Lang says. "At one point we had nothing more than a bunch of PowerPoint slides, that we showed to health care organizations, and we had nurses in tears saying 'Where has this been all of my life?' "
If this is not an exaggeration, as in proverbial tears, I find it hard to believe. It takes a lot to make a nurse cry -- think about all the unbelievable things they see on a daily basis. No doubt it will make their jobs easier, but bring them to tears -- I highly doubt it.
"I don't care what kind of computer you have now, but it CAN'T be faster than one from Michael's Computers. You may think your PC is the best in the world, but you are wrong. With a boot time of 4 seconds, a 3dMark 2003 score of 17,000+, and a.19 decibel rating - a computer from Michael's Computers cannot be beat," or so Michael's Computers' claims.
We usually don't do investigative articles, but the claims coming from Michael's Computers were too good to ignore. A deluge of discontent expressed in emails and discussion forums further prompted us to look into a deal that seemed to good to be true.
Evidence was gathered from numerous phone interviews, countless emails and several visits to alleged Michael's Computers business locations. To top it all off, we tracked down Mr. Gonzales and interviewed him ON VIDEO, which can be viewed/downloaded at the end of this article.
So, is Michael J. Gonzales, the owner of Michael's Computers, misleading consumers by posting false information? Is he using proprietary logos without permission, and operating without the necessary business permits? Read on and decide for yourself.
I first heard of Michael's Computers on Feb 25, 2004 when THG received this email from Ryan Sanders.
I was wondering if your site has ever had any news on Michaels Computers (www.michaelscomputers.com). His site has been a swirl of controversy over the last week on many a message boards due to claims of hitting 17,000+ in 3DMark03 from their desktop, and 13-15,000 for their notebooks. On top of that, they claim to have a "AMD FX51 3400+ CPU". As most of us know their are 2 different CPU's that fit that description (The Athlon64 FX-51 and then there is the Athlon64 3400+), but when contacted about that, he claimed it was in fact the correct title for the CPU, and that it was some sort of specially optimized CPU.
I was wondering, since you are a well established and reputable hardware site, if you could look into this, or request a sample product for Review? I, along with many others, believe this site to be a joke, or hoax, and don't want to see a bunch of people buy into the big numbers of the benchmark scores. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Ryan Sanders.
I was thinking, "WOW!!! I want this laptop!" so I searched for more information on discussion forums and Michael's website.
Just before this article was submitted, I received this email from Chuck Davis:
A year ago I called them on the phone and talked directly to Michael. He totally sold me on his stuff and therefore I continued to follow his site. I ordered an am MX51 back in Nov. and waited two weeks with no computer. We were emailing each other with ?s and responses during that two week period. On a Sun. he said the MX51 would be shipped that week and he would send me a tracking #. On Fri. still nothing and I emailed him and nothing so I cancelled. Luckily I was able to use my credit card and had no problem with a refund. Since that time he has stopped accepting emails.
Truthfully, he is a complete liar. He told so many lies about the MX51, I am so glad I was able to get out of it. Almost every claim he made was false. If you need more detail I will give them to you later. Stay away from this company.
Discussion Boards
I browsed a few online discussion boards such as Futuremark, Sharky Extreme, and IGN. Each time Michael's Computers has been mentioned, the boards have been flooded with responses. Some of these discussions have generated HUNDREDs of posts, like this discussion from the Sharky Extreme Forums.
I hope you have a lot of time available to read the 470+ posts on that particular discussion.
Webpage
The Front Page
At first glance, the Webpage is similar to other computer manufacturer websites. Below you will see a screenshot taken March 3, 2004.
Michael's Computers website front page, March 3, 2004
And the #1 strangest page layout is (queue drumroll sound)...... www.ugo.com. I don't know where to start -- perhaps the 0 left margin or the giant Club Dread ad maybe. And thank Moz for ctrl + or I would have just moved on. Maybe it looks better in IE -- anyone?
Slashdot Mirror
Lang says. "At one point we had nothing more than a bunch of PowerPoint slides, that we showed to health care organizations, and we had nurses in tears saying 'Where has this been all of my life?' "
If this is not an exaggeration, as in proverbial tears, I find it hard to believe. It takes a lot to make a nurse cry -- think about all the unbelievable things they see on a daily basis. No doubt it will make their jobs easier, but bring them to tears -- I highly doubt it.
From the article:
.19 decibel rating - a computer from Michael's Computers cannot be beat," or so Michael's Computers' claims.
"I don't care what kind of computer you have now, but it CAN'T be faster than one from Michael's Computers. You may think your PC is the best in the world, but you are wrong. With a boot time of 4 seconds, a 3dMark 2003 score of 17,000+, and a
We usually don't do investigative articles, but the claims coming from Michael's Computers were too good to ignore. A deluge of discontent expressed in emails and discussion forums further prompted us to look into a deal that seemed to good to be true.
Evidence was gathered from numerous phone interviews, countless emails and several visits to alleged Michael's Computers business locations. To top it all off, we tracked down Mr. Gonzales and interviewed him ON VIDEO, which can be viewed/downloaded at the end of this article.
So, is Michael J. Gonzales, the owner of Michael's Computers, misleading consumers by posting false information? Is he using proprietary logos without permission, and operating without the necessary business permits? Read on and decide for yourself.
I first heard of Michael's Computers on Feb 25, 2004 when THG received this email from Ryan Sanders.
I was wondering if your site has ever had any news on Michaels Computers (www.michaelscomputers.com). His site has been a swirl of controversy over the last week on many a message boards due to claims of hitting 17,000+ in 3DMark03 from their desktop, and 13-15,000 for their notebooks. On top of that, they claim to have a "AMD FX51 3400+ CPU". As most of us know their are 2 different CPU's that fit that description (The Athlon64 FX-51 and then there is the Athlon64 3400+), but when contacted about that, he claimed it was in fact the correct title for the CPU, and that it was some sort of specially optimized CPU.
I was wondering, since you are a well established and reputable hardware site, if you could look into this, or request a sample product for Review? I, along with many others, believe this site to be a joke, or hoax, and don't want to see a bunch of people buy into the big numbers of the benchmark scores. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Ryan Sanders.
I was thinking, "WOW!!! I want this laptop!" so I searched for more information on discussion forums and Michael's website.
Just before this article was submitted, I received this email from Chuck Davis:
A year ago I called them on the phone and talked directly to Michael. He totally sold me on his stuff and therefore I continued to follow his site. I ordered an am MX51 back in Nov. and waited two weeks with no computer. We were emailing each other with ?s and responses during that two week period. On a Sun. he said the MX51 would be shipped that week and he would send me a tracking #. On Fri. still nothing and I emailed him and nothing so I cancelled. Luckily I was able to use my credit card and had no problem with a refund. Since that time he has stopped accepting emails.
Truthfully, he is a complete liar. He told so many lies about the MX51, I am so glad I was able to get out of it. Almost every claim he made was false. If you need more detail I will give them to you later. Stay away from this company.
Discussion Boards
I browsed a few online discussion boards such as Futuremark, Sharky Extreme, and IGN. Each time Michael's Computers has been mentioned, the boards have been flooded with responses. Some of these discussions have generated HUNDREDs of posts, like this discussion from the Sharky Extreme Forums.
I hope you have a lot of time available to read the 470+ posts on that particular discussion.
Webpage
The Front Page
At first glance, the Webpage is similar to other computer manufacturer websites. Below you will see a screenshot taken March 3, 2004.
Michael's Computers website front page, March 3, 2004
You can see that they appear to sell
And the #1 strangest page layout is (queue drumroll sound)...... www.ugo.com. I don't know where to start -- perhaps the 0 left margin or the giant Club Dread ad maybe. And thank Moz for ctrl + or I would have just moved on. Maybe it looks better in IE -- anyone?
I hate it when those sneaky Windows worms pose as threads, it makes em that much harder to catch.
That's funny, I work from home and I am watching Scooby Doo right now on Gatos!