Puget Systems Blog Posts in Category "industry"

Back in December, Brett brought some interesting information about the sales of Windows 8 vs. Windows 7. Yesterday some not so good news dropped about the state of PC shipments in the last quarter. So I thought I would do a follow-up because the last quarter here at Puget has been great, contrary to the market at large.

What if I told you that you could get a car, brand new, for free? You would say it was probably junk...or a joke. But, this thing is real, people have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours building it and it's absolutely free. BUT there is a catch. Ahhh, now the hoax is uncovered.

The next generation of Windows operating systems is nearly upon us, and lots of folks are downloading the recent Windows 8 Release Preview. The months leading up to a new OS are always a bit tricky for Microsoft: they have to release info publicly to build excitment, satisfy investors, and garner media attention - but at the same time that can lead to customers putting computer purchases on hold until the new software is available. If a substantial portion of the consumer base does that it would lead to poor revenue not only for Microsoft but also the companies building and selling computers.

When Intel first debuted the Core i7 processor line, code-named Nehalem, in late 2008 it made perfect sense.  This line of quad-cores brought several new technologies: Turbo Mode, integrated memory controllers, triple-channel RAM, and Hyperthreading (making a comeback from the Pentium 4 era).  There were three processors at launch, a 920, 940 and 965 - each slightly faster than the one before it, with the '5' at the end of the last denoting that it was an Extreme Edition chip with some unlocked settings to help with overclocking.  Over time the 940 was replaced with a 950, and then 960; the 965 also got an upgrade in the form of a 975. The naming scheme now isn't so simple -- let's take a look.

If you're connected with me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably have noticed my recent posts about how great business has been, and how we've been more and more busy these past months. It has been a great feeling to once again focus my efforts on expanding our capacity to meet demand. But why have our sales picked up so heavily in the last quarter? Is this due to a gain in market share, or is this something bigger? I don't claim to have the answers, but I would like to go over the data and our theories.

We recently ran a special on all our systems, offering a free upgrade to a three year warranty.  To be honest, in the current economy, I did not expect it to be terribly successful -- I thought that (at this time) price was the biggest factor, and that monetary discounts might yield better results.  I was wrong!  The free warranty upgrades were wildly popular, and we showed a 300% boost in sales during that time.  Why do you think that is?  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!

My job title at Puget is ‘Director of Inventory’, which is a fancy way of saying that I’m responsible for keeping track of any parts that aren’t currently inside a computer. Among other duties, I have the delightful job of arranging Return Merchandise Authorizations (RMAs) with our suppliers – just as our customers come to us for warranty support, we can go to our suppliers or the manufacturer to get defective parts replaced. It’s rewarding to see a stream of broken parts go out the door and come back in a couple weeks as shiny, functional equipment, but trying to get warranty support can also be one of the greatest hassles known to man.

You may have noticed Corsair power supplies popping up in our product line.  I wanted to take a minute to tell you about why we're doing this, and why I'm excited about it! 

When I was at CES a few months ago, I was not shopping for a new power supply vendor.  We have been using Seasonic for years, and have been very happy with their units.  And yet there are times when we find a company speaking our language.  Hype doesn't get our attention.  Show us the product!  We want to see real, measurable quality.  At CES, in their suite at the Wynn hotel, Corsair spoke our language.  We weren't looking to replace Seasonic, but Corsair was too good a fit to not get our attention.