Boutique computer maker Maingear has announced the immediate availability of its new Dash Friends and Family PC. Just in time for the end-of-year holiday buying season, the Dash hopes to bring the performance and high quality of a smaller computer maker to everyday computer users at a price which can compare with the biggest PC manufacturers. And, unlike those big computer manufactures, Maingear is certifying each system is free of bloatware and spyware.
"We have a simply amazing client base of techno-savvy customers, and they’re trusted by their friends and family when it comes to buying decisions pertaining to personal computing," said Maingear CEO and founder Wallace Santos, in a statement. "The Maingear Dash Friends and Family PC fills a need in that these customers want to be able to recommend a fast, stable, and reliable system to their sphere of influence. The large Tier 1s have price on their side, but not much else. So we’ve evened the playing field by bringing our personal care and unrivaled customer service down to an affordable level."
The Dash is bashed on Maingear’s flagship Ephex desktop systems, and features AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors, the AMD 690G chipset with ATI Radeon X1250 graphics (although HD 2400PRO and 2600XT graphics controllers are also available), FireWire, and two SATA hard drive bays (each available with drives up to 500 GB). The unit also offers HDMi, DVI, and analog RGB video output, S/PDIF audio output, an all-in-one internal USB flash card reader and writer, 7.1 high-definition audio support, seven USB 2.0 ports, and integrated gigabit Ethernet and 802.11g Wi-Fi. The systems are available with Windows Vista *Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate), and ship with 1 to 3 GB of RAM.
Base configurations for the Maingear Dash Friends and Family PC start at just $799 without a display; fully tricked out with display, storage, and software, the price tag can escalate to over $2,500…but, then, the same thing is true of the major PC makers.
