Try getting all those old parts to a facility, test them, assemble a consistent product, and get it out the door. Their efficiency in doing that is their value proposition.
Just to be clear, I didn't mean the price point of the parts if you bought them separately and assembled them yourself. (My bet is they'd cost you more that way, if only because of the shipping/gas expenses.) What I meant was the price you'd pay when buying a P4-era PC whole when it is sold as working by the previous owner or a small reseller.
I agree with you on the testing; if it's rigorous enough that will likely the biggest sale point.
I take the point, but suppose you were a school after 30 boxes to run in a computer drop in room in the café?
One quote from the company and a definite (back to base) guarantee would be more acceptable to accountant than lots of small transactions on ebay/local suppliers.
We're talking about a use case where spending $500 to ten-tuple a users peak computational ability is too much of a capital investment and/or labor is too cheap to bother, so just hire more bodies and work slower.
