Hehe. First off, BFG isn't marketing to ANYONE here. So how we feel makes little difference. The only thing that matters are there enough people who feel differently, and can BFG reach them?
There are (or were before the financial crash) a fair number of people who have the money, want computers, want A/V mesh-ups, want "the best" . . . and are tired of relying on their geek friends whenever they have an issue. Dell (eg) support in an unintelligible (to our aging ears) accent just doesn't cut it.
The BFG box is mostly well-designed for that group, having three key features (sleek design, hidden cables and a color LCD control panel) that should appeal. However, the box is probably oriented in the wrong direction (vertical rather than horizontal) for this market. It will not fit on any of the shelves we have :)
Paying $1,000 more for the assembly and Ferrari-performance (ie, overclocking) and $500 more for the service of transferring files and "clean-up" will appeal to more folks than you would think.
Having said all that, I don't think there's currently enough of a market for this offering, and BFG will certainly need to market through non-traditional channels to reach them.
Furthermore, check the outlandish prices for "upgrades". I guess they plan to make most of their money on change orders lol.
Seems like a gimmick though. I mean what the heck can you do that would be that helpful to justify the cost? I think a large amount of that cost is for that case.
When they mentioned a local tech network that would install and check up on the system, I knew the prices would be what most of us consider insane. I don't know anyone who would buy one, but maybe there are some people out there.
Open case warranty fail? That is FUBAR'ed, If you can't clean out the fans how do you expect it to last overclocked for any length of time?
Does it come properly filtered with external filters?
I applaud them for trying to do something different, but I would not run their software even if given one of their systems free.
"run tests to overclock, blah blah headroom". NO! Each and every chip is different, and you can't just blanket overclock etc.
I don't know who this would appeal too, but it isn't me. I need to see some proper hardware involved in the heat management and overclocking, and it needs to be transparent to the OS, if I boot into Windows 9 or Suse 11 and have heat issues because of this stupid software I will be royally pissed at this stupid "boutique" choice, moreso than at a big-box retailer. Simply because they had the option as a smaller company with a more enthusiast orientation to do it right from the beginning, especially with access to the video cards bios and schematics they should offer a compelling hardware product.
If I had the access they do I would have removed all software from the equation and likely put detented encoder knobs with the overclock (FSB/GPU/GPU-RAM) and fan settings on it, using some smart programming to interface with the bios.
People with the intelligence and resources to do something new, and simply issue press releases on how great their "software buttons" are, I am disgusted. I would love to kick this prosumer marketing team in their software buttons for trying this marketing drivel.
I suppose it is fine for people who have no clue what they are doing, but in that case the power of the PC has precious little to do with their experience, if they insist on running a non-native resolution on an LCD panel not intended for gaming, and that can only be changed with education.
They cannot void your warranty if you open your computer case. If you damage something while you're in there, that's a different situation. Dell, Compaq, etc. used to try the "voided warranty" scam if you didn't install their brand of memory in their servers. They lost, and all they can require you to do is remove it before they will troubleshoot a problem.
Same deal as where car manufacturers tried to tell customers that they voided their car warranty if they didn't bring their car into the dealer for oil changes, etc. The courts ruled that you can take your car anywhere you want and have it serviced. However, if that person / business breaks something (like not screwing the oil filter on tight and burning up your engine), you're SOL.
That said, there's no way in hell I'd buy a computer from a company that pulls that bullshit.
I'd imagine that limitation matters more to some than others. If the buyer is someone who has built systems in the past and just doesn't have time to do so now, they would probably be annoyed. For those who don't actually know how, less of a problem. I guess they figure there are enough sellers catering to the first market already that they can sell systems with extreme hand-holding and it will be a somewhat different market.
Of course, if they just max out the motherboard when new, it won't matter.
I wish them luck, and like the idea of a high end less garish case, but I don't want some guy coming to my house. That should be optional.
Though this really doesn't sound like its for me, as right now I'd be more interested in systems built to be used as DVRs (can't I get a reasonably priced system preconfigured with multiple tuners and easy to swap drives?), or laptops.
But I do wish them luck! BFG seems like a nice company.
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20 Comments
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Twoboxer - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
Hehe. First off, BFG isn't marketing to ANYONE here. So how we feel makes little difference. The only thing that matters are there enough people who feel differently, and can BFG reach them?There are (or were before the financial crash) a fair number of people who have the money, want computers, want A/V mesh-ups, want "the best" . . . and are tired of relying on their geek friends whenever they have an issue. Dell (eg) support in an unintelligible (to our aging ears) accent just doesn't cut it.
The BFG box is mostly well-designed for that group, having three key features (sleek design, hidden cables and a color LCD control panel) that should appeal. However, the box is probably oriented in the wrong direction (vertical rather than horizontal) for this market. It will not fit on any of the shelves we have :)
Paying $1,000 more for the assembly and Ferrari-performance (ie, overclocking) and $500 more for the service of transferring files and "clean-up" will appeal to more folks than you would think.
Having said all that, I don't think there's currently enough of a market for this offering, and BFG will certainly need to market through non-traditional channels to reach them.
Furthermore, check the outlandish prices for "upgrades". I guess they plan to make most of their money on change orders lol.
kuyaglen - Monday, May 18, 2009 - link
Does their concierge service include support for their Traffic Cop?Golgatha - Monday, May 18, 2009 - link
for a company who is the main supplier of graphics cards to Best Buy.JohnMD1022 - Monday, May 18, 2009 - link
It would be nice to see details on the touch screen subsystem. It looks as if it might make an interesting stand alone add-on.DJMiggy - Monday, May 18, 2009 - link
Seems like a gimmick though. I mean what the heck can you do that would be that helpful to justify the cost? I think a large amount of that cost is for that case.cptmercury - Saturday, May 16, 2009 - link
Anyone know what case they used?DJMiggy - Monday, May 18, 2009 - link
Looks custom.Slug - Friday, May 15, 2009 - link
Checked out the prices on the website. All I can say is "wow!"GeorgeH - Sunday, May 17, 2009 - link
For giggles I went to Newegg and did a quick and dirty price check on the parts in the sytems*:BFG $3000 -> $2100
BFG $5000 -> $3500
BFG $8000 -> $5100
It's actually not quite as bad as I expected, but +1 on the wow.
*Random guesses on the waterblocks, cases, and other non-specific items.
strikeback03 - Monday, May 18, 2009 - link
When they mentioned a local tech network that would install and check up on the system, I knew the prices would be what most of us consider insane. I don't know anyone who would buy one, but maybe there are some people out there.DigitalFreak - Sunday, May 17, 2009 - link
I can see them selling a few to the "more money than sense" crowd, but that's about it.teng029 - Saturday, May 16, 2009 - link
wow is right. that's a lot of money for something that will be all but obsolete in a matter of months.nubie - Friday, May 15, 2009 - link
Open case warranty fail? That is FUBAR'ed, If you can't clean out the fans how do you expect it to last overclocked for any length of time?Does it come properly filtered with external filters?
I applaud them for trying to do something different, but I would not run their software even if given one of their systems free.
"run tests to overclock, blah blah headroom". NO! Each and every chip is different, and you can't just blanket overclock etc.
I don't know who this would appeal too, but it isn't me. I need to see some proper hardware involved in the heat management and overclocking, and it needs to be transparent to the OS, if I boot into Windows 9 or Suse 11 and have heat issues because of this stupid software I will be royally pissed at this stupid "boutique" choice, moreso than at a big-box retailer. Simply because they had the option as a smaller company with a more enthusiast orientation to do it right from the beginning, especially with access to the video cards bios and schematics they should offer a compelling hardware product.
If I had the access they do I would have removed all software from the equation and likely put detented encoder knobs with the overclock (FSB/GPU/GPU-RAM) and fan settings on it, using some smart programming to interface with the bios.
People with the intelligence and resources to do something new, and simply issue press releases on how great their "software buttons" are, I am disgusted. I would love to kick this prosumer marketing team in their software buttons for trying this marketing drivel.
I suppose it is fine for people who have no clue what they are doing, but in that case the power of the PC has precious little to do with their experience, if they insist on running a non-native resolution on an LCD panel not intended for gaming, and that can only be changed with education.
UltraWide - Friday, May 15, 2009 - link
Opening the case to add more RAM will void the warranty? LOLthis is excellent customer service.
DigitalFreak - Sunday, May 17, 2009 - link
They cannot void your warranty if you open your computer case. If you damage something while you're in there, that's a different situation. Dell, Compaq, etc. used to try the "voided warranty" scam if you didn't install their brand of memory in their servers. They lost, and all they can require you to do is remove it before they will troubleshoot a problem.Same deal as where car manufacturers tried to tell customers that they voided their car warranty if they didn't bring their car into the dealer for oil changes, etc. The courts ruled that you can take your car anywhere you want and have it serviced. However, if that person / business breaks something (like not screwing the oil filter on tight and burning up your engine), you're SOL.
That said, there's no way in hell I'd buy a computer from a company that pulls that bullshit.
strikeback03 - Friday, May 15, 2009 - link
I'd imagine that limitation matters more to some than others. If the buyer is someone who has built systems in the past and just doesn't have time to do so now, they would probably be annoyed. For those who don't actually know how, less of a problem. I guess they figure there are enough sellers catering to the first market already that they can sell systems with extreme hand-holding and it will be a somewhat different market.Of course, if they just max out the motherboard when new, it won't matter.
crimson117 - Friday, May 15, 2009 - link
I would never buy a system that voids its warranty for such a simple customer upgrade.Depeche - Friday, May 15, 2009 - link
So how would they know you opened case and added RAM. ;PH8ff0000 - Saturday, May 16, 2009 - link
Warranty seal most likely.Wolfpup - Friday, May 15, 2009 - link
I wish them luck, and like the idea of a high end less garish case, but I don't want some guy coming to my house. That should be optional.Though this really doesn't sound like its for me, as right now I'd be more interested in systems built to be used as DVRs (can't I get a reasonably priced system preconfigured with multiple tuners and easy to swap drives?), or laptops.
But I do wish them luck! BFG seems like a nice company.