(2/16) I bought the MX230 VM Desktop from the local Fry's Electronics Store for about $1200. Out of the box, it looks great everything neatly packed. Plugged in a new monitor, the mouse and keyboard that came with the system and powered her up. Within 5 minutes of windows booting up I received the first of many "blue screen errors" (this is straight out of the box)  
 
After a restart, I was able to mess around with the new Windows 7 OS. Changed my desktop wallpaper and took a peek at the computer's Windows Experience Index.  
 
I inserted my Microsoft Office 2007 CD and nothing. Checked the device manager and found out there it isn't detecting an optical drive. I Emailed VM tech support, and the technician easily walked me through the process of inspecting to see the drive is actually still plugged in. Upon further inspection, the plug must have slipped out. CD rom problem fixed. Installed MS Office, happy customer.  
 
A day later, I received another "BSOD". SYSTEM SERVICE EXEMPTION, 3B. A restart later, 1A error MEMORY MANAGEMENT. A day later, same two almost alternating errors, 1A, 3B. Today 3/1/10 I experienced a brand new BSOD calling itself PFN LIST CORRUPT error code 4E. According the the windows event viewer, there has been a total of 22 blue screen errors in the last 2 weeks.  
 
I emailed a list of my problems on 2/24, they replied on 2/25 saying my service registration was not completed and was unable to help me until I sent them the appropriate information. I sent in the 6 digit computer code, along with a copy of the original receipt on 2/25 and am waiting for a response.  
 
I will update this post when I get a response from VM.  
 
**update 3/2**  
Velocity received my registration information. My product is officially registered now, and the ticket regarding the crashes is officially dated 3/1.  
 
**update 3/4**  
The VM technician conveniently emailed me a application to test the systems memory. I had ran the same test just a few days prior and the results came back normal. I decided that I really did not want to do anymore troubleshooting with a brand new computer. I returned it and happily bought a big brand name PC.  
 

This review was modified by its author, tomaslim, on 3/8/10 8:06 PM.

Purchased the Edge Z30 based on the reviews. Everything went smoothly, machine was great, operated as promised. A few months into it I started having problems with 3D graphics. Tried the usual driver fixes. Put in a ticket for support and got a quick response by email then a very helpful conservation over the phone (this was during the DC snowstorm). When these things didn't fix the problem they shipped me a new graphics card, which fixed the problem.  
 
Sounds routine perhaps, but for me the best experience I've had with customer support for a long time. It is also still a great system for the price and deserves the reviews.

BUILDING A NEW PC EXPERIENCE-THEY ARE NOT KIDDING  
 
 
The new revised edition published soon. Stay tuned.

This review was modified by its author, HOTSTUFF21, on 2/9/10 8:09 PM.

WORST PC PURCHASE EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD - DO NOT BUY VELOCITY MICRO. I purchased a Z30 (i7-860, 8GB RAM) in early December 2009 for my business. VM's recent awards, as well as the excellent service I received from their sales staff answering my pre-sales questions, convinced me VM was worth the premium they charge over similar configurations from other manufacturers. The purchase process was easy and their online notification system kept me updated throughout the build and shipping process. When my new machine arrived around Dec. 22nd, I eagerly set it up with a single monitor and no peripherals to get a chance to play with it. Needless to say, I was unpleasantly surprised to get a blue screen error immediately. Upon reboot everything loaded and seemed fine. On the next boot, I experienced another blue screen. After three consecutive days of blue screens upon startup, I called VM's customer service. First call - 75 minute wait, then based on the error code (0x50), a rep had me update the video drivers and then run memory diagnostics software on each of the four 2GB RAM units. After 6 hours of opening my machine and exchanging RAM chips, I couldn't even get the first two units to make it through the testing process without the machine shutting down. After another 75 minutes on hold the same rep confirmed that I was testing things correctly, so I continued the process for another 6 hours, and found three of the four chips failed. Over the holiday weekend, I received four different blue screen errors in four days. It took 90 minutes to get through to customer service after the holiday weekend - this time I spoke with a different rep who had me check the BIOS and identified that some of the settings were incorrect (what happened to that hand wired, hand tested build process I heard such rave reviews about?). After changing the settings, he had me run the memory diagnostics again. Another 10 hours of opening my machine and exchanging RAM...this time they all passed. Yet I continue to get blue screen errors every day when I boot up the machine (0x1E, 1A, 50, 0A, 24, 00, 21A). After another long wait a third rep asked me to start "real world" testing, using the RAM in pairs while going on with my business as usual. I just continue to get more blue screen errors and still have no resolution. I have asked repeatedly that they take the machine back and either fix it or send me a new one, but each rep tells me that they are not finished diagnosing the problem and can't have me send it back. I have purchased several computers and have never experienced anything like this before. I certainly do not want to spend 75-90 minutes on hold every time I call just to talk to CS reps who contradict each other, are unable to resolve the issue and yet still refuse to take the machine back. Based on the experience thus far, I certainly cannot recommend VM machines or their service.  
 
Update 1/18/10 - Let's be clear about VM's response. They were unable to diagnose the issue remotely, but instead of taking the machine back they wanted to try replacing the power supply first. Part delivered and technician replaced the part quickly - 6 hours later the blue screen issue perists. After two attempts to get through to customer service (75 min hold times) I am now being told to ship the machine back for repair, but that it will take 2-3 weeks to even be looked at due to repair backlog. So with shipping time, I won't have a machine for 4-5 weeks. And depsite the fact that the issue has been present since I received the system, VM will charge me a 15% restocking fee if I want to return it. STAY AWAY FROM VELOCITY MICRO!  
 
Update 3/9/10 - The machine has now been shipped back to VM twice to try to get it working. I received the machine back from VM today again, and it is still inoperable. I will be filing a claim with the BBB tomorrow. STAY AWAY - DO NOT BUY A COMPUTER FROM VELOCITY MICRO.

This review was modified by its author, rsmolen22, on 3/9/10 2:00 AM.

Easy problem reporting and excellant tech support.....problem resolved after 30 min call. Thanks VM for a great product and stellar support!

This review was modified by its author, RAHerstine, on 12/20/09 8:53 PM.

Hello,  
Here are a few comments on my pc purchase from Velocity. I purchased my PC back in July 2009, I waited this long to write my thoughts because I was waiting for my Win 7 upgrade. Now after upgrading and using it for several months, I can honestly say I'm quite satisfy with my purchase. This is not to say that I did not have problems, but I would not say it was Velocity's fault. My first issue was a few blue screens within the first few weeks that I had the machine. I couldn't understand why it seemed random. I also had issues with my M-Audio card; when recording music, I had static in my recordings. Of course, i decided to do my own troubleshooting and I found for some reason having ZONE ALARM on was the cause of the static in my audio recordings. I shut it off and I have no issues. As for the blue screens it slowly stopped maybe due to some windows update, the big difference in the machine was when I upgraded it to Win 7, it's a different machine, much faster, very reliable and I have no issues at this time with the pc. I'm totally satisfied with it. I think the issues I was having were more due to the fact that I had Windows Vista, I never had a good experience with this operating system. With that being said, I have to say I may just purchase my laptop from Velocity as well. I like the timely delivery, the neatness of the machine and the times I spoke to customer service it was a good experience. I would recommend to a friend as well as purchase from them again.  
 
H.

If I got to choose, I would give Velocity Micro a 2.5  
 
I ordered a $3200 system that I received at the beginning of 2006 with a 3-year warranty. The support I received from Velocity Micro while my warranty was valid was superb (the last call I made to them was early 2008 for service and I called in October 2009 for tech support and in November 2009 for upgrade questions).  
 
Unfortunately, I have had a motherboard, multi-card reader, CPU cooling, a DVD drive, SB Platinum sound card, and both SLI video cards fail on me, but they were very helpful and prompt in sending out replacement parts (except for the DVD drive and the sound card, both of which failed after the warranty). I'm not sure about the general reliability of these parts, but it seems like a high failure rate. Also, the multi-card reader failed multiple times, but I got tired of replacing it and just bought an external reader...it seems when I eject the card media, the computer ejects the whole reader and eventually, even when plugging it back in, it stops working...not good when the reader is in an internal bay.  
 
However, once my warranty expired (or a change in support at VM?), the company was not as helpful and proactive as a competitor that a close friend ordered from. VM offers a lifetime warranty upgrade that starts at $99 for the service (when you buy the part from them), not counting the shipping or the price of the parts. The prices they offered for the parts were actually more expensive than what Newegg offered.  
My friend's company doesn't charge for their lifetime upgrade service (for parts bought from them) and the prices he received were lower than those on Newegg (I assume that he is being charged OEM prices or slightly more). His company was also proactive in offering the upgrade services as well. When I requested the price quotes (as did my friend), I received only the information about the prices, while he received recommendations about the most cost-efficient combinations.  
 
I also had issues with my RAID drivers when trying to install Windows 7, but VM just pointed me to their website and said that if the drivers weren't there, they didn't have them. I ended up browsing through Silicon Image's website myself to get them. It was somewhat of a painful experience and I expected a little more help after dropping over 3K on a computer. Service was a LOT better when I first bought my computer up through early 2008. The tone seemed different when I called more recently, and made me feel like I was calling a box store. The boutique feel wasn't there at all and I would compare their service recently at below the level of Dell's XPS service (called in early 2009). (Note: I own a Dell XPS laptop and a Mini 9 both bought in Jan 2009)  
 
From my experience, VM went from a great company to a decent one. Competition in the boutique gaming industry is stiff and it feels like VM is falling behind. My personal experience was decent, but compared to my expectations and the services that my friend received from his company based in CA (and Dell!), they just don't stand up. Customer service, the reason why I purchase from custom builders, seems to be going downhill. Unless there are some significant changes in their customer service and post-warranty policies, I will be buying my next desktop machine (in early 2010) from the company my friend ordered from (no time to do a full build myself...I want to move from AMD to Intel).

This review was modified by its author, geney112, on 12/12/09 2:59 AM.

Be warned -- their lead times are not accurate -- I ordered the computer on November 21, and they still have not shipped it yet -- it's December 7th today. Am wishing I had gotten a pre-fab system from NewEgg or someone.  
 
Update: Computer arrive one month after I ordered it. It was "dead on arrival" -- would not boot. To Velocity's credit, their phone support was great -- they had me check all the internal connections and found one that was loose, and that fixed it.  
 
All in all, it's a sweet machine, but it was expensive, so I feel I got what I paid for.  
 
I actually need two more high-powered machines for a new project, but this time I'm going to try Dell Outlet -- as I can't afford to waste another month waiting for a custom computer....

This review was modified by its author, perls, on 12/26/09 1:00 PM.

I am writing this because the folks at VM have failed me. I purchased a C90 from them in Sept.'07, it worked fine for 1 year, with the exception of the eSATA port, which I was told later had never worked on any of the C90's, nice. Then the computer just stops working, I go through the process with the rep, and to be fair, each and every rep that I have dealt with has been courteous and patient, having said that, we couldn't get the computer going, so off to VM it goes. Now I purchased 3yr on site top warranty, knowing that living in Nova Scotia there would be no on site, no worries, what I didn't expect was that I would have to pay ($180.00) to ship my laptop back. They get the computer, and find a memory card loose, probably my bad, but not the problem, they had me remove the cards and flash the cmos, or whatever it's called, so I may not have put the memory cards in all the way, regardless it wasn't working before that. They couldn't find a problem, so I said that they had better find the problem because it was sure to show up again and I wasn't really interested in paying another $180.00 to ship it back again. I was assured that it had been stressed out and all was well, so about 4wks later I get my laptop back. All but one screw holding on the rear cover was missing, as was the screw that holds in the CD tray, another 4wks to get the screws, I was told at least 3 different times that they had been sent. Now ahead to April, I'm in a camp for a month and the computer craps out on the 3rd day there, lovely, this time it's diagnosed as a bad video card, I say great, just send me one, none available, lovely I say, so now what do we do? Finally in June I get a new video card, but it is a 256, not a 512 that I had, so now I still can't play my games properly, you can imagine how my frustration is starting to build by now. In July I send back the computer, they have agreed to replace it with one of their newer models, because the C90 is no longer available, great, so I'm happy again and eagerly awaiting my new M15. Well, I wait, and I wait, no M15, I get an email saying they are waiting for a shell, 2 more weeks, no shell, can't get an M15, so they tell me they are going to replace it with a different computer, one from Prostar, a 762ETU, I say whatever, then I go and check on the Prostar site and look at what they are going to send, I tell them at this time that the 860ETU Prostar was a better match, I was told it was too late as the other one had already been ordered, I say fine, I'll try it. Ahead now to Sept. I get my computer, it is an M762TUN, not what I was told, buy hey I'll try it. After having some initial start up issues, I get it running as well as it will, it doesn't play my games worth a damn, wtf?, I have no idea, I call the folks at Prostar, after all it is their computer, I'm told that the 105M video processor is not for gaming, it is not even a seperate GPU, it is an onboard chip, again wtf?. I call VM, I email VM, I get jack all, Basically they replaced, you could make the comparison between a Dell XPS and a Dell Inspiron, my high end gaming laptop with a nice cheap everyday computer that doesn't have the jam to play games. I guess to sum up, I'm pissed off, they have replaced a $2200.00 computer, that was designed for gaming, with a $600.00 computer that was designed for doing email and word and excel, you get the picture. Fair warning to anyone that is considering VM, DON'T!!!! you will be glad you went elsewhere, their service is the worst I have ever experienced, period. Well it's later in the day and VM has finally responded to my very valid complaints, glad they have gotten back to me with an acceptable solution, but it is a shame that it had to come to this for a solution. Now we wait and see.  
Well I did wait and see, and just before New Years I received my new M17 as a replacement, I have to say that I am, so far, very pleased with the computer, it performs quite nicely, better than the one that I had originally purchased. So I will say thank you to VM, I appreciate the final outcome.

This review was modified by its author, bskinheli, on 2/5/10 3:17 PM.

I had ordered a very expensive M17 Ultra gaming laptop from Velocity Micro as my little gift to myself this holiday season. Well, I got it last night...  
 
To start with, I was a returning customer. My desktop is a Velocity Micro rig, bought in 2007, and I've had nothing but good karma with it. Velocity Micro service is located right here in Virginia and they were always very professional. Their computers are hand-built to your order, too. That's why they're expensive.  
 
Flash forward two years... now I'm going overseas soon, so I need a laptop. Of course Velocity was my first choice. The first thing I did when I got it out of the box was call Velocity for their legendary service and ask how to get connected through WiFi. The tech support I got was horrible. Things have changed at Velocity, and I think it's going the way of Alienware... trying to make more money by selling at the big boxes (yup, Velocity now sells their rigs at the local store) and sacrificing in the service department. The tech rep had an attitude and the first thing he had me do was mess around in the command prompt. God knows what we did; I don't even remember. When that didn't work, he said he'd e-mail me the drivers to the WiFi (wtf... didn't they do that when they were building it?) and then told me good luck and pretty much hung up on me. Updating the drivers didn't work either. So I decided to wing it and use Microsoft's diagnostic tool. It turns out that all I had to do was make sure the WiFi was powered on with the switch on the laptop cover. Doh.  
 
Then I get on the computer and start looking around... oh, no. Crapware. MS Office trial verson, LiteScribe, etc. all hogging my resources in the systray. Let me just say that there was zero crapware on the machine I bought in 2007. Forget this. I sent it back today. Whatever you do, don’t buy a Velocity Micro computer today. They are not the same company they were a few years ago.  

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

This review was modified by its author, law1976, on 11/16/09 1:42 AM.

I’m a pretty hardcore gamer. I’ve normally build my own gaming PC. I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz around the Velocity Micro’s gaming PC and their reviews have been top notch. I decided rather than going through the hassle of building my own when it came time to upgrade that I would buy a Velocity Micro PC. My driving force for this decision was because I wanted to improve my gaming experience and be more competitive online. I called then up, explained what I was looking for and within a few days, I received my Velocity Micro Z-55 PC. I ordered it with 6GB of RAM, SSD HD, SLI video and Windows 7 x64. Right out of the box, this PC was configured with every latest drivers and Windows updates. All I had to do was install my games. My overall experience can be summed up like this. This PC’s performance is the equivalent of driving a car from Nascar. It’s a rocket. My overall gaming experience is way better. When competing online in a FPS the PC feels like I’m able to react quicker being more responsive and my shots tend to register quicker. The Z-55 is truly a professional gaming PC and I recommend it to anyone who wants to take their gaming experience to the next level.

This review was modified by its author, Heberto, on 2/17/10 10:02 AM.

Couple of months ago I killed my old Gateway laptop after three years of working it like a rented mule. Called Gateway to see if I could get a little help, maybe just identify a part number or something since I knew it was well out of warranty. I was left slack jawed with disbelief when the online chat guy told me that not only couldn't he help, but he couldn't even continue this conversation when it was determined I was out of warranty! Gateway would never get another nickel from me.  
 
Since I was a heavy Photoshop/Lightroom user I decided to go for a desktop this time. Hit the usual retail outlets and was pretty unhappy with the crap build of most of the major brands. Started surfing cnet and so forth and came across a handful of brands that seemed to offer better build, better customer service (or any at all) and so forth. Ended up calling Velocity Micro, got great phone, ordered a product and loved it. The following is the email I sent to the company after receiving the product.  
 
 
Hi Folks. What a pleasant surprise this has turned out to be. Great machine. Nice build quality (At work, I'm used to fishing around in 100K Sony HD decks and such so I really appreciate a nice build. And no, you are not in the same league as them or Mac towers but a great clean build for the price and LIGHT YEARS better than the mainstream companies.) After my last machine, a Gateway died (and their POS "Customer service dept" told me that they could not "continue this conversation" when it was determined my box was out of warranty...), I was determined to find a better way... Voluminous web research led me to you guys.  
 
So many positive things compared to the usual garbage from HP/Dell/The Borg/whoever... NO CRAPWARE for one! My god, the machine boots in record time! Nice clean build with quality name brand components! And all the documention, drivers, the works! Everything worked out of the box! (After I seated a loose HD power cable, no biggee since it was shipped from Virginia... And I might have even been the one to loosen it when I took the side cover off...) But there is nothing more annoying than trying to buy an expensive computer from Best Buy then be told that the snot-nosed Geek Squad people should really "optimize" the machine to remove the garbage you didn't want in the first place. Love is really a clean tool bar and empty desktop. Fricken revelation. Hope you guys start a trend. Or an armed revolution.  
 
Two minor quibbles... Wish I got the actual copy of Vista rather than a boot disc. But not an issue since I'll be upgrading to 7. But honestly, on a machine with enough RAM and no bloatware, Vista seems great. Not sure what all the fuss was about. Lightroom 64 screams! Then... there is this this keyboard. Either I will go blind or dajdwikmadfkadgvmlk become an excellent touch typist. I mean the dim blue backlit keys probably rock during Skittle and Mountain Dew fueled all night raids on WOW but in my sunny office I might as well be typing on a shoebox lid. Mouse is cool though, love the page back function.  
 
Friends dig the machine too. Can't believe how fast it boots without the bloatware or that there isn't any. This is a HUGE selling point! GF is coming up this weekend and I think she is going to kill me for recommending HP a few months ago...  
 
I'll be sure and let you know when the honeymoon is over. Until then, you are my new best friend. OK, not really but very pleased with the new computer. I'll be sure and call you when I want to upgrade to a SSD boot/scratch/data drive config since I'm sure you will have a few pointers and I can never have enough render-fu in CS.  
 
Best,  

The order process was a little slow, but we were building something completely out of the box so I can understand some of the delay. The second time around when we ordered the same box specs, it was a breeze.  
 
The first PC arrived DOA. Tech support immediatelypatched me through to the person who built the workstation who quickly patched me to the head tech. The support was great and I was able to get my system up and running with their help. As to why the system didnt start properly - it looks like shipping damaged the hard drive, as I eventually had to send the machine back in because of poor performance.  
 
Once we straightened out the bugs. The machine has been rocking. Perfect performance. So a few bugs, a few headaches. But they were good with communication the entire way through. And to be honest every company is going to have one or two that fall through the cracks. But how that company handles it makes the difference.  
 
Would buy from them again.

This has to be the best technology purchase I've ever made, and the most fulfilling. I've bought Dell machines, IBM, Lenovo, and HP in the past. The experiences have ranged from acceptable to unbearable - but never have I had the type of end-end exceptional experience that I had with Velocity Micro. From the the pre-sales process through ordering, delivery, and post sales support the team at Velocity Micro demonstrated that they are the best at what they do, and care about their customers. Trace, who was helped me through the configuration and order process, was also available after installation to make sure everything worked as specified (or better), and even went out of his way to help with things not related to what I had bought from VM, including soliciting friends and colleagues for ideas on other products. Trace did not try to "sell" me anything - instead he provide advice on what might meet my needs, and did not pressure me in any direction. Of course, the machine itself is superb - clean construction, and it SCREAMS!  
Never had a PC execute so well. Yes, I paid about 5% more than buying an off-the-shelf Dell, or equivalent - but it was well worth it - better compoonents, more reliable, and performance that's unsurpassed.