RSSHP Blackbird 002 gaming rig finally comes to retail
By Tim Conneally | Published June 9, 2008, 3:59 PM
HP has announced that its Blackbird 002 will be made available for the first time through select retail channels beginning June 29.
Offering in an "exclusive configuration" for retail, the Blackbird 002 will be sold through Amazon.com and Newegg.com, as well as through Best Buy, Circuit City, J&R, and Micro Center both in brick-and-mortar stores and online shops.
The configuration for retail carries an estimated retail price of $3,299 and includes an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 processor, up to 4,096 MB Corsair Dominator memory, 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD, NViDIA nForce SLI motherboard with RAID support, and dual SLI NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT graphics cards.
HP's Voodoo DNA, a departure from standard boxy desktop features, both in design and function, was one of the points frequently noted about the system. Under-the-hood specs, however, are ultimately the draw for users. At DigitalLife in New York City last year, we actually witnessed a show-goer attempting to "pick the Blackbird's pocket" of some of this desirable hardware.
User-configured Blackbird 002s began selling last year directly on the HP site at prices starting from $2,999.
cost to much for me , ill build my own gaming rig to suit what games I play. Besides why buy a Gaming rig when it is so much fun to build your own ?
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|maybe because they dont want to spend their time in doing so?
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|What 20 minutes, plus OS in stall?
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|well maybe for us but for an average user is dificul because they dont know how to do it
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|The thing that I find most interesting about companies selling rigs such as this is that they are targeted to consumers who for the most part already know how to build their own rigs and could order and assemble all of the same components found in the HP rig at about a 30% discount from the price HP is selling it. The worst part about ordering a $3K rig is spending three hours once you get it home seeking out and uninstalling all the so called free and trial ware software installed on the system.
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|Unless you consider your time worth $0/hr, these systems aren't a complete rip off. You get a fast PC with quality parts, a unique case you can't buy from Newegg/Tigerdirect, and (most importantly) if it breaks, HP gets to deal with the fun task of warranty service.
And, if you've been out of the PC Hardware loop for a few years and aren't current on what's what, this sort of product will save you the several hours necessary to sift through product reviews and read between the lines on deals too good to be true.
That being said, I have no personal experience with HP's technical support, or their high-end line of computers. This is just why someone who *could* build their own computer might choose to take a shortcut and purchase something like this.
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|Quality parts from HP??? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I finished reading your comment and you also mentioned tech support.... from.... HP..... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
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|Also, your +30% markup estimate was surprisingly accurate. Judging from the article's "configuration for retail" and the list of components on HP's Blackbird specifications sheet, an equivilant do-it-yourself would cost $2,290.
Here's the blackbird page:
http://h20435.www2.hp.com/#/tech-specs/
Here's the Newegg 'wishlist':
http://secure.newegg.com...WishListNumber=11847487
So you're paying about $1,000 for a custom case, technical support, and assembly. That's a little steep for me, but some people have more money to throw around than others.
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|Tech support notwithstanding, HP isn't cutting corners in this market segment. They appear to be using components from brands that people have heard of instead of some no-name "Valu-tec" knockoff.
Again, no experience with HP's support. I tend to build my own PCs due to a budget limitation.
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