New [H] exclusive PC - from Velocity!

well said. lots of positive changes to this version of the VM H5 pc.

i think its very admirable that VM is 1) paying to advertise here and keep the forums running, 2) trying to tailor their offerings to the forum users here, 3) listening to feedback.

those of you who can't seem to do anything more than post negative, unconstructive comments need to go start your own PC company, pay to advertise here, and come offer us something better. out of all of the custom pc companies in the industry, very few are making the level of effort that VM is making to listen to and address the needs of their customers.

That's all fine and dandy, but [H]'ers are among the most price-conscious and frugal when it comes to technology. As soon as VM perfects their bang-for-the-buck Barebones system options, I'll happily look to them for business. Basically make it good offer. The for/sale threads in here are frugal as frack and even the reviews here are hardnosed when it comes to pricing, that's what [H] is... HARD! ...no homo...
 
That's all fine and dandy, but [H]'ers are among the most price-conscious and frugal when it comes to technology. As soon as VM perfects their bang-for-the-buck Barebones system options, I'll happily look to them for business. Basically make it good offer. The for/sale threads in here are frugal as frack and even the reviews here are hardnosed when it comes to pricing, that's what [H] is... HARD! ...no homo...

Calling things homo is really hardcore dude, way to go.
 
Tell that to Velocity Micro, genius...

Well, what else are they supposed to do when you've got people in here asking for everything but the kitchen sink? If people would understand that, as I do, then they would offer a bare bones system.
 
Well, what else are they supposed to do when you've got people in here asking for everything but the kitchen sink? If people would understand that, as I do, then they would offer a bare bones system.

It seems from the majority of posts here that are "asking for everything but the kitchen sink", think the price is too high for what it offers. They can remove some things, they can switch out some things. Barebones is usually case, mobo, cpu, and maybe hd for like $249.99- 349.99. We know it costs more to have better parts but a comfortable balance needs to be made.
 
I needed a case, power supply and a dvd drive fora computer I'm building for my mom. I was checking all my options (and prices), and I decided to take a look here. I remember someone at VM saying it's suppose to be bare bones, but when I checked your site, your bare bones setup is actually a computer - a HDD and video card. When you said bare bones, I was expecting different configurations of atleast case + PSU, case + PSU + MB, case + MB.

1. we all clearly have different ideas about what a barebones unit constitutes.
This seems to be the case (no pun intended). You say it's bare bones, but your bare bones is almost a complete computer.
 
I think it's clear that we want VM to offer to us, an affordable 'Barebones' setup.

To the VM rep, if you want to get an idea of what we would look for, take a look at the TigerDirect 'Barebones' setups as an example. Here.

These systems from time to time, have been offered at incredible prices and because of that, have probably sold many units. And to be honest, they do not even assemble them. A Case/Motherboard/CPU out your door with the manufacturer's warranty would be enough imho. Make said systems affordable with recent hardware & you'll have a winner with the [H] crowd & one that we would be happy to suggest to new builders to start with.

I guess when I'm looking to build myself a PC nowadays, I figure I'll be changing out the VGA/PSU/Memory/CPU Cooling and possibly hard drives more often that the components that would be included in the 'Barebones' package. Since things change soo much wiht these items, I would prefer to not be locked into an IDE drive when I can take advantage of a SATA drive instead (just an example).
 
I appreciate VM supporting [H], and its all going to a great cause, but there are some realities one needs to deal with when dealing with [H].

#1 ... Your very sales post is in the [H]ot Deals section, meaning, bellow you are hundreds of listings of separate parts being for sale at wholesale prices. You're addressing an extremely price-conciencious and extremely up-to-date community. The competition for the $ of this community is fierce. For a good reason, that since we know what both you and us are doing, we are more likely to become loyal when we see good service, like the style you're going with when listening to our hardware suggestions.

I know that the majority of the deals bellow are user posted, but you also have other site reps to compete with that are stickied right bellow you. Just take a quick look.

When any B&M store starts to liquidate computer stock, this is the first place it shows up, watch for the rush and take advantage of it.

#2 ... We're builders ourselves, as our sigs usualy show, and we do put a price on our efforts... if one of us can tell ourselves after we subtract part cost that we'd be willing to build this rig for ourselves for that much profit, then we are less likely to buy.

I know, its not fair to be thrown in with such fierce competition from the get-go, its like opening up next to a Wal-Mart, but I'm just trying to be honest and helpful. Kyle might kill me.
 
I hope that most readers here knows the difference between a company like VM, who *assembles* the components for you, vs. TigerDirect or Newegg, who more or less just sell the parts. I would not be so presumptuous to assume that everyone who visits the [H] will only consider buying parts. There are some of us who visits the site who for whatever reason just want a good deal on a pre-built system, and doesn't mind paying a little more to have it done for us.

There are items that I feel should probably be cheaper ($250 for an 8800GT, for example), but I do appreciate the effort, and I think that them being a small builder, it's expected that their economy of scale isn't like that of a Dell, for example. Remember also that you are paying for them to BUILD the system for you, not just ship a bunch of parts in a big crate. So expect the price to be higher than a Newegg or a TD, and some of us are willing to accept a reasonable amount, which from what I'm seeing, isn't too bad from VM.

The 90 day warranty I think is OK, it covers any 'out of box' failures, but do you guys seriously expect VM to offer a long warranty, knowing what some of us will likely OC the heck out of our system?

I think it's a good effort on VM to try to offer a system, we are a tough crowd who's quite sensitive to the market. The takeaway from me is that, I'm willing to pay a reasonable premium for assembling and a warranty, but please offer us a bit more options, and make some of the options more reasonable. :) It's a good start.

cheers,

yass
 
I hope that most readers here knows the difference between a company like VM, who *assembles* the components for you, vs. TigerDirect or Newegg, who more or less just sell the parts. I would not be so presumptuous to assume that everyone who visits the [H] will only consider buying parts. There are some of us who visits the site who for whatever reason just want a good deal on a pre-built system, and doesn't mind paying a little more to have it done for us.

There are items that I feel should probably be cheaper ($250 for an 8800GT, for example), but I do appreciate the effort, and I think that them being a small builder, it's expected that their economy of scale isn't like that of a Dell, for example. Remember also that you are paying for them to BUILD the system for you, not just ship a bunch of parts in a big crate. So expect the price to be higher than a Newegg or a TD, and some of us are willing to accept a reasonable amount, which from what I'm seeing, isn't too bad from VM.

The 90 day warranty I think is OK, it covers any 'out of box' failures, but do you guys seriously expect VM to offer a long warranty, knowing what some of us will likely OC the heck out of our system?

I think it's a good effort on VM to try to offer a system, we are a tough crowd who's quite sensitive to the market. The takeaway from me is that, I'm willing to pay a reasonable premium for assembling and a warranty, but please offer us a bit more options, and make some of the options more reasonable. :) It's a good start.

cheers,

yass

Don't companies like Alienware (now part of Dell, I realize that) allow and even encourage OC'ing and still provide multi-year warranties?
 
alienware has some pretty good gamer season deals tho, q6600, 4 gig ram, 8800GT SLI for $1600. Case is pretty sweet
 
I work for a retailer that sells Velocity systems. They're pretty good machines, but they tend to be overpriced. For example: paying, say, $1600 for a PC with an 8600 video card in it. I also don't like their branded cases they use. They feel light and flimsy.. and the ones with wheels are really annoying because the left and right wheels are on a single axle, and since they can't turn independently of each other, the rubber on the wheels ALWAYS slides off because people try to turn the case by rolling it, but it isn't really made to turn -- just back and forth.

Other than those gripes, they typically build pretty standard PC's that use better (more name brand) components than HP and Gateway.
 
Will VM ever sell via a retailer, such as Best Buy? Many thought Dell never would and now they finally have.
 
they already started doing that a while ago...but it's even more overpriced than the website
 
I'll gladly build the same computer for someone in Portland for hundreds less and a year warranty. This is totally too much money for an onboard setup, with an unknown quality power supply... :(
 
Reposted again on the front page as a [H]ot deal... so, is it hot yet? I checked the product page -- nothing changed, no semblance of a response to all this feedback given.

Also, yes, I was the one who made the stupid remark about the case, as I had mistook it for a cheap Silverstone case I had the misfortune of buying a truckload of (really, they look almost exactly the same, besides the window). In all seriousness though, aluminum is flimsy no matter how you look at it -- though it does look nice. Myself though, I'll be sticking to nice heavy-duty 1.0mm thick steel cases.

The biggest fault I have with the options though is the OS choices... I don't think the option for Vista x64 was there before (nice addition), but there's no option for XP or without an OS completely (I'm sure this is the option most of your customers would prefer). As far as hardware goes, I'd say that the available options for mobo's are the most abysmal (two incarnations of one chipset -- no non-sli options, let alone the option to actually use SLI). And again, the definition of barebones...

PS: Btw, is that spiffy floppy drive included? Don't see any mention of it, though it's a nice touch (I'd sooner enjoy the option to save a whole dollar to remove it).
 
The front bezel of that case is pretty thick and heavy duty, but the side panels feel flimsy to me.
 
Hello - thanks for all this feedback - we really appreciate it and, as you know, we make an effort to incoporate this into the system.

What we're hearing so far:

1. we all clearly have different ideas about what a barebones unit constitutes. how would you describe this system?
2. you want better support options
3. you might like to see AMD in this configuration

Knowing that a lot of you are diy, is this the kind of system you would recommend to the scores of folks who ask for your advice on what to buy?

Thanks again for all the feedback - we're working on building your suggestions into the config.

1. The system you suggested as is, is nearly a complete build, plus or minus a couple things that some people might salvage out of an old computer to fill in where they don't have anything. I understand that as a company, your business is selling whole computers, so naturally you would be inclined to provide the option. It makes sense, and I hold no fault in such an approach. If anything, I extend much respect for you for being open minded to the idea that there is room for improvement and being willing to find out where that room is.

My definition of a barebones kit, in my personal opinion would be a case, motherboard, and a processor with a heatsink.

2. I would agree that a 90 day warranty doesn't instill much confidence, so you might want to consider some kind of extension, or leaving the warranties to be dependent on the manufacturer of the respective part that may fail. OPTIONAL additions would literally be anything else past the initial kit. I say to leave everything else out, because a typical barebones buyer usually already has their respective everything else already purchased, or they will just salvage them from a previous rig to hold them over till they make the jump to a full upgrade.. So forcing them to buy a new component they already have would just push them away, unless they absolutely NEED something, or you are offering a current gen of it (example: My friend had a 12x CD burner in his old rig. Stepping up to a 20x DVD burner for him in the new rig I built him was like walking out of the 1950s into present day). Leave an option to send the parts in boxes, or for a fee, to have it all assembled and ready for a person to fill in the rest.

This way, you satisfy the person seeking a true barebones kit, while still offering plenty of options for the person who may want this or that added-on, or may find that they could very easily have a nice setup built to their needs through your offerings. More or less, you don't exclude anyone, while leaving little to no room for the person to bitch that they were "stuck" with anything for an option. I mean, if they bought it knowing it wasn't what they wanted, that's on them, not you. Operating system wise - yeah, leave it as optional only. Not only will it save you money, but not everyone runs Windows, or necessarily intends to with a new rig. Also, offering 4 gigs and no Vista was kind of contradicting.

Oh, I do agree with having more information in regards to the power supply and other VM tagged hardware. A quality power supply can determine whether or not someone will even consider the kit at all. Alternatively, you could always leave the option out, so that the person can choose on their own and reap what problems may occur from it on their own.

3. I would definitely say an AMD offering would be a very wise choice. Some people are simply dedicated to one side or the other of AMD versus Intel. Excluding one or the other is already killing a portion of your potential consumer base. Why shoot yourself in the foot?

Would I recommend this? As it stands now I would, BUT, not to a fellow enthusiast/DIY'er. I would recommend this system to people like my friend, who don't trust themselves in putting something together, but at the same time know that they could get better by having one built. I have always liked the barebones kits because some places that offer them can have it all assembled for you, and putting in the processor and heatsink is perhaps the most painful part of building, as static shock is always a threat, as well as applying too much thermal paste, or even accidentally crushing the processor in the process of putting the heatsink on. Having that headache out of the way is a godsend to anyone who builds rigs, as everything else is just shoving cards and drives into place, and plugging everything up.
 
Dear Mr. VM,

In another effort to clear up a definition of a "Barebones" system, I call upon a TigerDirect example as they threw out another great offer in today's promotional email. I know it's hard to compete with a price like this, but all the components are labeled as they are from their respective manufacturers. Yes, the Pent D CPUs are a thing of the past (even though they OC like crazy). I would consider this a "low-end" build myself seeing as the mobo has onboard video.

screenshot014rf3.jpg
 
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