www.mwave.com

-No, it's not the end of Newegg.com. No, their site isn't better than Newegg. But are they good enough to compare? In my opinion, the potential is there, they just need Yoda to refine their skills and realize their potential.

The time was 2:30 PM. The day was Friday, February the 23rd. A Friday afternoon computer purchase order, but can it be here soon? Let's find out!

Now, I wanted to order these parts a long time ago, but complications with my Paypal confirmed address and losing my debit card put me in a tough spot. All was not lost. My friend told me to put the money into his Paypal account, and that way I could place my order with Mwave.com. I was going to order my video-card through Newegg for sure, as it had the best price and Newegg has the undoubted best customer service I've experienced.

As I configured my motherboard purchase with Mwave.com, I noticed two convenient features on the right hand side. "Memory Options" and "Processor Options". Intrigued, interested and curious, I clicked on the drop down scroll menus to conveniently find a bunch of compatible memory and processor options for the motherboard.

Not only were they priced with a slight discount to promote a package purchase, but only the options compatible with the motherboard were listed!

I knew that, because I had already purchased my processor somewhere else, I wouldn't have the ability to test the entirety of this package, but I wanted to try out the ram. I saw "Corsair TWIN XMS2 5400C4 2x 512 1GB $76". I thought, I should check the ram to make sure it's the same XMS2 DDR2 ram that Newegg has. After a price check, I realized not only was the motherboard under Newegg.com's price, but so was the memory and processor.

Resellerratings.com has this site above a 7.0 six month rating and above an 8.5 life-time rating. I decided they were worth giving a shot, and I started the order process. This is where it gets even better.

Maybe this is because I'm located in California, the same state as Mwave.com. Maybe it's because they have some kind of retailer deal with Fedex, but nothing changes how convenient and priced the next deal was for me. At the ordering options, the shipping total for both items was $6.83 for regular 4-7 business day ground shipping. I decided that was cheap, but just before I could finish the check out process, I decided to look at the shipping options anyway. "Fedex Express 3-day $7.01". Wow, that's a much better deal for only 20 cents more! Then I looked even lower. "FedEx 2-day Air $7.12". What the!?!? So of course I went through with it, but since the order completion was around 3 pm, I had my doubts the order would go through processing that same day.

After all, Fridays are the worst days to order something with 2-day air as you have to wait for processing and you have to hope they can get the package ready before Monday.

No longer than 5 minutes after the order was completed, I received a tracking # combined with the invoice and sales receipt via email. I checked the tracking and sure enough, the package was already shipped out, that same Friday.

If this keeps up, this is definitely a heavyweight contender.

Today, Monday morning, I decided to check the tracking # to see if the service met the surprise and alas, my package is out for today's delivery. So far? So good.

But let's not count out Newegg just yet.

Newegg.com
-Words cannot describe, the amount of good service that comes in and out of Newegg. As others have called it, Newegg is "the beginning and end of all computer stores".

I couldn't make ALL of my purchases at mwave.com, as much as I would've liked to, because I've already built two complete rigs through Newegg.com and I felt like trying out a full build order from another site.

Newegg's prices for some exclusive parts, are really hard to compete with.

What I ended up needing from Newegg was my hard drive and video-card. I began the order process around 3:30 PM, went through the typical order charade. Ground shipping was cheap, "UPS 3-day guaranteed" option as always. It's great for California buyers to go through Newegg.

Here's where things get a little weird on me. I guess they closed because it was Friday after 5 pm when the order was processed, but this is the weird thing. When I checked Order Status, it was at Step 5 only 1 hour after my purchase. Step 5 is basically that it's been shipped and the tracking # should be on my order status soon. Throughout the entire weekend I didn't get my tracking #. I figure the tracking # insertion is the only part of the order process that isn't automated and it's no fault of Newegg that they're not open on weekends for the actual manned customer service.

I figured my doubts would be at ease on Monday morning, and sure enough, I was right. I checked my order status this morning at 8:30 AM, only 30 minutes after they open their offices and my tracking # was there on my order status sheet.

To make things even better, the tracking # on their site is an active link you can click to check the immediate status of the package. Hey, looks like Newegg held their ground. "Out for Delivery"

Two online computer parts retailers, both under the consumer pressure of a Friday afternoon purchase with fast shipping options.

Both succeeded in my satisfaction.

The only difference between the two? One is already acknowledged as the "internet super store of computer technology". The other is an underdog that I entirely don't regret ordering from.

Will Newegg die? Not likely, but if more sites like Mwave.com surface and get better site design, we'll likely begin to have options with who we buy from.

Other online retailers worth mention:
www.clubit.com (Could use better inventory supply, most deals are OOS)
www.thenerds.net (Could use better web design)
www.svc.com (Great for cases and cooling, but not much else)

I agree. I've bought from mwave and clubit multiple times and every transaction has been flawless with both retailers. One difference I notice is that clubit's customer service reps seem to have more technical knowledge of their products versus mwave, but that's not really a dealbreaker for me.