One Machine. One Owner. On Since 2014.
Most computers are replaced long before they stop being useful. This is a story about one that wasn’t — a single Venom13, bought by one owner for one demanding job, that has effectively never been turned off since.
An owner story, shared with permission. All quotes are Gary’s own words.
The Brief
Back in 2014, Gary walked into Venom’s West Melbourne store, opposite the Queen Victoria Market, with an unusual request. He wasn’t after a gaming machine, and he wasn’t after a typical office laptop. He wanted, in his words, “a fast server in laptop form.”
That is a hard brief. A server is expected to run continuously, under sustained load, for years. A laptop is usually designed for none of those things. He left with a Venom13.
What It Was Asked To Do
The Venom13 went straight to work as a software development system on a Debian-based LAMP stack. It ran virtual machines. It drove dual 24-inch external displays alongside its own screen. It carried mirrored SSD storage, with an additional terabyte alongside.
And it was treated exactly as its owner intended: as a server. Gary says the machine has effectively never been turned off.
Gary knew the hardware professionally, too. Through his business-systems firm, Venom machines went out to engineering companies for CAD work — customers who, in his words, were “extremely pleased.”
Still On
Gary is retired now. The workload has changed — the Venom13 today looks after websites, membership systems, accounting and media services for his local woodworking club, along with newsletters, research and, he notes, a steady stream of remote support for fellow members who keep forgetting their passwords.
The machine itself has not changed its habits. It still runs every day. It still has not been switched off.
His verdict today: “a brilliant laptop come server… extremely happy with the product.” He says he remains proud of it, and still mentions it to people — often.
The Day It Arrived
Gary still has the video from the day he unboxed it — filmed back in 2014, when the machine at the centre of this story was brand new.
Original owner video, shared with permission.
Why This Story Matters
A BlackBook is not a gaming laptop that happens to suit work. It is a purpose-built professional computer: the same class of processors, graphics, cooling and power delivery that high-performance hardware demands, engineered around sustained professional workloads — development, CAD, engineering, virtual machines, data processing — with thermal headroom, serviceability and long useful life as the design objectives.
A machine asked to behave like a server, continuously, since 2014, is about the purest test of those objectives there is. This one passed. It is still passing.
More owner evidence: Venom BlackBook Reviews collects independent press reviews, awards and public owner ratings. BlackBook Ownership: Five Years On shows what our five-year owner survey found. And the same thinking is in every BlackBook we build today.
— Story of Gary, Boronia, and his Venom13.