User:Thallwyn/Maingear

MAINGEAR is a privately held boutique computer manufacturer headquartered in Union, NJ (USA). MAINGEAR specializes in custom gaming computers and desktops, custom laptops, media center computers, and workstations. They are built and supported in the United States.

History
MAINGEAR began in 2002, when Wallace Santos, founder and CEO, and his partner, Jonathan, decided to change the direction of their technology services business and focus on consumer-centric, high performance gaming PCs with a focus on customer service. MAINGEAR's initial lineup of the Prelude and F131 custom computers, was widely advertised in popular technology magazines.

In 2005, MAINGEAR was one of the first system builders to participate in the now defunct, but then very popular HardOCP [H] Consumer Systems Evaluation program. This review site put a magnifying glass to an entire company, and even purchased systems anonymously to better evaluate the customer purchasing experience. Praise from [H] Consumer elevated MAINGEAR's status in the market place and has been attributed to their growth. In 2006 they were awarded Best Technical Support and Best Boutique Builder from [H] Consumer.

System Building Philosophy
MAINGEAR's customer-service focus touches every part of the company. Customers can speak directly to the person who is building their PC, and they do not have tiered tech support. Tech support is also handled in-house, not outsourced to call centers.

MAINGEAR is different than other system builders as they restrict the number of brands they use in their PCs. CTO Chris Morley believes that "direct discounters and quick-turn commodity builders" cannot perform prior and proper R&D on every combination of hardware they sell, and MAINGEAR ensures that all the hardware they use is compatible and reliable before they launch it.

The SHIFT
On November 2nd, 2009, MAINGEAR released their first custom PC utilizing a chassis of their own design. For the launch, MAINGEAR redesigned their entire site and even their logo, moving away from the "gear" icon, to what the founders describe as depicting "hardware so powerful, it can barely be contained." The SHIFT employs a 90 degree rotation of the motherboard, utilizing the tendency of hot air to rise. The SHIFT won its first editor's choice award from Computer Shopper on November 5th, 2009 and was 5 out of 100 Top Desktops in Computer Shopper's end of the year round up. The initial lineup included a P55 and X58 chipset variant, and future plans include a dual socket XEON workstation. MAINGEAR has publicly stated they intend to go after Apple's workstation market share.