Passage Summary: Everyone is buying computers, but the stores selling them aren't making nearly as much profit per sale as they do on other tech gadgets.

Reasoning: Consumer demand for personal computers is rising annually, yet the retail profit margins for these computers are significantly lower than those of other high-tech products.

Analysis: This paradox asks us to reconcile high demand with low profit margins. Usually, high demand allows for higher prices, but retail is a fickle beast. We should look for explanations that involve high competition among retailers, high wholesale costs, or perhaps the use of computers as 'loss leaders' to get people into stores. Since this is an 'EXCEPT' question, the correct answer will be the one that doesn't help explain why profits stay low despite the popularity of the product.