By Bob Mims
The Salt Lake Tribune

    SANDY -- In his commercials, Dan "The Laptop Man" has hammed it up as both Austin Powers and nemesis Dr. Evil, the Incredible Hulk, Jedi master Yoda -- and even cross-dressed into a frighteningly buxom and dead-on Miss Cleo, the TV psychic.
    But whether you laugh or groan, when this 32-year-old Chinese American caps his 15-second spots with a cheesy ear-to-ear grin, you know two things: PC Laptops offers the "best laptops on the planet," and it "loves you."
    Zany, corny, definitely over the top -- and profitable. In 10 years, Dan Young, a self-described former California gang kid, has gone from selling computers from the back of a truck to reigning over five PC Laptops stores in Utah that this year will hit $10 million in sales.
    "Even though we seem kind of wild and wacky, we really are conservative in our business practices," Young says. "The economy has been bouncing all over the place, but every year our profit levels go up and our customer base grows."
    Other companies in PC Laptops' position would be looking for a lucrative sellout, or venture capital to take a successful state chain regional, or even nationwide. Instead, Young has turned down offers to sell the business and chosen modest growth plans -- a Las Vegas store by year's end, and perhaps expansion to Phoenix sometime in 2005.
    "Our business mentality is that this is a marathon, not a sprint," he says. "Our mission statement is that we want to "make our customers so happy with their laptops that if their friends even think about buying anywhere besides PC Laptops, they get hostile!"
    Sales figures and customer satisfaction cards show Young's clients are indeed happy. Of the 3,500-4,000 new laptops Young and his 35 employees sell annually, 50 percent are sold to return customers, and three-quarters of the remainder are referrals from past buyers.
    From the beginning, customer service has been a priority, Young says, whether selling new laptops, fixing old ones, providing service or setting up office networks. He launched what became PC Laptops in 1994 by taking on -- and honoring -- the Silo electronics store's extended warranty clients when the chain closed its Sandy store.

    "We lost $26,000 that first year," Young smiles. "But the next year, we sold $1 million in personal computers."
    Much of the credit, he says, goes to his wife, Tiffany. Along with two children, she has given him unrelenting encouragement -- even when his dreams seemed to bring only poverty.
    "I remember once she pawned her TV set to pay the rent, without telling me," Young recalls. "She was really supportive through the whole thing. She believed in me, and didn't think I was too much of a nut."
    In 1996, PC Laptops and equally frenetic TV pitchman Dell Schanze, of Totally Awesome Computers, reached a strategic compromise. While Schanze focused on desktops, Young went to laptops exclusively. The two still refer trade to each other and sometimes join in each other's ads, but their relationship is more than just business.
    "It's difficult to find friends who are really honorable, people who don't put more weight on money than telling the truth," Schanze says. "Dan's just one of those guys; he sticks with what he says."
    Young says he feels compelled to pay back a community that has made him wealthy. A frequent speaker to troubled youth and contributor to various charitable causes, his latest cause is the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
    And of course, Young couldn't resist another opportunity for dress-up. On Tuesday, clad as chief wizard "Dumbledore," Young joined several of his costumed PC Laptops crew in presenting the MDA's Utah chapter with 250 free tickets to an advanced screening of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
    bmims@sltrib.com