maybe to you. My point is that not everybody is you. that's all. you could draw me a dam picture and I'd still have trouble figuring it out. lol

Well, that certainky depends on where you life, of course.

Here in my city, there's a whole street full of these kind of stores. If you can't find it there, then you won't find it anywhere (besides internet).

The average Joe actually can't assemble a PC. I see a lot of people struggling with the most simple computer tasks like taking a screenshot or something stupid like that. 99% of the people can't build a PC and would just probably break one or two parts.

Of course, if you know how to do it or has a friend to build it for you, it's the way to go. Only my first PC was bought in a store and it was a basic machine. After that, I always had more powerful PCs with the parts I want and I built them by myself. But it isn't a simple task, it's a lot of hours of work and dealing with cables and the best way to position everything. It's not like playing Lego. You have to know what you are doing. What's the correct PSU for your GPU and CPU? You have to know it. You have to put thermal paste (unless your CPU has a decent on on it). You have to know how to do it. And a lot of other details.

If my 12 yr old cousin can figure it out with limited help, and when I say limited, I mean me yelling to him in the other room when he asks a questiong like "Where does these sticks go" when he is talking about RAM, then someone  else who doesn't know much should be able to do it. Yeah, I did this last year with my cousin when I gave him a bunch of my old computer parts.

For someone who really knows nothing about computers like, what is the CPU, then maybe they will have trouble but if you are a gamer, which I am sure 90-100% of us are on here, then you probably know the basics for a computer to be built. Then it just becomes reading of the part to make sure it will fit or there is the right type of slot on it because the description of each part will say what type it is and the other parts will say what it will work with.

And if you are REALLY stupid, then usually companies where you order the parts from will even put your computer together for a small to medium fee to test it all out and if something isn't working, they'll recommend stuff to you.

No. Demand for them is decreasing and they're becoming more of a niche product, but there will always be a demand that's strong enough to support them. And that's just home desktops. In business, they're as popular as ever.

No, desktops will always, always be superior. For a variety of reasons.

Beware that kids aren't the worst case. Older people (40+) have way more difficulties with computers. And if your cousin can assemble some parts, it doesn't mean he can do all the job. Putting a RAM stick is easy (it only fits in one way, so you can do no wrong here), but choosing parts is more complicated and assembling some PC, specially gaming ones, can add some challenges because of the bigger components and lots of cables (man, I need a modular PSU).

Gamers are power users and are usually more udes to deal with tech. It isn't that hard to learn it when you are familiar with tech. But it's not everyone that can do it. Some months ago, one of my friends asked if I could help him replace his PS3 HDD for a bigger one (I did it for him, he alerady had bought the HDD). He is familiar with tech and has a lot of gadgets and he didn't wanted to do something that is way easier than build an entire PC. Come on, you just unscrew a screw, pull the drive, unscrew the 4 screws that hold the HDD on the support and the do the reverse to put it back.

Now, ordering the parts and asking for someone to put it all together (or asking a friend that knows what he is doing, specially because he will help you with the choice of parts) surely fix the problem for anyone.

Well, depends in your needs. If you want to watch media and do quick stuff, nothing beats a tablet with amazing battery life and portability. If you want to get some work done, then you can get a pretty powerful laptop by a decent price and you will get portability. If you need ridiculous power, more than one HDD or wants to game, then a desktop is the best option.

I have a gaming desktop, a good laptop and a tablet. If I want to play games or store ridiculous TBs of files, I use my desktop. For everything work related (programming) I prefer to use my notebook. It has good specs and it's better to have the mobility to take my work where it's necessary. When I just want a quick browsing or watch videos, I usually grab my tablet so I don't have to turn on the laptop or PC.

The sales of desktop computers and desktop GPUs are falling, but still at around 200 million desktop GPUs/APUs are sold each year: http://jonpeddie.com/publications/market_watch/

Keep in mind that many desktop PCs have 2 GPU units nowadays, but even then are GPUs for 100 - 150 million PCs sold each year... that's not "niche".

I think thier last breath of life was the Imac and the similar prodeucts that are all in one (monitor) systems. Gaming PCs that are built, not purchased will always have a place in the gaiming community IMO because the versatility and easy when upgrading parts.