THIS MONTH: The WatchDog goes after...
Go-L.com Gone?
From its inception, PC maker Go-L Computers
was embroiled in controversy. Now the com-
pany known for its flashy web site and unattain-
able technology may die in controversy as well.
After a splashy launch in September 2003, the PC
maker appears to be shutting its doors for good.
“We are no longer in a position, from a
financial standpoint, to continue doing business,
meeting each of the high standards we have
continually set for ourselves and for you, and
are regrettably forced to suspend our opera-
tions and liquidate our assets in support of our
financial responsibilities,” the company said in
a statement on its web site. Go-L’s message also
said the company had stopped taking orders, but
would try to fulfill what orders it had already
taken. Go-L pledged to offer some tech support
and driver updates through e-mail, but for the
most part, the company is likely toast.
What went wrong?
The Dog spoke to Eric Kendell of Go-L who
said several unfortunate financial crisis put a
crimp on the company’s bottom line. Several
customers purchased large amounts of equip-
ment and then reversed the charges after receiv-
ing the equipment, he said. Kendell said Go-L
was forced to eat both the charge-back and the
equipment cost because of the way AmericanExpress handles such matters.
“We got screwed out of the product and
cash,” Kendell said.
Go-L also took a hit because business was
too good. Kendell said the company recently had
its merchant account—the ability to take credit
cards—yanked because Go-L was exceeding its
limit on customer charges.
Kendell also said problems with suppliers
and manufacturing contractors, as well as the
business climate in California and the U.S.
added to the burden. According to Kendell,in October Go-L laid off most of its 30 person
staff. He said the company is holding some
hope that an investor will step in to save it,
but otherwise Go-L will file for Chapter 13 and
liquidate all of its assets.MADE OF UNOBTANIUM
Even after a year and a half of business, Go-L
was never able to shake its reputation for
offering vapor products, and the flames were
further fanned by the company’s goodbye
message. On its web site, Go-L said it had
prototypes of the “world’s first dual-proces-
sor laptop computer based on the XeonMP
and Opteron architectures, the world’s first
single Processor Personal Super Computer L
One running at 5GHz, with specs of cFFT- 64k
0.66 msec/ cFFT - 1024k 13.20 msec/ 1 million
point Arctan2 2.63 msec/ 128K rectangular to
polar 0.33 msec and capable of 16 gigaflops
peak performance, and the world’s first 133
MicronUI multiprocessor mainstream business
Super Computer capable of over 400 gigaflops
peak performance.”
If you can’t make heads or tails of these
claims, you’re not alone. What we do know is
that XeonMPs are huge, power hungry proces-
sors that come with up to 4MB of L3 cache.
Because workstation versions of the XeonMP
and Opteron usually require
power supplies of 500 watts or
more and dual heatsinks for the
massive amount of heat they
generate, it’s highly improbable
that the procs would serve as the
core of a laptop.
Others on the Internet have
pointed out that Go-L’s much-
publicized PuRAM is really noth-
ing more than a Cenatek Rocket Drive, and the
trademark on CacheFlow, which Go-L claims to
own, belongs to another company. Earlier this
year, Go-L raised a lot of fanfare about its inten-
tions to open several retail outlets, but none
ever materialized.
Kendell insisted that accusations about
the company’s legitimacy are preposterous.
According to him, the company has prototypes
of the outrageous-sounding laptops and has
shipped everything promised up to this point. In
fact, Kendell said, Go-L has done more than $million in business over the last year and a half.
What’s the truth? After featuring Go-L on
its January 2003 cover, Maximum PC solicited
testimony from consumers who had purchased
Go-L systems. Several months later, the magazine
has heard from only one Go-L PC owner. That
person claimed to have bought a 3.8 Mach L that
could overclock to 4.5GHz without any problems.
Others, however, had a very different experience.
“After seeing a picture of a Go-L Computer,
I was compelled to find out what it was and
how I could get one. Browsing the company’s
web site, I was like a little kid in a candy store,”
said reader Chris Walker. “I e-mailed Go-L
Computers asking to be put in contact with a
salesperson. A couple of weeks later and still
no reply. So I sent a second e-mail, saying I was
very interested, and wanted to make a purchase,
but wanted to talk about hardware details with
a salesperson. Still no reply. I sent a third e-mail
Go-L Computers >Himself >Dell
Say hello to Sophie,
WatchDog of the Month.WatchDog (^) Maximum PC takes a bite out of bad gear
MAXIMUMPC NOVEMBER 2004
“
”
GO-L WAS NEVER ABLE TO SHAKE
ITS REPUTATION FOR OFFERING VAPOR
PRODUCTS, AND THE FLAMES WERE
FURTHER FANNED BY THE COMPANY’S
GOODBYE MESSAGE.Go-L Computers has shut its doors and
laid off most of its staff.