poll “Do you assemble your own PC or do you buy ready-made?”, in which over 70% of voters assemble their computers themselves.

Now CZC has issued a press release with the information that interest in its use has doubled year-on-year desktop configurator with the fact that the share of those who eventually assemble the computer themselves from selected parts at home and do not use professional assembly services is also growing. Currently, such hobbyists make up a third of the sales of PC sets.

Of course, both statements may have reasons on the part of CZC. For example, they significantly improved the comfort of the configurator and promoted it better (during a recent visit, I still remembered my three-year-old configuration there), or, on the contrary, they significantly increased the price for assembly, so that fewer people choose it (it still costs CZK 499).

But another reason occurred to me. We live more in the time of the transition to laptops. If someone is such an enthusiast that they really want a desktop computer, they will probably build one. The number of people buying table sets will therefore decrease and the share of those who build it themselves will increase in this number.

However, I was surprised when I requested from CZC the year-on-year shares of laptops and desktop computers sold. That is, during the period, in the bushes, CZC boasts of the mentioned growths. According to the results, it seems that we have already reached a stable phase:

The ratio between laptops and desktops doesn’t change that much anymore. Nevertheless, the popularity of assembly is growing pleasantly. Of course, we also have to realize that if a third builds the computer themselves, it is a third of the 18%. Such do-it-yourself tinkering accounts for 6% of the total volume of computers sold. Even if all of a sudden self-assembling experienced a renaissance and grew by perhaps 50% dramatically, it would still be less than ten percent of the volume of computers sold.

So yes, in our survey, over seventy percent of readers assemble their computers themselves. In addition, current data indicates that this is not a dying trend and the feeling of a hand-assembled computer can fill more and more interested parties with pride. Today, however, it is seriously more of a fun pastime than an activity forced by the economic situation.

If you assemble, have your selection assembled, or buy a black box without detailed interest in the insides, it does not matter in principle and the main thing is that you are satisfied with the computer. But if you build it yourself, you have a more positive relationship with it right from the start.