PCC-Jon
03-23-2004, 10:24 AM
There is a LOT going on around here! Richard and I are the guys behind all the special projects here, and we usually spend about a day a month on adding new features, new product lines, or new services to PCC. The last month, we've been devoting every spare minute to it! I thought I'd give you a summary of what we've done so far, and a preview of what's just around the corner!
Notebooks (DONE): This has definitely been a huge project here for the last two weeks. Last week, we finished up adding a very extensive and very impressive laptop line. Check it out here (http://www.pugetsystems.com/configlaptop.php)! These new laptops not only perform much better than our old ones, but are great looking, and have some really cool features. Check them out, and give us your thoughts. I mean it, let me know what you think, we need your feedback!Supply Optimization (DONE): OK, so I wasn't quite sure what to call this. Basicly, what we did is go through our entire database, clean out all the old parts, and add a ton of new parts to make us current. Then we did something really cool -- we looked at statistics over the last two years, and found out what parts we most often had supply problems with. We weeded those parts out, and are now left with a streamlined database of parts. What does that really mean? Well...for us, it means we'll be more profitable...we don't have to keep giving out free upgrades if we can't get ahold of a part. For you, it means we're faster! Problems getting a part means a delay to the order, and delays = bad. You computer guys are darn impatient. :)OCZ Memory Line (ETA TODAY!): When doing our supply optimizations, we also built a report to tell us what parts were failing most often in our testing. Having a part failing during testing not only creates a headache for us, but a delay to your order. The answer was overwhelming: memory! In additon to memory being the most frequent DOA part, we also have the unfortunate situation where our supplier, when we RMA the memory, simply "turns off" the failing chip on the memory, slaps a "Fixed" sticker on in, and sends it back. Now its 511mb memory, not 512mb. Yeah, that sucks. So, we obviously can't resell any of this memory, so we pretty much just use it in our machines around the office. Not only that, but this "fixed" memory has about a 80% failure rate. 80%!!! Yeah, that sucks too. Bigtime. So we've decided to fix both problems and find a new, and high quality memory supplier. We've decided on OCZ Technologies (http://www.ocztechnology.com/). They make some pretty awesome memory over there! Not only do they come in only about $10 higher than our current memory, but all their memory comes with heatsinks, has faster memory timings, and comes with a lifetime warranty and unlimited end user support (they'll HELP you overclock your memory!!). Yeah, that's worth $10. :) This is going to be a breath of fresh air in the memory department. Richard and I can't wait to switch all our memory over!CTL Monitor Line (ETA TODAY!): Its no secret, right now, we are not very competitive with our monitor pricing. I'll post a quote from one of the many emails I've sent to our customers on the topic:
In the past, you could determine the quality of a monitor based on its specifications: its response time, dot pitch (pixel size), and contrast ratio. In the last 5 years, however, the manufacturers have found ways to "fudge" these numbers to make their products appear to be better than they really are. The result? You should get a good physical look at a monitor before buying. Make sure you like it, make sure the picture is clear. Since Puget Custom Computers is largely a mail order company, this is not possible for our clients. In our comittment to maintain a high quality product line, we must carefully choose which monitors to offer, and we have chosen the Viewsonic CRT and LCD monitors, and Samsung LCD monitors. Though they are a bit more expensive than the bargain brands, they are some of the best monitors out there, so we can sell them with the confidence that our clients will be entirely happy. If you would like to try and save as much money as possible, and can find a monitor for a better price elsewhere, we actually encourage that! We recommend you buy a monitor locally -- save yourself the shipping cost, and get a chance to see the monitor in person first. If you want the best monitor available, then we would be happy to be your provider, and you can buy with the confidence that our experience has given us the ability to choose the best of the best!
That being said, we get asked for monitors anyhow....all the time! The main reason we're more expensive for monitors is that we have to ship them in, then ship them to you. That's a lot of shipping for such a big and heavy item! Fortunately for us, there is a great monitor manufacturer right here in Seattle. CTL Monitors (http://www.ctlmonitors.com) is right here in the area, and has a wonderful line of monitors at some great pricing. We've taken a good look at these montiors, and are comfortable selling them, and using them ourselves! So look for a new CTL line of monitors posted to our website soon!Component Sales (COMING SOON!): We also get asked fairly regularly whether we can sell parts. The answer is "Yes, but we're not a good pick right now." The reason is that all of our pricing is geared around the idea that we're providing consulting, assembly, testing, and support. That's why its always less expensive to just buy parts. Take a look here (http://www.pugetsystems.com/faq.php#11) for more information. We also have the limitation that we do not stock most of our items, we ship them in upon need. This means that even if you just buy a CPU, it will take us 2-4 days to ship it out, and that's no good! However, we just paired up with a distributor that is happy to provide drop shipping services. IE, we order the part from them, but ship it straight to you. That's an awesome arrangement! That means great pricing for you (since we don't have to do much work, we can operate on a very low margin!), fast availability for you, and great scalability and expansion room for us (since we're not doing anything but paperwork!). We still have a bit of work to do before we have this project ready to roll out, but look for it in the next few weeks!
Notebooks (DONE): This has definitely been a huge project here for the last two weeks. Last week, we finished up adding a very extensive and very impressive laptop line. Check it out here (http://www.pugetsystems.com/configlaptop.php)! These new laptops not only perform much better than our old ones, but are great looking, and have some really cool features. Check them out, and give us your thoughts. I mean it, let me know what you think, we need your feedback!Supply Optimization (DONE): OK, so I wasn't quite sure what to call this. Basicly, what we did is go through our entire database, clean out all the old parts, and add a ton of new parts to make us current. Then we did something really cool -- we looked at statistics over the last two years, and found out what parts we most often had supply problems with. We weeded those parts out, and are now left with a streamlined database of parts. What does that really mean? Well...for us, it means we'll be more profitable...we don't have to keep giving out free upgrades if we can't get ahold of a part. For you, it means we're faster! Problems getting a part means a delay to the order, and delays = bad. You computer guys are darn impatient. :)OCZ Memory Line (ETA TODAY!): When doing our supply optimizations, we also built a report to tell us what parts were failing most often in our testing. Having a part failing during testing not only creates a headache for us, but a delay to your order. The answer was overwhelming: memory! In additon to memory being the most frequent DOA part, we also have the unfortunate situation where our supplier, when we RMA the memory, simply "turns off" the failing chip on the memory, slaps a "Fixed" sticker on in, and sends it back. Now its 511mb memory, not 512mb. Yeah, that sucks. So, we obviously can't resell any of this memory, so we pretty much just use it in our machines around the office. Not only that, but this "fixed" memory has about a 80% failure rate. 80%!!! Yeah, that sucks too. Bigtime. So we've decided to fix both problems and find a new, and high quality memory supplier. We've decided on OCZ Technologies (http://www.ocztechnology.com/). They make some pretty awesome memory over there! Not only do they come in only about $10 higher than our current memory, but all their memory comes with heatsinks, has faster memory timings, and comes with a lifetime warranty and unlimited end user support (they'll HELP you overclock your memory!!). Yeah, that's worth $10. :) This is going to be a breath of fresh air in the memory department. Richard and I can't wait to switch all our memory over!CTL Monitor Line (ETA TODAY!): Its no secret, right now, we are not very competitive with our monitor pricing. I'll post a quote from one of the many emails I've sent to our customers on the topic:
In the past, you could determine the quality of a monitor based on its specifications: its response time, dot pitch (pixel size), and contrast ratio. In the last 5 years, however, the manufacturers have found ways to "fudge" these numbers to make their products appear to be better than they really are. The result? You should get a good physical look at a monitor before buying. Make sure you like it, make sure the picture is clear. Since Puget Custom Computers is largely a mail order company, this is not possible for our clients. In our comittment to maintain a high quality product line, we must carefully choose which monitors to offer, and we have chosen the Viewsonic CRT and LCD monitors, and Samsung LCD monitors. Though they are a bit more expensive than the bargain brands, they are some of the best monitors out there, so we can sell them with the confidence that our clients will be entirely happy. If you would like to try and save as much money as possible, and can find a monitor for a better price elsewhere, we actually encourage that! We recommend you buy a monitor locally -- save yourself the shipping cost, and get a chance to see the monitor in person first. If you want the best monitor available, then we would be happy to be your provider, and you can buy with the confidence that our experience has given us the ability to choose the best of the best!
That being said, we get asked for monitors anyhow....all the time! The main reason we're more expensive for monitors is that we have to ship them in, then ship them to you. That's a lot of shipping for such a big and heavy item! Fortunately for us, there is a great monitor manufacturer right here in Seattle. CTL Monitors (http://www.ctlmonitors.com) is right here in the area, and has a wonderful line of monitors at some great pricing. We've taken a good look at these montiors, and are comfortable selling them, and using them ourselves! So look for a new CTL line of monitors posted to our website soon!Component Sales (COMING SOON!): We also get asked fairly regularly whether we can sell parts. The answer is "Yes, but we're not a good pick right now." The reason is that all of our pricing is geared around the idea that we're providing consulting, assembly, testing, and support. That's why its always less expensive to just buy parts. Take a look here (http://www.pugetsystems.com/faq.php#11) for more information. We also have the limitation that we do not stock most of our items, we ship them in upon need. This means that even if you just buy a CPU, it will take us 2-4 days to ship it out, and that's no good! However, we just paired up with a distributor that is happy to provide drop shipping services. IE, we order the part from them, but ship it straight to you. That's an awesome arrangement! That means great pricing for you (since we don't have to do much work, we can operate on a very low margin!), fast availability for you, and great scalability and expansion room for us (since we're not doing anything but paperwork!). We still have a bit of work to do before we have this project ready to roll out, but look for it in the next few weeks!