... there are individuals who are "permanently fixated in a DIY worldview who can never be convinced to buy systems from OEMs." But this group of PC builders is a "small and ever declining portion of the PC using population."

For all intents and purposes, the homebrew PC is dead within the business and dying (albeit slowly) within the consumer market.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/20...enovo-asus-acer
... She notes that once you go outside the top-tier manufacturers, "then there's Apple, and Samsung, and Sony, which are more consumer and lifestyle brands, where they can ask for a premium price." Doing that, of course, generally points to better margins. Samsung shipped around 11m PCs in 2013, and Sony slightly fewer than 5m, according to IDC. Apple sells around 16m PCs per year...