Date:
Thursday , May 03, 2007
Author:
Josh Norem
Editor:
Jason Wall
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Puget Computers Custom System

Puget Custom Computers is a boutique builder from the Great Northwest that specializes in quiet, custom, hardcore machines. Its previous machines that we’ve seen have been hobbled by one thing or another, so we decided to check in and see if things are improving.

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Part I – Product Overview: Company Overview and Purchasing

The Puget Systems Story

Puget Custom Computers was founded with the goal to break the trend of low quality, one-size-fits-all computers and to provide systems with superior performance and reliability. We have gone to great trouble to structure our business in such a way that our goals are, by necessity, the same as yours!

There’s a lot of marketing speak on the company’s website, but reading it does give you the impression that this is a company committed to delivering a great customer experience. For example, it says when you call to buy a system from Puget, you speak with the tech who will build it and support it, which is excellent. We’d rather speak with someone who is knowledgeable than someone who is “just a salesperson” and does not know a MOSFET from Boba Fett.

Like most boutique builders, Puget is a small company. On its staff page, we see only ten employees listed, so it’s about as small as a company can get to still be able to provide premium support and build more than a handful of computers each month.

Purchasing from Puget’s website

The Puget website is unlike other builders’ sites we’ve looked at in the past. First, unlike most builders, which create SKUs based on certain parts only being available in that SKU (for example, Dell only offers the QX6700 CPU in its most high-end offering), Puget boasts a “custom” configurator that offers every single component option the company has, which is very cool. We can understand why some companies don’t offer this option, as it can be confusing to customers and the (good) builders need to certify every integration for optimal build times and support. For those of us that know exactly what we want, being able to pick and choose from any SKU with any part you want is awesome. To cover all the bases, Puget also offers SKUs with pre-determined parts to select from, but all of the component options have a “more” button that opens the custom configurator to give you more options than what the company has pre-selected.

The second reason it’s different is that it features interesting “technology articles” that are truly informative. The most recent are about DirectX 10, why RAID 0 is a terrible idea, a guide to Windows Vista upgrades, and even a review of the Killer NIC that's better than most reviews you'll find on the Web. We think those are all important topics, and most enthusiasts should be knowledgeable on them. It also has several help guides for topics such as running MemTest 86+, disabling XP startup items, and other helpful topics. All in all, there is a wealth of interesting information on the site.

When it comes to configuring your computer, you have several choices. Puget divides its desktop lineup into three SKUs: Home, Gaming, and Professional - mostly meant for video-editors. There is also a link on the main page to build a Custom Desktop Computer. We clicked that link to build our own air-cooled custom rig. The company also offers liquid cooling in the form of the Antec P180 with the pre-installed Koolance kit. It also offers the amazing Silverstone TJ07 with a Swiftech kit as well.

The configuration process starts with the motherboard, as it should, and if you select an Intel board, the CPU lineup in the box below changes to reflect that. It’s the same for AMD-based motherboards. This is refreshing, as it helps prevent mismatches – a precaution not often taken on other integrators’ websites. We chose an Intel board, and the CPU lineup included the entire Core 2 Duo series. We chose the low-watt E6400. Then we chose our CPU cooler, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. From there we had numerous options for memory, cases, storage, power supplies, video cards, etc. The options for each category are wide-ranging and impressive, and if you click the product name, it opens a separate window with pictures of the product, at least one Puget employee’s take on it, and product specs. It’s all the information you could want, and we think Puget’s design is probably the best we’ve seen. No one in the industry is supplying more useful information to the customer than Puget is here.

Once you’ve got the main components selected, Puget offers the standard accessories such as USB flash drives, TV Tuners, external hard drives, and more.

From there we came to the “case mods” section, which offered several interesting possibilities. They include round cables, hard drive noise dampening enclosures, acoustipack sound damping material, UV cables and lighting, and more. The company also notes that if a mod you want isn’t offered, just email it to them and they will see what they can do.

Puget wraps things up by offering both Vista and XP, and a few productivity software packages such as MS Office. You can even select OpenOffice, which is free, and the company will install it for you at no charge. The same goes for AVG anti-virus, which is our personal favorite, but Puget will also install Norton AV.

At the end of the page (we should note that everything is available on one page, which is preferable to having to click through four different pages to sort out all the components), you can tell Puget your intended use, target budget, and any other comments or questions you may have. You can select for someone from the company to get back to you with advice and suggestions, though we did not select this feature.

From there you can save your build by giving it a name, edit it, or proceed to checkout. This requires you to create an account with Puget. Once we had completed this process, we entered our credit card information and awaited word from the North-Westerners.

We received an email immediately stating that our quote had been saved. A short while later we received another email saying our order was confirmed. The confirmation email also provided a link that we could use to check the status of our system.

The next day we received another email stating that our credit card had been approved and the company had begun assembling our PC.

As our machine was being constructed, we made use of Puget’s greatest feature – its real-time build tracking interface. Once you make your purchase and register, you’re able to log into the customer area, which allows you to review your order, check on the progress of your system, and submit support tickets. We see a lot of builders give nebulous “your computer is in Phase 1 of production”-type statements. With Puget, you can see exactly what is happening with your build. Every task that is performed on your machine is dated and signed by the person who performed it. We’ve talked about this feature previously, and it continues to knock our socks off. No one else in the business has this feature. It’s simply the best customer interface in the industry.

Two days later we received another email with pictures of our completed PC, which was a welcomed first for us at [H]. Two hours later, we received word that our PC had shipped. All in all, it shipped three days after we ordered it, which is faster than we’ve seen Tier Is move. It’s even more impressive when you consider that it was a custom build and a significant burn-in was conducted.

It shipped on Feb 14th, and arrived two days later on the 16th.

As we were writing up this article and re-configuring our machine to get a current price, we saved our quote so that we could go back to it. Later that day, we received an email from Puget.

Hello,

I saw that you saved a quote on our website recently. I just wanted to introduce myself - my name is William - and let you know that if you have any questions, I'm happy to help.

You can access and edit your quote at: [removed for publication]. Check it out, and let me know if you'd like to tweak it or discuss anything.

Thanks,

William George

Puget Custom Computers

We pointed this out in our previous article, but this is fantastic customer outreach. It gives the potential customer a contact at the company in case they have questions. Because of Puget's unique Web interface, its customers are able to enjoy an added level of personalized service.