Is your PC or laptop at home or work made in Britain? Chances are that it is not. Indeed many believe that such things are not actually made in the UK, but you would be wrong. There are loads of companies that build great quality computers in the UK and they are often far cheaper than those we import. In a recent survey, undertaken by PC manufacturer Novatech, they concluded that 41% of the SME businesses they asked would be willing to buy British…. that is if they knew of any companies that made them here.
Novatech Founder and Managing Director, David Furby, said: “There’s very little technical difference between a global brand’s PC and a British-built PC – we all use the same high quality components – so if you took them apart they’d look almost identical inside.”
This is all well and good but you can read this statistic in two ways:
1 – Only 41% of business would be ‘happy’ with a PC made in the UK, or;
2 – There is 41% of the UK SME market willing to buy British but don’t know the companies that make them.
Being a glass-half-full kinda girl, if I owned a UK computer business, I would look at these results as a major opportunity. The problem is they do not seem to help themselves. Go to any UK computer manufacturers website, including Novatech, and see if you can find any mention of being made in Britain. Not even a Union Flag in sight.
– Emily
Here is a video which will tell you more about Novatech:
That’s ridiculous, I would deffinatly buy British if I had known that option existed, we upgraded recently, 12 computers, a server etc and just took our IT peoples advise and went for HP. IF I had known or realised the British option existed I would have specified them, very annoyed with myself now for not looking harder.. but as you say why aren’t these people shouting from the rooftops about their product and telling us they are British made/ assembled. I wouldn’t be happy with British if it did what I needed, had a comparable spec and was in budget I’d be absolutely delighted
I would not feel too bad. These companies only have themselves to blame for lost business. People want to buy British and this should be seen as a clear USP for businesses.
We would love them to come to our http://www.britishfamilyfayre.co.uk and join the madeingb.org marque. Both of which would get their Britishness to a national audience.
“Blame” is a bit strong. I’m sure that these UK companies would love to have their products made known to a wider market – but do they really have the marketing budget of say, Dell? I doubt it.
Just out of interest i believe that Zoostorm and PC Specialist make their computers in the UK.
“blame” is indeed a little strong and of course budget is a major consideration but we would love to see more businesses leveraging their Britishness more. It is not just good for the individual businesses but raises awareness of British manufacturing globally.
Yes – Zoostorm are British we have bought a few of their tablets. PC specialist are a new one on me. I will check them out.
Hello (I’m Tim, Head of Marketing at Novatech) and we DO make PCs and laptops here in Portsmouth – come and have a look around http://www.novatech.co.uk/about.html
We are super-proud to be one of the few UK computer manufacturers, but we feel that it’s hard to stamp our machines with the British flag as so many of the components are made overseas. There isn’t a factory making Microprocessors or graphics cards in the UK/Britain and so we source them from suppliers like Intel (who do have a fabrication plant in Dublin) and NVIDIA whose plants are in the USA, and South East Asia. We assemble, test and support our PCs and laptops here in Portsmouth – all under one roof – and employ over 200 amazing people. WQhen you buy from us you are very definitely buying British. Thank you. Tim from Novatech.
Tim – Congratulations. You should be very proud to be flying the flag for British technology (even if that flag flying is metaphorical 😉 ). I am on the board or madeingb.org, who manage the UK’s Made in Britain marque, as used by Marshall Amps, Stoves, Mathmos and more. We would welcome you to join us and start capitalising on your British made credentials.
Thanks for getting in touch!
I live less than 10 miles away from Novatech. I have bought a Novatech PC before, my son purchased his latest computer from there and when I have to buy a new PC (soon!), I shall be buying from Novatech again, (my last purchase – a laptop – came from a stationery chain, I’m not naming names, but they’re name is the same as the folded metal strips used to hold paper together! And I have since found out that it’s not a laptop, but a notebook.)
It’s good to know they are a British company making computers and that they are employing so many people in the local area, who understand and fill customer needs.
Hi Suze – I had a good chat with their marketing guy earlier today. They have offered to give us a factory tour. So might make a visit to your neck of the woods soon. We are also on the market for a new PC so might also save the delivery charge ;-).
My son just got a Raspberry Pi and case etc and I am delighted he is having so much fun with it and its British – brilliant.