Yes, they are dumping old drives. I build all my own, because the one time I bought an HP from the store, I discovered I could not upgrade it. There wasn't even a place to mount a second hard drive, and that's just an example. Even if I could add another drive, the power supply wasn't enough to handle it. Etc. Those store-bought PCs are as stripped-down as they can be, to save costs and allow for blow-out prices. Beware if you want anything serious from them.

The slow drive speed just means the i7 processor is sitting around even longer waiting for something to do. That's a terrible waste to have such a mismatch. An IDE drive with a motherboard that supported SATA is a similar mismatch.

+1 for Start8 from Stardock. Windows 8 is great if you bypass the start screen and apps, and if you can find drivers for all your music peripherals.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.