I remember when Voodoo was the highest echlon in computers. They had a case made of REAL gold! Ever since HP bought them out their site has gone into the toilet. Better yet, all system links now send you to HP's Blackbird.
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I remember when Voodoo was the highest echlon in computers. They had a case made of REAL gold! Ever since HP bought them out their site has gone into the toilet. Better yet, all system links now send you to HP's Blackbird.
They had to do what they had to do to survive, I can't blame them for that. Had they continued their company on the path that they were on, they wouldn't exist today or they would, but would be in an even sadder state than what they are in now. It was the best course of action to join with HP, sort of a "sink or swim" type deal. They aren't nearly as cool as they used to be, but at least they've survived.
Keep in mind that although their products are now sold through HP, the products are still their designs. The Blackbird is branded under HP, but the Envy 133 isn't, it's just sold through HP. Either way, they're Voodoo's designs.
Speaking of the Envy 133, it may not be made out of gold, but it is made entirely out of carbon fiber. In my honest opinion, that is not only cooler than gold, but far more practical as well. It's not quite up-to-date spec wise though, unfortunately. The Macbook Air for example completely blows it out of the water, and that is sad.
At least we still have Falcon Northwest. I guess there could have been only one extreme-enthusiast ultra-high priced pc company and they're basically it. The only one left standing alone, although I think they'll eventually follow suit or die out as well. I can't imagine this recession being good for them and as products are constantly getting cheaper all the time and they aren't, I doubt they'll last. That, and have you been to their product page lately? The part where you configure everything? Dear lord almighty that is horrendously poorly designed. Cluttered, confusing and much too busy. They need to streamline that process ASAP.
Yeah same goes with alienware. back in the day they were great pcs. Now since being aquired by Dell it looks like there prices have gotten higher and the gear not so much.
Voodoo's Rahul Sood's initial response to the HP buyout was basically that HP's R&D department was 100x larger than all of Voodoo combined, and that they would have the backing of a huge company to help develope new and exciting technologies to a far larger market than they ever could on their own.
While it's disappointing that they are getting completely "smothered" by HP now, the influence is still present. Rahul continues to work on his own projects within HP, and his blog reflects all of his thoughts about the company, the process, the "merger" (or buyout, however you want to call it), and the future.
I have to say that while HP may have taken the best from Voodoo, and given them very little to keep for themselves, Dell has stomped Alienware into submission, while leaving them the appearance of being a separate unit.
Boutiques are taking a pounding right now.
Some of us, however, are still in business... I'm still building some really nice machines, and fsck the corporate support, I design and build it all in my own little shop.
I can't see why anyone would pay so much for a premium pre built PC anyway, you get ripped off thousands of dollars.
Yeah VooDoo did design the Blackbird but they also had input from HP, hence why it looks entirely different from anything VooDoo had done before, that matched with the price tag leads to the low sales. The original VooDoo PCs were ahead of their time and you paid for it, their limited edition 24carat gold plated model looked great but wasn't very practical. The Envy is exactly what VooDoo was and hopefully will contonue to be.
One answer: too much money. It's the same reason people buy Lambos, when they're wholly impractical cars. People buy these computers for the prestige, and nothing else. Hell, they probably just play solitaire on them anyway.Quote:
I can't see why anyone would pay so much for a premium pre built PC anyway, you get ripped off thousands of dollars.
-Dave
Or Minesweeper.Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveW
the OMEN was exactly what Voodoo was, and should continue to be.
Amen brother.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke122