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REVIEW - Puget Systems pt. 1

I love Macs.  They’re like my car.  I put the key in the ignition, turn it, and it starts.  I don’t need to hunt down drivers for all the components that come with it when it arrives from Apple, because Apple takes care of all that.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a tech head, but I also just don’t have the patience that is needed with a Windows based machine.  Especially a Windows based NLE system, and ESPECIALLY a Windows based Avid editing system.  Avid has exceptionally stringent system requirements, and they have them for a reason.  They want to make sure their system works exactly the same in the field as it does in the shop.  So what do you do if you are the “common every man” like myself, and you want to purchase a CPU to run Avid’s Media Composer 5.  In most cases, since Dell is quick and simple (like baking a cake), people just go that route, to make their lives easier, and the problem with Dell, and other online PC companies, is that first, they don’t design for Post Production, and second, you are pretty much like a flag in the wind.  At the mercy of Dell’s assembly line.  What if a part you requested isn’t “friendly” with Media Composer, or your CPU set up in general.  For me, there’s too many red flags.  Well, that’s where Puget Systems comes in.  A designer of custom computers, and more importantly, custom computers for Post Production work, they are a hidden gem in the computer world, but hopefully after this multi-part review, they won’t be.

For this review, I’m going to be looking at a couple of things.  First, the process in getting your brand new custom PC directly from Puget Systems (PS), next, I want to cover the arrival, and finally, I want to look at its performance with not only the new Adobe CS5 (specifically Premier Pro CS5 and AE CS5), but with the new Media Composer that is coming in the first half of June, as PS designs their post production CPU’s to run Media Composer, and we no that no small task.  You’ll be able to read my review of MC5 on my new PS computer right here on Pro Video Coalition.  So let’s get started with looking at how you are going to configure your computer, and how PS’ staff is going to make this not only of easiest computer purchases you’ve ever made, but one of the most informative as well.

Much like Dell, and HP, with PS, the first step of the process is to design your CPU.  To start with, since I was playing the “average joe customer”, I e-mailed them with some preliminary “newbie” questions as I was curious to see their answers, and each answer was detailed, and they obviously knew what they were talking about, and they got back to me in less than 24 hours outside of their normal business hours, which really impressed me.  Keep in mind, you are dealing with a company that employ’s fifteen employee’s.  Three of which are administrative (President, CFO & Office Manager), seven are service and support, and five are in the trenches building each computer.  So, to build the computer, I first headed to the top of their home page, and navigated to their custom workstations, and you’ll notice that the “Genesis” model is their post production and design machines.

Once there, you will notice that they proudly state that their systems are optimized for Autodesk, Adobe, Avid, CUBASE and Digidesign, and much like anyone (and everyone) else, I hit the “Customize” button, and started creating my system.  Take a look at this video, and I’ll walk you through the process, and how smooth it is.

Once I had the system configured the way I liked, It was time to make my purchase, and needless to say, if I wasn’t impressed up until this point, I was about to be!

As your computer is being built and tested, you feel almost like you are there with them as they are putting each card into the chassie, and you stay informed by the updates in your PS account, as well as with e-mails that are sent if there are any issues that arise during the testing of the unit.  I have to say that I was very, very impressed, and if I needed to purchase a “high-end” PC, whether it’s for post production or not, PS is who I would go with.

PROS

- Helpful, knowledgeable staff that get back to you very quickly

- exceptional amount of testing and detail conveyed during the production process.

- Five business days from the start of production to the shipment of your unit (which would have been shorter, except special orders were required)

- North American wide service

- LIfetime Tech Support and Maintenance service

- PS covers shipping if system needs to be fixed in first 30 days of ownership.

CONS

- None in the purchasing, production and shipping stage

This is a classic example of the journey being just as important, if not MORE important than the destination.  With Puget Systems, you will feel confident in your purchase with the “one-on-one” feeling you get from them, their quick responses to any questions you have and the detail that is taken in the building of your new PC.  In part two of my review, we’ll take a look at the arrival and setup of the new post-production PC, and what you can expect when you pull it out of the box.  For more information on Puget Systems, and their lines of custom built computers, you can check them out at http://www.pugetsystems.com, and you can follow them on Twitter @pugetsystems .  As always, you can send me an .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or follow me on Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/kpmcauliffe .

FTC Disclosure: I have not been offered any consideration or compensation from Puget Systems for the review of this product.  It was provided as a demo unit only, at no cost to me.

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You must be registered to comment. This is an effort to reduce spam. Please REGISTER HERE.

If you love Macs so much, why not run Media Composer on a Mac?  Is there something you can do in Media Composer on Windows that you can’t do on a Mac?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/01  at  02:03 PM

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Mac supports high quality media works, like animation, editing, . so I preferred mac for all..
Xen

Posted by turbovps  on  08/02  at  01:04 AM

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