I purchased a Falcon Mach V in August of 2007. You included the “How are we doing” letter and I thought that I would wait awhile to see how things went. My thinking was, and still is, that there is a trade-off between the higher-end machines and the much less expensive ones due to advancing technology and decreasing cost for more powerful systems. If you go higher-end and it doesn’t work out well, you’re sort of stuck for awhile – or you have to eat about 50% of the cost of your high-powered machine. Obviously, I went with one of the higher-end PCs in this case. During this same period, I have also purchased a couple of entry level systems and configured them for others who just need some basics.

The Mach V has run continuously now, 24/7, for just over three years. I had one repeated problem with the RAM. The Corsair memory modules kept burning out – I think we went through three modules before we switched to Crucial. Fortunately, there was enough RAM where the computer ran being down one stick – a bit slow but no down time. Replacement memory was shipped promptly and support was very good. After several failure repeats with new Corsair sticks, your tech recommended switching to Crucial which was slightly slower so I upped the RAM to the maximum and the system was actually a little faster with more RAM, especially on multitasking. Other than this initial issue with the Corsair memory, the Mach V has run flawlessly for the three years. While there are faster systems out, the Mach V is still able to handle all of the new software easily (including the more recent Win 7, 64 bit OS). There has been no down time. No component has failed (excepting the initial Corsair RAM which was handled well by Falcon).

So, I would say that the initial investment was worth it and I’m pretty much ahead of the game from here on. I have friends who have gone through a couple of Dells or HPs during this same period (and I think these are pretty good machines). They have spent as much or more in some cases when you add it up. And even after the three years, the newer machines are not something that I would trade for. They are only very slightly faster, they have more problems with components and the owners seem to have to start putting money in somewhere around the two year mark. The Mach V has been a pleasure. The expansion capability is an advantage also. I’ve added a couple of high capacity SATA drives that back-up much faster than the popular USB or fire wire externals. It is kind of an irony that I haven’t really needed them while some of the newer machines that friends got have had disk problems and data loss.

My Mach V came with a dual boot configuration – XP Pro and Vista 64. It was configured perfectly when it arrived. I have not used the Vista OS much. It really wasn’t worth it but that’s on me – I ordered it. Win 7 looks a lot more promising and I reconfigured the machine for dual boot XP and 7. The Terabyte restore disk worked perfectly. I used it once early on when I misconfigured something.

All in all, I think these Mach V’s are a solid investment for those who can afford the initial outlay. They hold up and they run flawlessly – even with the initial memory problem, there was no actual down time. Customer service and tech support was very good in my case. The Mach V’s are fast enough and have enough expansion potential so that they remain an acceptable machine for a number of years. Even after three years, anything noticeably faster than the older Falcon, will cost nearly as much, if not more, than a new Falcon.

I don’t usually write these nice letters. I’ve been around different computers enough to be fairly frustrated with much of what is out there – really bad tech support, components going out and considerable delays in getting replacements under warranty. I fall a bit into the disgruntled end of the spectrum and this is why I waited. After three years plus, the Mach V has proven to be really solid and your service was as good as I have experienced.

- Thomas Jeanerette