MAINGEAR Hardware Interview
MAINGEAR is a US based computer hardware company selling high end gaming rigs to players across the country. Today, their CEO Wallace Santos answers Garrett Fuller's questions about their technology and what makes them feel that they stand out amongst their competition.
Interviews By Garrett Fuller on November 02, 2009
| MMORPG.com: | For those who don't know about MAINGEAR, tell us about your company and how it started? |
| Wallace Santos: | MAINGEAR was founded in 2002 after my partners and I had established a successful technical services consulting firm. After seeing the lack of support and quality in the PC business during the course of doing business, we thought we could do it better. And since we were avid gamers, we decided to make the company gaming-centric. Thus, MAINGEAR was born. |
| MMORPG.com: | We are here to talk about the latest PC Tech with the MAINGEAR SHIFT. Tell us about this new system. |
| Wallace Santos: | The SHIFT is a radical departure from both traditional PC design and the current market trend of more LED lights, bling, plastic, and pointless design. It utilizes the natural behavior of heat as it rises to ensure that all components stay cool, especially the video cards, which are becoming more important to everyday computing, not just gaming. It is also the dawn of the personal supercomputer - where a system is no longer just a gaming computer. A powerful computer built with today's hardware and Windows 7 is capable of so many incredible things, many of them driven by a GPU, that many users don't even know that the best everyday computing experience they can get will undoubtedly come from a PC that on the surface looks like it's been designed for gaming. That's where MAINGEAR is perfectly positioned to lead the market in this new trend. Our pedigree in gaming and our focus on quality, reliability, performance, and support create the perfect blend of what customers want in a PC company. |
| MMORPG.com: | How do you expect the SHIFT to impact the PC gaming market? What can buyers expect from this system in terms of performance? |
| Wallace Santos: | We're calling it the Great MAINGEAR PC Trendkill. There are no retina-searing LED lights. It doesn't look like the head of Voltron. Aliens had nothing to do with the design. This PC screams power. It's a monolith of metal and speed. It's big and it's badass. And the numbers will speak for themselves. Overclocked Core i7 processors, premium, high speed memory up to 24GB, up to 12 SSDs, three-way CrossFire or SLI. We do things with this system that other vendors simply can't. Expect silky-smooth gameplay on a 30" panel at 2560x1600. That's what you should expect with a fully-loaded SHIFT. |
| MMORPG.com: | The PC industry has gotten very standard in its designs and gaming hardware, explain MAINGEAR's trend kill philosophy in building computers. |
| Wallace Santos: | As I mentioned earlier, the trend is towards smaller size, more plastic, more unnecessary bling, and LED arrays so complex they have their own software to manage it. Our CTO, Chris Morley, just bought his daughter a Lite-Brite, and I wouldn't want one sitting on my desk, so why make a computer look like one? We're bucking that trend with sublime aesthetics, clean, hard lines, beautiful brushed aluminum, matte black and acrylic accents, and a whole lot of class. |
| MMORPG.com: | MAINGEAR is big into customization. Talk about some of the systems you have built for hardcore gamers that appeal to the games they play. |
| Wallace Santos: | Our most popular systems are our high end, tricked out systems. Because we're able to squeeze all of the performance out of today's hardware, our customers want to experience a whole different class of product. Our most popular configs have been Core i7 975 processors watercooled and overclocked to 4.0+ GHz. We're also selling a lot of 3-way GeForce GTX 285 and 3-way ATI Radeon HD 5870 configurations for people running 30" monitors. We're doing a brisk business in the high end, that's for sure. |
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| MMORPG.com: | What is your personal favorite feature about the SHIFT? |
| Wallace Santos: | It looks like something that could have come out of Pininfarina's design house. It's timeless, it's classy, it's beautiful. And it houses the world's most powerful computing hardware. But definitely the vertical airflow. That's just so cool. And there's added ergonomical advantages to it as well. If you have your system by your desk shoved up against your wall, you can still easily get to what would traditionally be the back connectors, which are now accessible on top beneath the grill. |
| MMORPG.com: | With other systems out there, why should gamers go to MAINGEAR? |
| Wallace Santos: | We build, manufacture, and support our systems here in the United States. Our salesmen are not on commission. In fact, the people who will help you design your custom system are the very people who build it. Where else can you get that type of service? We have comprehensive, long term warranties that include remote desktop support, on-site service, and lifetime labor and phone support. We're delivering the whole package from start to finish - although for most of our customers there is never a finish as they keep coming back to us for all their computer needs. |
| MMORPG.com: | Many PC companies have horrible customer service. It is a staple of MAINGEAR's philosophy, why is it so important? |
| Wallace Santos: | It's the big differentiator. We are an A+ BBB accredited business. We built this company on customer service and building a better experience. It's the foundation of our success and the key to our future growth. Above anything we ever do, it is the single most important facet of our business and something we can never afford to compromise on. |
| MMORPG.com: | There has always been talk of PC gaming going away, but it is still a huge market. Being on the hardware side, can you talk about what you see in the PC gaming market right now? What we might see in the future? |
| Wallace Santos: | More of it, at better prices, and with better performance. Stuff like NVIDIA 3D Vision, PhysX and ATI EyeFinity are mind-blowing. These technologies continue to push the boundaries and expand the possibilities for PC gaming beyond any other medium. It'll get better. |
| MMORPG.com: | Where can gamers read about the SHIFT technology and this new design? |
| Wallace Santos: | |
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Okay, so the interview sounded pretty good. I like the idea they are basing more of their ideas on performance rather then pretty lights. I was curious as to what a computer built by Maingear would cost. so I click on the link to their web address. The website looks good, variuos links on top. I click on the "build your own", and nothing happens, lol.
What is up with that. I seriously doubt it is my computer, as I don't have any problems clicking on links anywhere else. I moused over the button, and it doesnt even show a change at the bottom of my window, it's like it isn't even a button. I know I could call to get info, but I just want to play around with the different components of the various computers they offer, yet there are no buttons for that, or at least they don't work here on my work computer.
You may want to try a different browser or something. I was able to access the site with no issues and look at what customizations are available. Lets just say they are expensive. I have known about maingear for quite some time. If I ever was to order a PC ( I build my own) I would probably order from them. I don't think you can honestly get that type of service from any other company. The person who takes your order actually builds your PC. That is pretty awesome.
As I said though, the first thing you see though is that the shift starts at 2200 bucks. They have other models though.
Click on the "Buy Yours Now" big red button. The prices start at about $2,700 US are in line with if not more expensive than Alien Computers though and the build your own options all increase the cost.
Ok so maybe its just the browser on this crappy work computer, I have never had a problem with anything like this on any other site. but oh well. I will check it out when I get home.
How do you think they compare with say: Alienware or Falcon-Northwest?
I wouldn't know. I assemble my own and do that on a budget. Looking any further into these high dollar computers for me is an endeavor that has no value. My most recent build about a year ago cost less than $500.00 US.
I know what you mean I have built my computers in the past, but I don't really care to build them anymore, I'm lazy, and the last one I built I gave to my ex, currently I just use a laptop, but am considering getting a new desktiop, but again I am lazy, so I don't want to build it myself. :P
$20,635.97 was the highest price I could manage, with a ship date of Dec 9 2009.
I think if anyone bought that they would deserve lifetime "angelic" service instead of 3 years 30 days!
Anyway, I'd love to work for a company like this.
The components they use fell short in a couple areas I thought, but again I build my own so maybe that skews my views a bit. I'd like to know if there is a way to purchase just the case. The vertical design is a really nice one for heat management and videocards I would think.