What is a Standardized Computer Part?

Standardized computer parts are parts that are readily interchangeable with other parts they’re replacing. They follow a specific connection standard, to allow a part from one manufacturer to be replaced with a part from another manufacturer. You can think of it like tires on a car. With a car, you have a wide array of manufacturers to choose from: Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental, Goodyear, Yokohama, Dunlop, Pirelli, Hankook, BFGoodrich, etc. If you have a preference in tire manufacturer, you can pick the one you want. Had a bad experience with Michelin? Get Goodyear tires. Had a bad experience with Goodyear, get Continental tires. The tires are built to fit the rim of your vehicle, and are manufactured to allow for specific treads and tolerances. So long as they’re manufactured to the specification set by the manufacturer of the vehicle itself, the tires will be suitable replacements in the event of a flat tire.

Examples of Standardized computer parts, including a motherboard, solid state drives, memory, and CPU.

Parts in a custom computer are the same way. For example, data storage drives have several manufacturers: Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, Kingston, Hynix, SanDisk, and more. These drives are manufactured to a governing standardized specification for connecting to and operating in a computer. These specifications, like the defunct PATA, and still produced SATA and PCIe storage standards allow you to connect a drive from one custom computer, to any other custom computer, and even MOST manufactured computers like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and ASUS.

What is an OEM Part?

In the good old days, an OEM part (“Original Equipment Manufacturer”) meant a part was manufactured by the manufacturer of the equipment, or computer in this case. Hard drives are a great example of this, where Dell would send hard drive specifications to a hard drive manufacturer, like Western Digital, and Western Digital would create the drives to specification, and label the drive with the Dell logo. They were manufactured to follow specific guidelines: how many platters, what gas are they filled with, what firmware version to use, what chip the put the firmware on, etc. Examples of OEMs in the computer industry include Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, and Apple. Big-name computer manufacturers that have computers for sale in places like Best Buy, Staples, and Office Max/Office Depot.

OEM Dell drive in clear plastic case

And despite having customized specifications, they still followed the connectivity standard that all other computers used, like the SATA connector, a type of hard drive interface that uses a power cable and a data cable. They could be swapped out for other SATA drives from any manufacturer, whether the new drive was made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, and so on.

What is a Proprietary Computer Part?

Proprietary computer parts, sometimes referred to as “proprietary components” or “manufacturer-specific parts”, are parts that are specific to a manufacturer, and usually revolve around the proprietor having some intellectual property involved in its manufacturing (read: trade secrets). This means if a computer part breaks, and you need a replacement, you generally need to get an exact-match part to complete the repair. To return to our car analogy, if your engine threw a rod, you would generally need an exact-match engine for the same year, make, and model of your car. That is a proprietary part that was designed for your exact vehicle, and it’s the only one that will fit your engine bay and transmission. You have one option for replacement, and it’s probably an OEM part, having been manufactured by the same manufacturer as your vehicle, but it’s not proprietary BECAUSE it’s OEM.

Isn’t OEM the same thing as Proprietary?

Absolutely not! An OEM part is simply a part produced by the same company making the end-product. OEM parts can be standardized to a broader specification. Hard drives, Solid State Drives, and Power Supplies have standardized connectors that allow them to interconnect to other components inside a computer to function. They’re interchangeable with other standardized parts.

Again, with another car analogy: your tires are not proprietary. You have CHOICES, you can pick any tire you want so long as they follow the specifications set forth by the manufacturer of the vehicle. You can pick any refrigerant manufacturer to refill your car’s AC refrigerant when it gets low, so long as it’s a standardized refrigerant that follows the specifications of your vehicles AC system, you can pick ANY GASOLINE so long as it follows the specifications set forth by the manufacturer, doesn’t matter if it was created by Shell, Chevron, Arco, Dino-mart, who cares, you see 89 Unleaded, and you know that’s what the car needs, you know you can use it! It’s NOT proprietary gasoline, it’s standardized gasoline.

Computers that are custom made by boutique custom computer shops like ours are STANDARDIZED. If a component breaks, no problem. We can swap it out with any part that is made for the standard. Motherboards, Power Supplies, Storage Drives, RAM… You don’t like the way your computer LOOKS? We can swap the entire case for you and you’ll get a computer with the same guts and a brand new look. You want a computer with faster RAM? Great! We’ll swap that too. Your computer is running slow? We’ll replace your SATA rotational hard drive with a SATA solid state drive, and your computer will feel ten times faster. The power of standardization stems from its flexibility of choice.

How Computer Manufacturers are Making Computers Worse

Computer manufacturers like Dell, HP, and Apple are making computers worse. I mean REALLY in every aspect of owning a computer, the overall experience has declined substantially. And I’m not talking about the unending bombardment of operating system releases, not to mention their never-ending updates. No, I’m talking about when a computer breaks, the process of getting it repaired is getting more difficult, and more expensive, because these manufacturers that sell you the shiny new computer don’t tell you that nearly every part inside the computer is proprietary.

Computer Cases

It started with computer cases. Dell and HP began to make cases with standoffs built into the backplate. Standoffs are pieces that stick off the metal backplate inside the case to elevate the motherboard’s solder joints off the backplate to prevent electrical shorts. This was most likely done to save on manufacturing cost, as it’s easier, faster, and cheaper to press metal into a shape than it is to have someone add traditional screw-in standoffs to a standardized board by hand, or even by machine. These cases were still standardized form factors, like ATX, Mini-ATX, and Micro-ATX, but the standoff holes could not be changed.

Proprietary I/O Shields means Proprietary Motherboards

Then the I/O shield was built into the case. The I/O shield is on the back of the computer, where you plug in things like your USB connections for mouse, keyboard, printer, your speakers, and sometimes your monitor. It’s designed to shield the components on the motherboard that are close to where you’re plugging things in, since the plugs are generally surrounded in metal. Manufacturers figured it would be easier to punch the cutouts for the plate into the case when it was sheet metal, then fold it into the case. They weren’t wrong, it is cheaper to do it that way from a manufacturing standpoint, but in doing so, they locked the choice of replacement motherboard down to the ONE motherboard that would fit the I/O shield.

Yes, one manufacturing decision to save money means you have ZERO choice in replacement motherboards. If your motherboard was mass-manufactured with a defect, guess what? You have to get ANOTHER motherboard with a manufacturing defect, unless you come to a specialty shop like ours where the computer tech is willing to do a case mod like this:

 

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Yes, that’s a Dremel with metal cutting wheel, cutting into a Dell/Alienware Aurora R10 to allow us to swap to a non-proprietary motherboard. Computer manufacturers rarely issue recalls over non-battery related defects. If it’s not a fire hazard, they don’t care. But we’re not done with this list yet. It gets worse. WAY worse.

Proprietary Power Supplies

I’d say this is THE worst of the worst, but it’s not. Why are proprietary power supplies so bad for the industry? Because power supplies are one of the most COMMON parts in a computer that fail. They are literally shocked to life when you turn the computer on, shocked while in usage when your home or business’s AC kicks on, refrigerator, pencil sharpener, vacuum cleaner, paper shredder, and more. Every high-wattage device you own with a motor like the aforementioned causes a small electrical brownout on your running computer, and brownouts are bad for sensitive electronics.

Manufacturers are doing the most trivial things to create proprietary power supplies, while still somehow following standardization. And the way they’re doing it is sneaky. You see, there’s standardization for the connections TO the computer components. The ATX connector which provides power to the motherboard is generally 24-pin, but newer power supplies follow a 6-pin or 8-pin mainboard connector, and 4- to 8-pin and sometimes 12- or 16-pin power connectors to the CPU. All of these are standardized. But you know what ISN’T standardized? How the power supply FITS INTO and ATTACHES TO the computer’s case.

Computer manufacturers are now changing where the screw holes are for their power supplies. It’s a small, simple shift in design, same process of manufacturing – the power supply cases are punched out of sheet metal and bent into shape, the components are fit into the power supply and then it’s sealed shut with screws. BUT, the screw holes where power supplies ATTACH to the case are being made in a proprietary fashion.

Take these examples from our Instagram post below:

 

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What you see in the gallery are four different power supplies, all nearly the exact same size. Some are 6-pin to the mainboard, some are 8-pin. But, the one we need has a set of guides built into it that allow it to slide into the particular Dell computer we’re trying to repair. Not only that, but on the back of the computer where we would screw it in, the screw holes are different on the one that we have on hand that we’ve already verified works without issues, so even though it works, we can’t use it because we can’t screw it in to secure it.

So where do we get a replacement power supply? That’s right, a proprietary power supply from Dell that costs more than it should per wattage output compared to various competitors. Not to mention these power supplies, despite having a decent output wattage, don’t have enough connectors to support adding more drives inside.

But wait, there’s one more. And this one IS the worst of the worst.

Proprietary Data Storage Devices

Yea, that’s right Apple, I’m looking at you. Apple’s proprietary drives are the biggest anti-consumer nuisance I’ve ever seen. Not only are they locking consumers into a proprietary part, but they’re making it both difficult and costly to get data back when their drives decide to kick the bucket. Apple decided to go their own route and create a standardization for their OWN platform, that no other computer platform can utilize. Newer Apple SSDs cannot be reused for anything other than Apple computers, they will not fit into any other manufacturer’s computer, not Dell, not HP, not Lenovo, not ASUS, not any manufacturer aside from Apple. And the prices are OUTRAGEOUS!

Screenshot of Apple’s store, showing three solid state drives with outrageous prices

For reference, a standard 2TB NVMe SSD you can put into a custom computer is about $135. I’m not kidding, it’s 85% cheaper to get a 2TB drive for a standardized computer than it is to get an 2TB drive for a modern Apple Mac. To make matters worse, they’ve now either baking the drive directly into the motherboard (the WORST decision we’ve ever seen any manufacturer make, period), or they’re serializing the drives and locking the firmware to only accept authorized drives, which means even if a drive is manufactured to the exact same specification, if it doesn’t have an authorized serial number, it will NOT work.

This is like pulling up to a gas station and putting in your 87 Unleaded gas, but because the gas wasn’t made by Ford Motor Company, your car won’t work.

How stupid is it that we live in a society where choice is more abundant than ever: we have hundreds of sodas, restaurants, cars, houses, even jobs to pick from… but one of the FEW devices we absolutely cannot live without is limited by the greed of the company that manufactured it?

Computer manufacturers listen up and listen well – you’re anti-consumer practices are what’s costing you money. Consumer education is on the rise, and so long as computer repair technicians like myself exist, we will always tell customers to stay away from your creations. You don’t make them easy to repair, you don’t make them affordable to repair, and you don’t make them durable. You engineer them with just enough to get by, manufacture them with the lowest quality components, and charge out the nose for replacement parts. You won’t get away with it forever.

How to Buy a Good Computer

In our next article, we’ll be talking about the benefits of buying a custom computer. Yes, it’ll be a desktop, but it doesn’t need to be large, loud, heavy, or slow. It doesn’t need RGB lights, unless you want them, and it’ll be upgradeable, repairable, and it’ll last you much longer than any manufactured computer. Thanks for sticking around through this article. Hopefully you’re a little more educated than you were when you got here.