One of the most important tools for most Internet marketers is their PC in their home office. That's why I could totally identify with my buddy Garry Conn the other day when he announced on Twitter that he was having trouble with his name brand PC. like most Internet marketers, Garry spends his life on the PC, so he demands a high level of reliability and performance.
That discussion from Gary made me wonder if he should consider going after a high-end custom PC. I've spent the last 15 years building microprocessors for high-end servers, so I've always wondered about custom PCs. I decided to take a look around the Internet and found some really cool stuff out there.
Consider Going Custom
If you are looking for a custom built pc and you live in the United Kingdom, I found something really cool for you. There's a really neat company called Cryo Performance Computing, and according to their website they been designing and building PC technology hardware and software for more than 20 years.
They actually employ engineers just like me that are experts in critical performance areas like semiconductor electronics, thermodynamics, grid computing, and electro-magnetics. Not only that, their website is totally cool. I've never really seen a PC company outside of the giant ones with a resume like this.
The other thing that I thought was really cool about Cryo was that they say on their website that they are motivated by a love of technology and a desire to be on the cutting edge. That really resonated with me and that's why I do what I do every day in my day job.
A Killer PC
One PC in their product lineup really got my attention. They offer a high and AMD-based design for people who are interested in exploiting the relationship between AMD and their graphics division ATI. I love both of those companies (recently merged), and the specs on this PC are really impressive. It; called the Cryo Arachnid (cool name). If you are an Intel fan you can check out the Cryo Octane. With eight screaming cores you'll have plenty of power to do whatever you need.
So, I guess my recommendation to Garry would be find a local supplier who can give an excellent support, and go for a custom PC. Garry lives in Tennessee, so Cryo is not local for him. But, by the looks of the website, it may be worth moving to the U.K.
Got a PC Question? Drop me a comment. In addition to being an Internet marketing geek, I love PC technology.
Personally, I love the idea of custom built PC – I have gone this route for my non-Mac computers since I like to play PC Games (many PC Gamers will actually assemble their computers). If you are willing to learn (or pay someone) to build your own PC you can get the best parts where it counts or choose to pick the best value if it will not impact you.
The other big benefit about custom building your PC is that you do not get all that shovel-ware on your computer (no 30 day anti-virus software trials and no “special” HP or Dell software).
One thing that you will not get is a good deal – I have never really felt like I was saving money when building my own PC. If anything, I spend a little more on higher quality parts.
I think the answer is easy, buy a Mac.
My experience is that hardware represents about 5% of the problem with computers. Software is far and away the dominant problem. If you have to stick with Microsoft then I recommend learning to do routine OS installs using drivesnapshot, Norton Ghost, or similar disk imaging. Running a virtual OS is a better answer, you’ll always have the exact same behavior.
If system installs could somehow be automated I’d recommend a monthly disk wipe and clean OS install. I doubt this will be automated anytime soon, so once or twice per year is all that most people could handle.