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HP to Offer Custom Compaq Gaming PCs
PunkerTFC writes "Announced in the run-up to E3, Hewlett-Packard will offer custom built-to-order gaming machines under the Compaq brand, according to Reuters. The machines will be avalible in June or July and 'offer a range of options with standard, off-the-shelf components.' HP has been selling a Compaq gaming machine on a limited basis through a few select retailers already - apparently, 'Those pilot sales... convinced the company that it could compete in a market where well-known specialty manufacturers like Alienware, Voodoo and Falcon Northwest face increasing competition from mainstream players like Dell Inc'. The X Gaming machines will feature 'a standard chassis from CoolerMaster, known for its work in keeping system noise down while also decreasing heat, and red glowing lights in front and back what will make it stand out in the dark.'"
I mean, don't most gamers do all of this already? The only people who might purchase these custom computers would be wannabes, surely? Your average gamer either make does with what he's got or just adapts custom hardware. Besides, there's no fun in a case mod if it comes with the PC.
nigritude ultramarine
But any l33t gamer wouldn't be caught dead with one of these. I have the feeling these won't sell all that well.
For crying out loud if I hear of another X-machine, I'll go crazy! Are the nations game players, nerds, and marketers in such an uncreative funk that they can't think of anything more than putting an X on everything and therby making it "radical" or eXtreme?
This country sucks!
But will they [HP] top AlienWare's commercial that airs on TechTV?
All HP has to do is throw in an AMD Athlon64 into the machine and they'll top *Dull* (err, Dell) since Dell is an Intel-only screwdriver operation, for now.
Speaking of Dell, has anyone seen the commericals to the NetFlix competitor starring the former *Dell Dude*?
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
For those truly l33t gamer/night joggers. You really aren't an extreme gamer until you've hit the wall at the 30th mile at 3:00 am while fragging.
Perhaps foolishly, I'll assume for the moment that most people who play the kind of games which need specialist kit are the kind of people who know what kind of specialist kit they need. If they know what kit they need, the chances are that they'll know where to buy it cheaply. I'll also assume that the kind of people who want specialist kit (which, another assumption, would be bleeding edge) will be the kind of people who're likely to upgrade those individual components in need of a little more ooomph. If they're the kind of person who does their own upgrades, won't they just buy the bits themselves?
OK, OK, a lot of assumptions, but what I'm trying to say is that I can't imagine that this'll be popular with real gamers.
So, if this service is not going to be used by real gamers, who will order a specialist games PC? Probably the kind of numpty who would order a PC from the likes of HP/Dell/Whatever anyway. If this is the case, then we're not talking about news of earth-shattering importance. It's just a manufacturer introducing a new range to try to grab new market share. Just like soap powder manufacturers introducing a new powder to try to grab more market share.
So...
Move along, there's nothing to see....
Nick.
There's the gamer nerd. Gamer nerd builds his computer and tweaks the hell out of it. It never runs at the specified bus speed, voltage, and it never crashes. The graphics card is overclocked along with every other component in the computer.
Then, there's the gamer dork. Gamer dork spends $2000 extra for an Alienware. He brags to his friends about how awesome it is. Then, he screws it up with spyware and it runs slow. Then, he pays Gamer Nerd $50 and a 12-pack to fix it.
Perhaps if Compaq offered a real savings over building the computer yourself, Gamer Nerd will be interested in it. However, Gamer Nerd quickly sees that $2000 of the price of the computer is for unneeded software, brand name, and unneeded support.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
All these posts are missing something...logic. These companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars seeking markets and figuring out customer segmentation. You all actually think they don't know that truly elite gamers build their own systems? This market is a tiny friggin' niche in the greater scheme of things. "Gamers" does not equal "l33t". Gamers = PC enthusiasts who also probably own Xboxs or PS2s or somesuch, you know, the person who likes to play games, not lose their lives pretending to be some 12th level Elvish rogue mage while cybring some hottie online. It's amazing how many dorks are on here at /. hearing "gamer" and thinking "l33t CS scripter." That is not the market here. People like me, with families and other obligations eating up vast amounts of time, but with an l33t background (yes, I once had skillz, but since have gotten pwned by 2 babies) are the market. We don't have time to screw around building systems -- we're willing to spend money to save time. We also like warrantees so we can return things when the mobo fails or the WIFI card won't work with other components.
There are a ton of once-l33t gamers now growing into adults (gasp!) with much less time to solve component-conflicts and video driver problems. We're looking for the silver bullet solution, and willing to pay extra for it. And our numbers grow with each birth.
-Laetor
Isn't it the whole "I did it myself and it's different than a `normal' PC" the point?
A decent DELL is like $400 and you get the l33t Dell case. Just put in some real RAM, a burner, and a new AGP card.
Er... show me a $400 Dell that's worth upgrading only the RAM, video, and optical drive. At that price you're looking at low-end Celeron units w/ 128MB of memory and built-in video. It's probably cheaper than what I could put together from parts, but my parts will be of considerably higher quality.
As per you, to get that Dell up to speed you'll need to buy a new video card ($130), burner ($80), and memory ($250). Total cost at this point is $910.
Or you can, for $115 more, have an Athlon64 3000+, quiet HSF (Zalman), top end motherboard, an 8-in-1 reader, vastly improved sound quality, faster memory, firewire, more USB ports, no issues with integrated video, a better motherboard, and probably some other stuff I forgot.
Two weeks ago I bought, for $750 shipped, a case w/ 420W PSU, Athlon64 3000+, Zalman HSF, Chaintech ZNF3-150 MB, 1 GB DDR-400 memory, and a DVD+/-RW 8x burner. Toss in another $270 for a HD, video, monitor, keyboard, and mouse and you have a respectible gaming machine. You can quibble with the video card, but it's the same price for either machine to improve it. Except that a higher end video card will rapidly outstrip the Celeron 2400 CPU in the Dell... not so with the Ath64 3000+.
To get a roughly equivalent system from Dell, BTW, is around $2000. If you strip it down and buy the parts you suggest OEM then it still around $1500. Oh, and my case is quite a bit nicer than the one from Dell.
Hp is "able to use our purchasing power as the world's largest consumer PC company" and they still can't put together a decent gaming system for under $1599? I can go out and make a SWEET gaming system for $1599.
A pretty darn fantastic gaming machine can be built for aroung $800. Why can't HP use a little bit of that leverage of theirs and assemble a machine for us at this price?