A long time ago, way back in the mists of time, a younger Jimblob found himself in Comet surrounded by computers. He really wanted one, he wanted to send email, play games, surf the net……..he
wanted to join the PC revolution. His biggest problem was that he was alone, he was alone and without the slightest clue about which system to buy. Mistake No1. He asked one of the salesmen a question! Mistake No2. He stupidly listened to and believed said salesman. Mistake No3. He bought a Packard Bell club 40. No, don’t laugh! Jim is a technophobe, a very distressing condition for any potential computer geek to have. Fast forward 5 years. Jimblob decides that now is the time to venture forth and buy a new computer, but which one? And where to buy it? And what processor?, which motherboard?, the questions were endless. He decided to ask his online pals for some advice but everyone had differing ideas about what was best! After many days searching the net for an online shop that would cater to his needs he struck gold, (well gold in a black sort of hue) www.black-thunder-systems.co.uk popped onto the screen after a misguided click on google. “Hey, this looks a cool site” Jim said to himself and duly went for a wander around the place. Black Thunder Systems are a relatively new web based shop, they specialise in “Build your own” computers and ready made systems. They also sell a wide range of peripherals, add–ons, software, hardware, end of line goods and all the techy things that go together to make a nice PC. Home page: The home page is a pleasing place to start, everything is nicely laid out and easy to find. You can click a link to see their range of ready made systems, or go and “build your own” system (more on that later), look at their range of laptops, browse their catalogue of add-ons and software etc. There is an editors choice to tempt you, a weekly special , printers, camera’s and even a competition to win a digital camera. (entry is by signing up for a newsletter). There is also a clearance centre where bargains can be found on hardware or software and accessories. PC range: On their ready to use PC ranges you can choose from a multimedia system at £169.95 to Performa plus systems at £399.
Once you add on a monitor, operating system, graphics card etc you still get a brilliant computer at a very competitive price. Build your own PC: This is the department I went to. BTS give you the chance to build your own system, to your own requirements and preferences online (Obviously they build it for you using the components you specify) Using this system, along with a lengthy phone call to my computer literate pal (just to keep me right), I managed to build a PC that fitted all my requirements for now and the foreseeable future, complete with a 17” monitor and free keyboard, mouse and speakers ( The keyboard, mouse and speakers are free if you buy online using a debit card) I am not techie enough to go into minute details on all the components I bought to make up my PC, suffice to say that it has a 30GB 7200 RPM hard drive, an ECS K7S5A Motherboard/DDR/audio, AMD athlon 1.7Ghz processor,256Mb SD-RAM ram, 36X/12X/48 CD/RW, 16X48 DVD drive and windows xp. There’s other stuff I can’t remember the name of (that’s what computer literate geeky nerd pals are for) but it all went together to make a rather jazzy looking PC that works a treat! The whole system cost me £525.25 inc P&P which is over £200 less than I paid nearly six years ago for the Packard Hell! Delivery: Delivery is next day *after* the system is built, that is to say that it may take them a couple of days to build your system and so delivery could be anything from a few days to a week or so from making your order. An email wings it way to you informing you of dispatch and expected delivery date, which in my case was spot on. Customer service. They seem to take customer service very seriously, as all good companies should (but many don’t). I had reason to email them concerning delivery and got a reply within an hour, I also e-mailed them to thank them for a top class system and have received a nice personal reply from one of the directors (who also mailed me back a further time to compliment me on my own website, the URL which I had stupidly forgot to delete from my previous mail). If you are looking for a specific item and can’t find it on their web site then there is a contact addy where you can enquire on availability, they will email you back with an answer quickly, usually they will source the item for you, quoting a price for it and the postage and packing or they will add it to their web site for purchase through the normal route. Affiliate program. BTS run an affiliate program.
If you have your own web site you can join (no cost to you), they pay 3.5% on any sales generated by a visitor clicking and purchasing via your web site. With the average sale from BTS being around the £450 mark you could make a feasible £15 per sale, not bad just for having a banner. Like I said, they are a new website company but I have no hesitation in recommending them, from start to finish the online shopping experience with them was quick, easy and pain free. Incidentally, they will not debit your account until your system is delivered to your door, so no lost money out of account with no goods to show for it. A five star rating from me, try them and see if I am right.