Some of the discounted PCs, typically configured with Windows Home Edition, won't even work properly with Linux. I destroyed an Asus notebook's motherboard by reformatting and installing Ubuntu Linux. The tech who diagnosed it suggested that the Linux drivers may have set some I/O registers in a way that caused the fault.
"Bargain PCs" tend to be manufactured to a very low cost, so they have many compromises in order to meet those targets.
Usually they'll try little sales tricks like "I don't know when the one you want will be back in stock, if ever. But we have this one today and I brought it out to show you. Great deal."
My impression is that the standard box store offering is some windows-s-mode steaming pile of crap loaded up with every conceivable form of bloatware, spyware, and adware out of the box, and anyone not formatting it immediately has basically just brought an obnoxious billboard into their home that can only run things from the "windows store"