This is the first in a series of articles telling about the companies that support BareFeats.com though paid advertising and providing products for testing.Ê MacGurus is the very first company to believe in us enough to advertise on BareFeats.com. So I've asked Rick Stephens to tell their story. (My comments are in italics and parentheses.)
In 1995, MacGurus was crafted by Stephen Trujillo, aka, "Magician." His way with words and no BS attitude made a splash in a Mac world that was very different from today. Back then Apple actually made computers intended to be upgraded.
MacGurus was founded in a basement in Wilmington Delaware and until 2003 was under the masterful intellectual and creative control of Magician. He created the Burly name and line of products for storage systems designed and built by MacGurus. The Burly Storage enclosures are still the backbone of MacGurus product lines. (Their tech guides were a treasure trove of info on storage technology -- very helpful to Bare Feats in our early days.)
Business Philosophy
The Guru's focus is to offer a high end product that works -- at the best price possible. Past and present, we only build, sell and carry those products and components of which we personally and collectively test and approve.Ê If we don't like a product or we have any issues with its reliability, performance or value, then we don't carry it. And any product that suffers quality control issues over time, we also drop to find a more reliable replacement. This means our offerings are limited to stuff use and can support wholeheartedly.
To that we add personal support by the most knowledgeable staff anywhere. We answer the phone -- ÒweÓ being the engineering designers and testers of our products -- and not just any old employee with a binder full of crib notes.
Ownership
In 2003, Laurie and Rick Stephens took over the operations of MacGurus and moved it West. At first we were located in the Silicon Valley of California. Then six years ago moved the office to Central Idaho -- the 'office' being the administration, support and test facility.
Our fulfillment operations are based in Monument, Colorado. It is managed by the same gentleman who has run it the entire existence of MacGurus: John Highhouse. He is the consummate (and rare!) expert at purchasing high tech components, parts and services He's also expert at taking those and getting them assembled and tested. His operation then does the packaging and shipping -- not only domestically, but internationally as well. John is an irreplaceable asset and the key resource to the success of the entire MacGurus operation.
Products
Eighty percent of MacGurus business is storage with a particular emphasis on photographer, videographer and audiophile data storage and backup needs. We also carry a large line of cabling, memory and other desktop specific product lines. We are constantly working with other developers to bring better storage and RAID products to the community.
The Burly enclosure line is the mainstay of our storage offerings.Ê An all steel enclosure with a massive power supply and cooling, it is meant to last virtually forever and to give hard drives a rock stable environment. The more stable the temperature and power supplied to a drive, the longer it lasts. We design and build these enclosures to meet our customer's most stringent demands.
For the last couple of years also built our own hardware RAID towers. These RAID5 or RAID6 storage systems are based on the Burly enclosures and use high-end ARECA RAID controllers that use the fastest Intel RAID chipsets.Ê At a cost below any other comparable unit along with the highest performance, we are proud of the ability to offer this to our customers.
More Than for Mac
A couple years ago we created and put online a sister store called "Burly Storage." It is ably managed by Brian Adams and offers support for a wide range of operating systems from Windows7 through Linux. This site is much more platform varietal to satisfy the large number of PC users who have graced us with their business and needs. While MacGurus has traditionally catered to the Mac community, our product lines and data management system works equally well on a Windows or Linux PC. The separate store site is a natural consequence of needing to publish information specific to those other platforms.
Final Thoughts
MacGurus is dedicated to providing robust storage and memory expansion products with expert customer support. (I see Macgurus as both an innovator and educator. I encourage you to peruse their website to see all the products they offer. Then take a gander at RickÕs blog (including a recent posting about SATA III), the Tech Guides, and the Mac Geek Forum.)
If you have comments or questions, feel free to email
, mad scientist.
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WHERE TO BUY THE MACGURUS STORAGE, MEMORY, and/or CABLES
Order directly from MacGurus.com
WHERE TO BUY A MAC or any other APPLE PRODUCTS
When you purchase products at Apple USA, please CLICK THIS LINK or any APPLE BANNERS. It's a great way to support Bare Feats since we earn a commission on each click-through that results in a sale.
