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• About Guardian
  • Introduction
  • Suppliers
  • Previous work

Suppliers

Stores in this area are limited in their stock of equipment. Often you hear of a particularly good computer component that you just can't get locally. I always research the best hardware available for a given job at a given price range and have it shipped if it's not available. Any solution I suggest will only use hardware I would be proud to own myself.

NCIX

Most of the time I buy hardware from NCIX.com. They are a mail-order business in BC that stocks pretty much everything you might ever want. Their prices are good and I've never had any trouble with their shipping. Their web site is an excellent place to research components, too. There are forums attached to every piece of hardware they sell where people discuss that piece's relative merits.

Simcoe Computes

If I need simple components such as hard drives or memory in order to finish a job immediately, my local store of choice is Simcoe Computes. They'll offer you quality hardware without having to be asked. With most computer stores, you have to specify absolutely everything that goes into a computer to avoid being ripped off. If you don't, they will throw in cheap knock-off crap from Asia for every single piece you don't name.

Simcoe Computes doesn't do that. One time I went there and asked for a hard drive without specifying a brand, just to see what they'd try to sell me. I was pleasantly surprised when the salesman handed me a Seagate Barracuda drive, which was the exact model I had concluded was the best current value for a job I had researched shortly before. It's a high-quality drive, fast, quiet, and with the the best warranty on the market. So it seems to me that Simcoe Computes shares my philosophy that you don't save money by buying junk and you don't build a business by cheating your customers. They also have good prices on memory and won't charge you for installation if you bring your machine into their store.

The only caveat I have to offer about them is that if you're looking for something specific and a little unusual, you have to know what it costs beforehand. Sometimes for a particular item Simcoe Computes' prices are outdated. Parts can fluctuate a lot in price and sometimes, if something has been sitting in their inventory for a few months, the price will have dropped considerably without them realizing it. For example I sent a friend there once to get a certain video card I recommended for his system and the Simcoe Computes price was literally double that of the NCIX price. I'm sure he could have got a more generic card there for a good price, but since he wanted that particular one, he would have had to pay a lot more than he should have. These are rare occurrences but even so, check out the NCIX site before you shop locally. Generally, though, if you're in a rush I tell everyone to just go to Simcoe Computes and talk to any of the people there. They're happy to help you out and they're honest. Most of the other local computer stores aren't.

Savvis

I use the Savvis Data Center as my primary web host. You can read a lot more about Savvis and my hosting packages on my web hosting page.