"Why are your computers so expensive?"
I run into this question from time to time. It is understandable I suppose, since so many computer companies have worked to make their systems cheaper and cheaper to make them more appealing to a number of folks. As one company does this, then another company will attempt to do the same with a slightly lower price than the other in an effort to compete in that market. There are several cost cutting procedures that companies can employ to make their computers cheaper. They can hire folks at lower wages, they can purchase cheaper components, they can outsource their support to the lowest bidder, a company that will charge less for that type of coverage (typically overseas, as labor tends to cost less there). They can mass produce pre-built systems in an effort to cut down time each system costs to produce – Churn and Burn. When you spend less time producing a system, it costs less, as you can produce 2, 3, or more systems in the time it takes to previously build one system.
There certainly is a market for those types of cost savings scenarios. There are several companies in existence that speak to that customer desire. For those customers that need a system with less funds, and would like a computer boutique to build and support the system, this type of scenario at least allows them to get a computer. So yes, there are a lot of systems out there in the $600 range by companies that use this type of business model.
So why doesn't Puget Systems use that model as well? We are bit unique as a company. I suppose you could say we are antithetical to the computer industry as a whole. Our focus is on quality. Our core beliefs are to cut through the hype in the industry, to be as transparent as possible, offer consultation to best meet YOUR specific system needs as an individual, build a quality system and run extensive testing on each system to ensure they are rock solid, then offer a high level of support after you have received the system.
Hype vs. Transparency
You won't see big flashy adds with explosions and characters decked out in military gear on our front page blasting discounts of $200 off!, et cetera. We simply provide you with information about components so that you can choose according to your specific needs, and base our prices off our costs. Also, we list the specific make and model of components we use. In that way you know exactly which motherboard, CPU, RAM, and Hard drive you are choosing, rather than a generic "1TB SSD", or "1TB 7200 RPM hard drive".
Hardware Industry's Dirty Little Secret
What most won't tell you is that there are many different manufacturers of "the same" component, or of components that look to be the same or similar part, but based on the manufacturer and model, there can be great differences in quality and performance. We focus our product line on only using the highest quality, lowest failure rate components available. Unfortunately, the higher quality, lower failure-rate components tend to cost more. Other companies who focus on low cost systems will not be choosing those same high quality, low failure-rate versions of those products in their systems, otherwise they would not be able to offer their systems at those rock bottom prices.
Consultation to Meet Your Needs
Where the companies that focus on low cost systems won't be able to offer the same level of system consultation for their systems due to the costs involved, we are available by phone, email, and chat along with our comments on specific components in our specific lineup to provide you with information about our components so that you can be an informed decision maker when configuring your system with us. Additionally, you can contact one of us and we will be happy to assist with a configuration to best suit your needs if all you know about computers is the specific programs you want to run.
Quality Builds
We start off by basing the components we carry on high-quality, low failure rate components. There are extensive product qualifications that each component must go through here before we will offer it in our lineup, then we will continue to monitor those components by tracking failure rates for every component we carry. We have weekly meetings to go over these failure rates, and if we start to see a single component start to have a high failure rate, we'll discontinue carrying that component and replace it with another component with a lower failure rate. – Yes, quality is that important to us! Then our production technicians will professionally assemble and wire your system for best cooling, where companies who churn and burn will be working to simply slap systems together as quickly as possible without the same care and attention to detail.
Extensive Testing
We have an extensive suite of tests that we run every system through to ensure everything is working properly with your system, and that the system has adequate cooling when under full load. Our systems go through a 104 point (and growing) quality control checklist to ensure that you get a rock solid system to last you for years. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our process.
High Level of Support
We have employees whom are enthusiasts about the product we create, care deeply about quality, each other, and the customer! We are not building systems just to get the next one out the door. We are building a system specifically designed for your individual needs. Each of our sales consultants take great care in assisting you get the system to best meet your needs by choosing the components that will provide you the best performance for how you individually plan to use the system, then our Production technicians are constantly looking for way to improve the process when professionally wiring your system for best air-flow, and cooling for how you intend to use the system. Some usage scenarios require more cooling due to intense 24/7 use, while others will be designed for high-end video editing, photo editing, CAD, 3D modeling – you name it! Each scenario can optimized according. We provide lifetime labor and lifetime tech support, and our tech support is in-house, rather than overseas, so they are very familiar with our systems should you ever need to contact them years down the road. It costs us more to have qualified employees in-house, rather than outsourced, but we simply could not offer the higher level of service and systems if we outsourced that work. All of these things add up, so our systems will end up costing what they do for that reason, but great care has gone into each and every system, and will be backed up with lifetime labor and tech support that doesn't end when a parts warranty may end. It's truly lifetime!
So perhaps the questions asked shouldn't be "Why are your computers so expensive?" but rather, "Why are the computers from others builders so cheap?" There is an answer.