"I've purchased 2 great custom computers from VelocityMicro, and have been super pleased with both. The quality is excellent, and the staff very responsive to emails (thanks, Josh!).

What I like MOST of all is that you get a real Windows 7 disc, as well as driver discs and a nice printed manual. They even include a bag of spare parts (SATA cables, VGA-DVI adapters, etc., a nice touch). I don't know of any other company that does that, and it is much appreciated.

What is nearly nice is that the VelocityMicro machines have NO bloatware installed. Zero. Zilch. Acer, Dell, and the rest insist on installing all sorts of garbage and trialware on theirs, some of which is not easy to remove.

There are other custom PC builders out there with more choices (sometimes an overwhelming list!), but I think VelocityMicro is one the best choice for everyone but the most OCD of custom-computer lovers. I could have saved maybe $100+ bucks building the machine myself, but it's not worth it to order all the stuff from several websites (think of the shipping costs) and hope it all arrives intact, or to hope each retailer will easily honor warranties and allow returns if needed. You get a good 1-year basic warranty at Velocity, or can purchase advanced warranties if desired.

It's also nice having a PC that was carefully assembled right here in America (Virginia, I think). They are USA-owned, with USA based support, too.

Mine is super-fast, nice-looking, and pretty quiet for a gaming rig. My first one from them died after about 6.5 years (the motherboard went out), which is pretty good considering I used it nearly every single day. When I'm ready for my next rig, I hope Josh and Velocity Micro are still around.

The only thing I would suggest is that they offered a couple more choices on some of the builds, or more details on the specific ports on the cases. But there's enough info there for most people. Also, their prices on dedicated graphics cards are not always the best (but are reasonable, considering they install the cards and drivers and check everything). If you want some slight variation of what is listed on their site, they can often accommodate you (just shoot them an email, or phone them).

It usually takes a couple of weeks for your machine to get built and delivered, but it's worth it. Shipping for a tower is usually about $55-60 as of 11/2013, and they pack and cushion everything well.

PS: I recommend visiting the velocitymicro.com website and signing up for the email newsletter. They don't offer specials very often, but occasionally offer free shipping or a deal on the low to mid-range custom builds. And they have laptops, mini-PCs, and home-theatre setups... not just gaming and graphics rigs."

"I purchased a Velocity Micro computer a number of years ago. VM offered an Upgrade Program, and I took advantage of it. I called in my upgrade order, and included in the upgrade pricing was shipping both ways.

Everything was first rate! From the quick turnaround time, to the care taken with how my upgraded computer was packed for shipping back, to the neatness of the internal organization with all wires/cables nicely bundled and arranged, to how quietly the computer runs, all was outstanding!

Velocity Micro provides first rate service, and I am very satisfied!"

"Following a crash of my HP desktop, I ordered an HP Phoenix with water cooled processors and all the bells and whistles to bring me up to date and processing at lightning speed. The machine constantly went black and rebooted saying a video error occurred. So after 9 grueling months of ridiculous to the point of laughing and crying, I was able to get my money back. The situation was a nightmare and the support team very unqualified.

So then what? I researched extensively and found Velocity. It's made in America. The techs are in Virginia. They held my hand through the difficult install which was tricky as I now have a solid state drive for boot up and store all my program and data files on a standard drive but with an E: designation. It took me some getting used to, but the folks at Velocity even remotely signed on my PC to help and advised on set up methods to maintain performance. After what HP put me thru with offshore techs, Velocity was a dream come true. These are great people. They remember your name. They are there when you need help. They speak english! That may sound "normal" but the big PC manufacturers who offshore support cannot come close to old fashioned Virginian hospitality you will receive when you buy a hand built PC from Velocity. I give them my highest rating and owe them a huge thanks for keeping me up and running."

"Have purchased many systems from VM without any issues. A total of 9 so far this year with no complaints from my customers. I wish I had started with VM rather than dealing with the worst PC company in the world, iBuyPower, who had a 50% rate of failure after 11 systems. In the end I ended up eating two PCs at $1200 each. Switched to VM and smooth sailing."

"My next computer will also be from Velocity Micro. That's the proof of the pudding. Bought my first computer from Velocity a bit over a year ago. I was simply fed up with bloatware all the bigger vendors insist on putting on the harddrive. Velocity was very helpful in helping me configure the computer I needed for high end photoediting, and all their recommendations have worked out well. Had a small hardware problem during the first month's burn in period, as tends to happen. They remedied the problem quickly and cheerfully. What a pleasure to work with real people."

"I bought one of their prebuilt systems and was fairly happy with its performance, however i started experiencing weird issues with it resulting in file corruption and then ultimately OS failure. THEY TOLD ME IT WAS THE SATA POWER RAIL ON THE PSU. AFTER PAYING $50(MINIMUM) TO SHIP IT TO THEIR FACTORY ACROSS STATE AND WAITING OVER A MONTH TO GET IT BACK, THE DAY I GET IT BACK AND INSTALL EVERYTHING I THEN SHUTDOWN LIKE NORMAL AND END UP RESTARTING THE SYSTEM TO GET A BIG F.U. MESSAGE I GOT BEFORE(OPERATING SYSTEM MISSING). WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME. SOOOO ANGRY! Their customer service line sucks too, you will wait a minimum-minimum of 30< minutes. i always talked to the same guy as well, and a couple times he got irrate with me because he didnt think i knew what i was talking about, seemed arrogant, i dont really have any good things to say about their service."

"This is my third Velocity Micro system, and it has been fantastic. I got a Z55 in June, and have been very happy with the system and the support. I bought a gaming PC but also use it for engineering and simulations. It's nice to have tech support that is in the US and is not outsourced. Another pleasant experience. "

"My fresh out of the box VelocityMicro laptop crashdumped and I wanted it fixed, only certain hours on M-F to talk to tech support(nice enough guys)who you have to wait on hold....for. If your laptop needs an new HDD right out of the box, like mine did, and you want your money back, you pay 15% restocking fee for their defective laptop (how they gonna restock a defective laptop?) and you pay the shipping back to them. YOU Pay big bucks(in my case $186) for the privilege of returning their crashdumping, broken laptop. Customer service repeatedly wouldn't respond and VelocityMicro had my money more than 2 months before I got it (not all of it)back."

"Z40 desktop used in an office. Paid $$$ for extended warranty with onsite repair. After 3 month hard-drive failed. It took Velocity Micro 11 phone calls and 6 weeks! to fix it.
Now 2 month into the extended warranty the computer is not functioning again, Velocity Micro tech support managed to drag this on for 7 weeks now without even giving us an idea when it will be fixed. Supervisor Tamer is only reachable by voicemail and does not return calls.

Do under no circumstances purchase Velocity Micro if you're livelihood depends on a working computer."

"Their service is horrible. When I called complain about my malfunctions of my 2nd PC I bought from them they really sounded like I was making a false claim. They talk to me like that I was doing something wrong not the PC it self. MY PC was set up just like my old PC and there is no way that I could be doing something wrong. Anyway, I would not recommend them to anyone. I gave them a good rating before because they asked me to write a good review, I should not have until they fixed my PC problem. Don't waste money on Velocity Micro but go with major players who have more resources and knowledge."

"I purchased a desktop PC and had the worst experience I have had with any computer vendor dealing with VM. First of all, the computer shipped from VA to California with a defective memory. I had to call customer service a bunch of time while we tried to troubleshoot and ultimately had to send it back. They took no steps to expedite the delivery but rather I had to wait a week shipping each way to get it back. When they sent it back to me, they apparently had loaded on Windows 8 from another CD rather than the OEM version so I could not activate the product. I literally called 8 times to try to straighten this out before they finally got me a new product key. In the interim, they made me call back several times, call Microsoft to try to work it out, and send them various pictures. This process began in February and only was finally resolved in May! I found the customer service people to be generally unhelpful, rude, and not at all taking ownership of their product. I would never shop with them again, even though the computer I received is pretty powerful for the money I spent. I would gladly have spent another $300 to avoid all the delays and aggravation."

"I've had a very hard time getting through to technical support to solve a video card problem. I bought my computer in September and notice a video card problem during the first month. I reported it on their website, but it took almost a month for them to respond. I had finally posted a separate comment asking why it was taking so long and that seemed to get their attention. They asked for my mailing address to send me a new card. I gave it to them immediately via their ticket system and email, but a month passed and it never arrived. I posted more comments on their site and sent emails 10 days ago and still haven't heard anything. I've been waiting on the phone for tech support for an hour now and started getting bored so I started searching for reviews of their tech support and found this site. "

"Velocity Micro is my first computer purchase in MANY years because I previously built my own computers. I needed a new computer and didn't have time to go the usual route. Expert reviews and consumer reviews like the ones on this site convinced me to purchase a Velocity Micro desktop PC. The process was painless - the sales rep was knowledgeable and pleasant and voila, I'm enjoying a new LIGHTNING FAST desktop that handles all my computer needs AT A FAIR PRICE! There was an occasion when I had a glitch with MS Internet Explorer that defied my ability to resolve AND I contacted VM Tech Support, spoke with John, and he remotely signed-on to my computer, did some VERY professional checking and easily and quickly handled the prob. I'm IMPRESSED with John and VM! They are proving to be a great VALUE for my computer bucks! I'm recommending Velocity Micro PC's and their highly professional technical support staff (John, FOR SURE). If you have a computer, with all the opportunities for an unwanted program, app or bug to get downloaded with your legitimate download, you are sooner or later going to need John, no matter how fantastic your hardware is. So, go with an all American manfacturer, Velocity Micro, and get John in the bargin!! :-))"

"I purchased one almost two months ago and have not been able to use yet. I have been calling for days and am still waiting for a return call. The thing is a piece of trash and advise others to look elsewhere for a tablet"

"I've never had so much trouble with a company. I had problems with my motherboard and called tech support to find a solution. I was told I would have to go through the supervisor (Tamer) to return my computer. I called the company off and on for over a month and could not reach him. I left my number with another customer service agent (who was very helpful but couldn't do anything without supervisor's approval in this case) for the supervisor to call.
For a product that was over $1000 bucks I would expect some type of customer service. If you end up buying a product from this company, pray nothing goes wrong with it."