Prebuilt without proprietary hardware

[Shrek]

I am after a prebuilt desktop without proprietary hardware, i.e. one I can replace parts on at a later date;
should I steer away from any particular manufacturer, or is it not as simple as that?

 

[Tetras]

It is usually safer to buy from retailers own-brand or custom builders, rather than the big ones like Dell and HP, tower systems are also preferable to SFF, but it depends on the model, so I'd check the service manual. If you're looking at the ultra low-end used market it's probably not worth limiting your choices, since upgrades get awkward anyway on such dated systems and there's decent value from ex-corporate refurbs.

 

[Shrek]

Good to know; saves me from making a mistake (I certainly had a tower in mind).

 

[The red spirit]

Generally speaking if you want to avoid proprietary crap, then boutique brands usually are the best bet, but at that point they are essentially the same machines as you could build yourself and they ask for quite hefty premium for assembling those things. It's an option, but it looks like overall worse solution than just building your computer yourself. Also their availability can be regional.

Anyway, what's the reason that you want a prebuilt computer? Maybe we can recommend something better?

 

[Tetras]

Good to know; saves me from making a mistake (I certainly had a tower in mind).

If you buy a tower, you can usually avoid the worst, like no PCI-E slot for graphics and weird proprietary formats for psu and motherboard. If you can't find a service manual, I usually just search the PC's model number (and motherboard) on ebay, which tells you most things.

 

[Shrek]

Anyway, what's the reason that you want a prebuilt computer? Maybe we can recommend something better?

Laziness; I don't want to figure out the case/mother board/CPU/power supply/fans as I feel sure I'll end up kicking myself for not getting things just right.

I also assume (probably wrongly) that places like Dell and HP get prices down further than I could and they seem to have sales. I'd also like a unit that comes with Windows 11 so I can be sure about compatibility.

Which brings me to a related question: can Intel Macs run Windows 11, and by this I mean straight Windows, no dual boot.

 

[The red spirit]

Laziness; I don't want to figure out the case/mother board/CPU/power supply as I feel sure I'll end up kicking myself for not getting things just right.

What build is going to be used for?

 

[eidairaman1]

I buypower.

Falcon northwest, origin pc

 

[Shrek]

What build is going to be used for?

Work, general surfing and a little gaming (enough to need a PCI-E graphics slot) and some Mathematica (but probably nothing too heavy).

• Perhaps DDR5, not so much for the speed but for the error correction (except I see it is not exactly mainstream)
• I would hold out for the 12V power supply standard (ATX12VO), but it looks like this may never take off.
• Probably ready to dump the DVD drive, although I do like it for watching movies and burning Windows to.

Falcon northwest, origin pc

Immensely useful; I've been running decade old silicon and so am out of touch with such information.

• Custom Built Personal Computers (PCs) | Falcon Northwest | Falcon Northwest (falcon-nw.com)
• ORIGIN PC | Gaming PCs, Gaming Laptops, Custom Computers

Things sort of depend on how Windows 11 runs or does not run on my old hardware and of course now is not a great time to purchase so I may go with the refurb suggestion.

Old habits die hard and I am used to repairing, maintaining and updating old machines where I only have to figure out a few parts at a time, but Windows 11 is making me question that approach.

Thanks to all, you have got me thinking about what I do and what I don't need; for some reason I'm with Linus on wanting error correcting RAM.

 

[The red spirit]

Work, general surfing and a little gaming (enough to need a PCI-E slot).

Perhaps DDR5, not so much for the speed but for the error correction (except I see it is not exactly mainstream)

There's no DDR5 out there yet. So that will have to be sacrificed. It won't be released at minimum until Alder Lake and Zen 4. If ECC is really needed (although your use case doesn't seem to necessitate it), your only choice is to buy some cheap HEDT platform. AM4 has sketchy ECC support, but to make it function for real, it's not really possible. For anything else, here's a part list of what you can buy and approximate current prices:
i3 10100F/i3 10105F - 100-110 USD (Decent chip for budget, comes with cooler)
MSI B460M Pro-VDH Wi-Fi - 85-90 USD
GTX 1650 Super - 450-470 USD (I know, this is painful, but if your GT 1030 is good enough for you in games, I would recommend to stick with it. There are odd used deals, if you are thrifty. F Intel chips don't have IGP, so be warned)
960 GB SATA SSD - 90-110 USD (Try to find something with at least TLC flash and preferably with RAM cache. If there's no RAM cache, then at least TLC.)
Fractal Design Focus G - 50 USD (Anything works, but this one is rather cheap, seemingly decent quality and has two fans)
2666MHz DDR4 JEDEC RAM - 60-65 USD (Comet Lake chips have locked RAM support on non Z boards, i3 only supports 2666MHz JEDEC speed, XMP is likely not supported, there are no hacks to avoid this limitation, you can only buy Z board or increase budget and get B560 board)
Enermax RevoBron 500 - 65-70 USD

Total cost without graphics card: 450-495 USD
Total cost with graphics card: 900-920 USD

BTW my prices are from Newegg, so you may find some better deals. You most likely can find a decent PSU for 10-20 USD less elsewhere.

 

[Shrek]

This is great stuff, the prices are in budget and EEC RAM is really not essential

Yep, my GT 1030 is enough for now; I intend to get a 4K monitor in the future, not for gaming but for the resolution as my eyes are still sharp and don't really need an integrated graphics CPU. Present GPU card prices mean I'd start with what I already have (the GT 1030) and I really like fan-less video cards.

The i3 looks good, maybe an i5, but an i7 or i9 would be overkill (also not adverse to moving to AMD) and I don't need the fastest RAM and am not at all interested in overclocking of any form.

I'm a little nervous about the way solid state drives can just stop working, but that is to be expected from one used to old tech.

The 500W power supply seems just about right as I prefer a low power PC and don't like the supply running too near its max.

I'll hold out till after Oct 5th as I want to be absolutely sure the motherboard takes Windows 11 without any trickery.

Thanks; things are coming into focus.

 

[newtekie1]

I'd personally go with a build service or a custom built from somewhere like Microcenter if I wasn't building it myself.

 

[erocker]

It makes no sense going with a pre-built if you have intentions of swapping hardware on it down the road. You're just going to pay more for lesser hardware and that's it.

 

[Jetster]

Most companies no longer use proprietary hardware unless its a AIO or micro PC. Its just not cost effective. So if you get a Dell or the likes that is full size you should be good.
I really have seen any that could be switched with off the shelf stuff in a while. As long as its a conventional PC. I get quite a bit that need a board switched or a GPU and PSU.
But still there is always the risk.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

Most companies no longer use proprietary hardware unless its a AIO or micro PC. Its just not cost effective. So if you get a Dell or the likes that is full size you should be good.
I really have seen any that could be switched with off the shelf stuff in a while. As long as its a conventional PC. I get quite a bit that need a board switched or a GPU and PSU.
But still there is always the risk.

Dell and HP still most definitely use their own proprietary rubbish.

Front IO part of the motherboard, weird power configurations and PSU's although good having the bare amount of cables to fit said motherboards.

 

[Jetster]

Dell and HP still most definitely use their own proprietary rubbish.

Front IO part of the motherboard, weird power configurations and PSU's although good having the bare amount of cables to fit said motherboards.

I just had one apart two weeks ago. I think its hit a miss. It had all off the shelf parts. And was brand new. Now of course the board will only support one CPU and it only had enough PSU for what was in it. But I put a GPU and PSU in it and was no issues

 

[ThaiTaffy]

A dell? Can you remember the model? Maybe someone producing knock offs better than the company.

 

[Jetster]

A dell? Can you remember the model? Maybe someone producing knock offs better than the company.

I think they just go with whatever is cheaper.

 

[eidairaman1]

It makes no sense going with a pre-built if you have intentions of swapping hardware on it down the road. You're just going to pay more for lesser hardware and that's it.

I take prebuilts and add ram typically lol, if its a igp/apu i add a gpu for good measure lol, (mass builds)

 

[ThaiTaffy]

They have foxconn pumping out OEM boards for pennies I don't think off the shelf is cheaper, they use proprietary crap on their best Alienware machines so I doubt very much they would go out and use off the shelf parts for anything less.

@OP you can go for a custom builder or since your able to maintain other machines you could use pcpart picker or just steal a build from someone on the forums and do it yourself.

 

[newtekie1]

I just had one apart two weeks ago. I think its hit a miss. It had all off the shelf parts. And was brand new. Now of course the board will only support one CPU and it only had enough PSU for what was in it. But I put a GPU and PSU in it and was no issues

Any Inspiron, Vostro, Optiplex or XPS currently available on their website uses a proprietary motherboard, PSU, and case. I believe only the Precision line still uses standard parts.

 

[AsRock]

Check Gamers Nexus they have done a bunch of video's on this, Dell, HP and Lenevo are a no go.

 

[sepheronx]

If you got Newegg in your area, ABS is their brand. Uses all common parts.

 

[The red spirit]

Check Gamers Nexus they have done a bunch of video's on this, Dell, HP and Lenevo are a no go.

There's also Acer

 

[Shou Miko]

There's also Acer

Acer I believe sometimes had used rebranded MSI motherboards in the past not sure how they do it today.

@Andy Shiekh does the "pre-build" have to be from a big computer manufacture from Dell, HP, Lenovo and so on?

There ain't like a local shop or something that does custom computer which uses normal hardware around?

Because according to tech jesus (Steve) from Gamers Nexus it would be better to buy custom build machine because all they use off the shelf parts.