Marvin Computers Site Launch - Ubuntu Systems :D

[disciple3d]

Hi All,

Just to do a quick announcement, on the launch of my Linux computer systems company, Marvin Computers. We're based in the UK, but will ship to anywhere in the world. I've had a little feedback on my initial models, and launched a small range, but I'd be happy to hear anyone's feedback and ideas. We're focussing on high quality Linux systems, and Linux compatible hardware in general.

I'd like to offer you all an initial 10% your total order with the code MARVIN1 :) This offer ends on 31st May.

The URL is www.marvincomputers.co.uk (http://www.marvincomputers.co.uk)

Please take a look and see if there's anything of interest to you. I will be adding further products and payment methods over the coming weeks.



Thanks!


Chris Gilbert

Managing Director
Marvin Computers Limited

[murderslastcrow]

Not bad- fair prices for the powerhouse hardware you've included. I've always been interested in getting fairly priced Ubuntu hardware. I hope you get some good business- I'll link you to some of my friends looking for nice gaming PCs at the moment, since this would be a valuable investment even for a Windows user.

[disciple3d]

Thanks! :)

[YuiDaoren]

Gotta give a thumbs-up for the choice of those Lian-Li cases. Very pretty.

Nice prices too.

[NightwishFan]

Seems solid. I am hoping this works out for you!

[cprofitt]

Looks good... you may want to offer a drop down that handles price conversion.

[wiebeest]

Looking in awe at that impressive dark matter gaming rig
(http://www.marvincomputers.co.uk/products/darkmatter)
I love the i7 860 Radeon HD 5850 setup and wonder if you tested if all components work properly with Ubuntu. Can you please confirm?

Attention: with the OS you can choose between Windows7 and Ubuntu 9.10...pleasure update to 10.4 LTS.

[Penguin Guy]

Nice name, nice website, bad logo, bad pictures (they have white backgrounds). Overall nice work - I'd buy from you, but I prefer to build my own computers.

[matthewbpt]

Looks great! Next time I'm buying a new PC I'll be sure to look at your website.

[kaldor]

Looks nice!

I will be needing a new desktop in the future. This looks like a viable choice :)

If the Linux thing works out for you, you should consider more distros such as Mint and SUSE. A retailer of SUSE Enterprise might be useful ;)

Good luck

[earthpigg]

looks good!

since you have a 'software' section, have you considered including cross-platform games for sale?

maybe a CD or DVD full of .debs for a bunch of Free Software and/or Freeware games for £20.00?

[retro89]

looks good... You may want to offer a drop down that handles price conversion.

+1

[disciple3d]

Hi Guys, thanks for the feedback. Sorry for the delay - for some reason I stopped getting notifications of the updates.

Yes, DarkMatter has been tested on Ubuntu. The basics work, including 3D acceleration, but I have not done game testing on Linux I'm afraid, mainly because it's targeted at Windows users. I am writing this on a DarkMatter right now :) I hope to provide some more detailed testing in the near future.

I am looking into providing a drop down to do currency conversion - I'm afraid we won't be able to accept payments in other currencies in the near future, although we may be able to display the prices in your local currency, as per the drop down suggestion. XE.com is a good place to do the conversion in the meantime.

How do you feel about the systems so far? Are there any problems you can see? Would you prefer some:P budget systems too? I am interested in some feedback from the community.

I emailed Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu Community manager to ask for suggestions in promotion, and he suggested prizes. So, prizes it is!

If someone can come up with a new model which they think will be popular, and I can sell at least one of them, I will give you a 2TB hard disk as a thank you present!

How does that sound? It's a gentleman's agreement for the moment, but maybe I'll be able to put something more detailed on the website soon :)

[LowSky]

Nice use of Lian-Li cases.

[disciple3d]

Thanks, LowSky.

Just to give you all a bit more reason to purchase from us, we're having a big promotion this weekend - 20% off your total order until Monday. So have a look and see if there's anything you are after :)

Just enter the code MARVINWEEKEND at the checkout, to apply the discount.

thanks!

Chris

[JGJones]

I'm looking to purchase a new computer sometime in the near future (say in between 6-10 months) so have bookmarked your site.

I especially like the bundled kit you have suggested such as the Sysadmin kit where one can get two monitors, keyboard, mouse, desk mount in one go - a nice touch.

Might get the budget PC (Intel) but one question - is the graphics in those budget system upgradable or intenal only?

Thanks.

[squilookle]

Doesn't look bad mate. And UI see you're located in Nottingham - not far from myself atm.

Good luck to you. :)

[JGJones]

If someone can come up with a new model which they think will be popular, and I can sell at least one of them, I will give you a 2TB hard disk as a thank you present!

How does that sound? It's a gentleman's agreement for the moment, but maybe I'll be able to put something more detailed on the website soon :)

You pretty much cover the range, however when I was looking at your systems, I was looking at the Marvin Graviton as the Dark Matter is a bit too expensive for me :(. One problem with it was that I did not see an option to upgrade the graphics (aka an budget gaming system)

So I suggest a budget gaming system - ie something with an i5 and a cheap decent gaming card and the option to take a single monitor too perhaps. This wouldn't be as expensive as the Dark Matter but would still make a decent gaming system on a budget. "Almost Dark Matter" if you like :D

Cheers

[gutterslob]

I can't really comment on the prices since I live in a different part of the world now, but your range seems well spread out and your components seem more than decent enough for serious computing.

I like your choice/taste in casings in particular. :D

Here's wishing you the best of luck with your business. Remember to drop in and say hi once you're a big player, ya hear!! :P

[disciple3d]

Hi Guys,

JGJones: Thanks for your interest - yep, the graphics are upgradeable, it's a 16X PCI-Express card.

As for the budget gaming system, I'll have a look at that. It would probably be a different model name, because the Graviton is really designed as a Linux system, and the gaming systems really need to be Windows ones at the moment.

I hope to provide decent Linux focussed gaming systems in the future, but the problems are many and onerous at the moment!

That being said, I'd be happy to do you a custom system with a better graphics card, based around the Graviton, if that's what you're after. Just let me know if you'd like, and I can send you a quote :)

I am also looking at the best way to provide netbooks and laptops in the future. This is a difficult market for new players. The shuttle SGA platform looks promising, but they have exclusive deals with Dixons on several of the models, despite claiming to be an 'open' platform.

Still, I think I can source some unbranded laptops, it's just finding ones that meet my exacting standards that's the trouble!

thanks,

Chris

[charliea_w4]

Chris

Good luck with your new business, I spent some time looking for a well specced Ubuntu desktop machine about a year ago and thought you might be interested in how I got on.

I run a small software development company, the heaviest app I run regularly is Eclipse which seems to require a fairly beefy spec.

The requirement which was hardest to fulfil was that it be as near silent as possible. I found quite a lot of information on building a "near silent" PC myself (oversized slow fans, sound insulation, large heatsink etc.) but very little that was available off the shelf.

I ended up choosing a fanless Dual Core Atom machine from an outfit that will remain nameless. The box was fine but the PSU packed up after 6 months and as they couldn't get a replacement part the only solution offered was to put the motherboard in a larger case with a different PSU which is almost as loud as the original PC the Atom was meant to replace.

I work in a quiet home-office and really notice the noise my PC makes. A category of user which I presume is growing as broadband allows more and more people to avoid a commute.

Very few suppliers of linux hardware make any claims about the noise output of their boxes.

How about an optional "whisper configuration" for some of your boxes or something designed from scratch to minimise fan and HD noise?

Just a thought, all the best

Charlie

[WinterRain]

How about an optional "whisper configuration" for some of your boxes or something designed from scratch to minimise fan and HD noise?


How about a "tornado configuration" for those of us that like extra fan noise? The white noise helps me sleep.

[GMU_DodgyHodgy]

I am sitting here with my wife looking over my shoulder trying hard to resist filling out order and incurring her wrath (she is saving for some new bedroom furniture for our youngest son). Nice equipment and fair prices - if I use my credit card and I am from the states - will the order go through?

I like the configurations. Nice site!!

[Wee_Guy]

I second the idea of a quiet option. When you're in a quiet room a noisy PC is really annoying. You could also argue that silence adds to the sense of value/quality of the product.

One part of the site that isn't entirely user friendly is the drop down menus to select hardware configurations. The big list of stuff for the Neutrino in particular is a bit overwhelming. What about a radio button to select standard/upgrade options for each area?

[WinterRain]

I second the idea of a quiet option. When you're in a quiet room a noisy PC is really annoying. You could also argue that silence adds to the sense of value/quality of the product.


Believe it or not, there are people for whom complete silence is as bad as extremely loud noises. There is a reason they make white noise machines.

[Wee_Guy]

http://simplynoise.com/ :)

Ideally the 'quietness' would be optional anyway, as the properly quiet stuff is usually more expensive (larger heatsinks/fans etc).

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Do your computers have GPP?

(“I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed.”)

:)

On a more serious note, good luck!

[Penguin Guy]

Aren't these a bit steep? Or am I missing something?

[Hman242]

Hope it goes well for you. Unfortunately you don't sell laptops, which is what I always buy. Maybe you could look into producing some portable systems?

[fetuspuppet]

NICE!

Has anyone done a review of your hardware for YouTube yet? :popcorn:

[AllRadioisDead]

I second the tornado option.

[disciple3d]

I am sitting here with my wife looking over my shoulder trying hard to resist filling out order and incurring her wrath (she is saving for some new bedroom furniture for our youngest son). Nice equipment and fair prices - if I use my credit card and I am from the states - will the order go through?

I like the configurations. Nice site!!

Would a 17.5% discount help change her mind? ;) I can arrange that.

Please note that orders in the USA (or indeed other countries outside of the EU) might be subject to import duty, and higher shipping charges. I can't quote the individual rates, but it is worth checking with your customs service before ordering. The order will go through fine however, and we have no problem accepting foreign credit cards. In addition, you have three options in regard to foreign currency payments:

1. Let your credit card issuer do the currency conversion at the Visa/Mastercard rate. This is usually a good currency conversion rate, but might incur a percentage or fixed surcharge depending on the issuing bank.

2. Pay by PayPal and let them do the currency conversion. There is no surcharge this way, but the rate may not be as favourable:

Paypal Currency Conversion Rates (https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp;jsessionid=V1NxM7KQ1nLy7nvxcDLWF6sfg1pcQM 1nM611ZcTmhGWCgRFSQlTl!-502923148?locale=en_GB&_dyncharset=UTF-8&countrycode=GB&cmd=_help-ext&serverInstance=9014&t=solutionTab&ft=searchTab&ps=solutionPanels&solutionId=163394&isSrch=Yes)

3. You can also pay by direct bank transfer, and arrange for your bank to do the currency conversion for you, which would incur a surcharge of some description too.

I would work out the cost of each option and pick the cheaper of them.

Unfortunately we don't sell bedroom furniture yet. If we did though, it would be Linux powered, obviously :)

In regards to the questions on noise, the cases use large 120mm fans so are fairly low noise anyhow, but I have thought about low noise options in the future. This obviously adds to the cost though, so it's a matter of cost/benefit to the most customers. If you wished to noise proof your case yourself though, and replace with low noise fans, obviously that is perfectly possible.

The prices I think are reasonable, considering the quality of the hardware used. It is possible to buy cheaper Linux PCs, and we may feature cheaper models in the future, but you do get what you pay for in regard to hardware. That being said, we are planning on having some more 20% off weekend sales in the future - so look out for that, if you are interested, but can't afford anything at the moment!

Our next planned model will be a MythTV box called the BeebleBox. I can't announce a date as of yet, but hopefully it will be available by Christmas time. It will focus on a highly usable pre-configured MythTV system, with power saving options, good control and usability, and lots of local storage.

In terms of laptops - I would very much like to offer them. As a small OEM, laptops are difficult, especially when you are looking for Linux compatibility. They would be resold products produced by someone else I imagine. If anyone is aware of appropriate manufacturers, I would be interested to contact them for further details. Because the hardware requirements are more tight though, and we are picky in using high quality components, this is why we presently don't offer any. I consider this a priority though, and I am continuing to investigate the available options.

In terms of white noise- I'm afraid I can't claim that Marvin machines are noisy, but if you wish to generate noise, there are white noise generators on Linux audio programs which can do this sort of thing... :)

Sorry, at the moment there is no GPP technology on Marvin Computers.*

*None of our machines feature genuine people personalities (GPP) at the present time. This may be a future optional extra, should the technology exist in the future for such devices. We reserve the right to produce future machines which include GPP technology, should it become useful or profitable to do so.

[GiorgioG]

Hi, the site looks decent. The systems look fine and price is good. Any chance of offering RAID 5 systems? It seems there are enough bays in the case to support that. You could have 6 500G HDs in there for less than $300. In any case, I'll be staff at a UK University starting from Sept 1 and I'll consider buying one of your systems, since I use Linux a lot for data analyses.

Oh, let me know when you'll have another Marvin weekend discount fest ;)

-Giorgio Ganis

[disciple3d]

Hi Giorgio,

Glad to hear you are joining us across the pond :)

RAID-5 systems? I don't see why not. I can spec some drives for the SuperMarvin, which I expect is the best system to add this option to.

If in the meantime you'd like me to quote for particular hardware which isn't on the website, then I'm happy to do this. If you have a particular spec of system in mind, just let me know, and I'll send you a quote!


thanks,

Chris