Northgate Computer Systems, Inc., based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States, was a mail-order personal computer company, founded in 1987 by Arthur "Art" Lazere. The 1990s were a golden era for mail-order PC business. Consumers were fed up with high prices for IBM, Compaq and other brand-name PCs sold through dealers so they opted to purchase their computers from a catalog. This was a revolutionary idea at the time, because people wouldn't be able to see or touch their computer before buying it. Aside from Dell and Gateway, popular brands of mail-order PCs were Northgate and Zeos.