Secrets of the City

I like Irene.

I’m not a big fan of Best Buy, but that’s because I worked there for a while, not because I despise capitalism. But it seems to me that “Chad” was simply doing his job and politely trying to tell the whining customer from hell that when you want to spend $200 for a computer, what do you expect?

Here’s a tip: buy your new laptop at dell.com and stay away from Best Buy’s computer department.

For once, I agree with Maz. I also worked at Best Buy and it’s full of corporate shitbags that like to make their retail folks dance…and they’re not dancing for commission, either. Take it easy and just get your damn laptop online…

Yeah, but I wouldn’t get it from Dell. Just do your research, talk to your friends and see what their experiences have been with their computers, narrow your search to the features and brand names (or better yet, a specific model), and then stroll into any store confident you can ignore the pitchy bullshit. Buying online can save some dough, but sometimes you need to buy something ASAP at the store. It’s called impatience. Have more of it.

My dad bought a laptop at Best Buy, and it came loaded with so much garbage that their Geek Squad offeres a $200 deal to remove it all. It’s like buying a car, and before they hand it over to you they slash the tires, then ask if you want them replaced.

Beyond computers, when I think of Best Buy, I think of throw-away electronics. Unless you’re purchasing top of the line television or stereo components, most of their stock is meant to be used for a 4-6 year period and then scrapped.

“Beyond computers, when I think of Best Buy, I think of throw-away electronics.“

Unfortunately that’s true of most electronics these days.

You’ll save a lot of frustration if you just buy a Mac. They’re not throw away electronics. You carry a Mac out the door, take it home and plug it in.

My coworker just sent me this. I don’t know if he found it or made it, but it’s right on topic.

Griping about customer service does not equate with detesting capitalism.

The blogger seems to be a bigger creep than Chad. Certainly more vulgar.

My favorite at Best Buy is when you ask for help, and the salesperson reads the info on the white tag on the shelf to you. Awesome.

As to electronics being throw-away… I currently have a 6-year-old mac PowerBook, and the hinge is busted, so I have to prop the laptop top against the wall. No one seems to be able to find the part to fix it, and even if they could it would cost $300 (with labor). Hard to justify that, when that would be more than 20% of the cost of a new laptop…

Duct tape fixes everything, Jason!

I think you ought to send a picture of that, Jason.

An “ugly computer” thread might be interesting one day.

My 1999 iMac runs the latest Apple software and is a great home stereo, to which I wirelessly stream the music from my 2-year-old iBook, which will soon be replaced by one of these gems that will have a whopping 4 GIGS of RAM for enough computing power to run the 6 o’clock news on CCO.

Best Buy? Dell? hahahahahahahahahahaha

Sersly they ar so lame.

Rat forgot one thing about Macs. The full process goes like this:

Carry Mac out the door —> take it home—> plug it in —>experience joy and begin to restore faith in technology and humanity writ large

my laptop buying experience at BB went like this:

me: i need a laptop to do A, B, and C. my budget is X.
BB: beautiful. either of these 3 will work.

i was in and out in 10 mins. loved it.

In case the “ugly computer” thread takes off.

Bought a 17-inch iMac last month. Kick-ass machinery.

When I was thinking “ugly computer” I was thinking battered, broken, stained with coffee and filled with crumbs, but used every day in a haphazard messy office decorated with unrelated odds and ends accumulated over the course of several years.

A friend of mine utilized his white iBook to write all over it. The poor thing is covered with email addresses, phone numbers and random notes to himself. It is truly ugly.

I don’t begrudge the computer-buyer his annoyance one bit – I can’t stand being thwarted by totally inept employees. Home Depot is another source of contention with me:

Me: [arriving at a wall full of vice-grips]
HDEE: [immediately between me and the wall of vice-grips] Can I help you find something?
Me: I’m looking for rubber-handled vice-grips.
HDEE: Whoa – I don’t think they make those – but what you CAN do is buy this here pair of vice grips, and then this jar of rubber-coating compound, and make them yourself.
Me: Uh… no thanks, I guess I’ll just keep looking.
HDEE: Yeah, if they make them, we don’t carry them. [steps aside, unwittingly bringing into view a pair of rubber-handled vice-grips]

If you don’t know the answer, don’t waste my time by making stuff up. Go find someone who DOES know the answer or leave me alone. Harumph.

I’m a professional. I don’t use macs.

I’m a recent Mac convert. I’ve had my new MacBook Pro about a month. Finally, true love.

And you suggest Dell!

I’m a professional policeman. I don’t use Kevlar; I find stuffing my shirt with old sweat socks works perfectly well to stop bullets.

I’m a professional fireman. I don’t use a hose and water to put out a fire. I find it works perfectly well to flap my arms at the blaze.

I’m a professional pilot. I don’t use an airplane. I find it works perfectly well to strap people to my back and just leap off a building.

A professional what?

A professional what?

A professional pain in the ass.

I’m a professional. I don’t use macs.

Oh Maz, this statement is absurd, even for you. sigh.

leigha -
Visit the Home Depot in St. Louis Park. Look for the employee with the most glorious mullet you have ever seen. He also does not wear sleeves. This man knows everything about everything at HD. He will find exactly what you are looking for, then give you exact instructions on how to finish the project when you get home. This man is the Home Depot master.

If only I knew his name…

I shall ask for the Kentucky Waterfall and hitherto be enlightened. Thank you, miller, thank you.

Nateek,

I was always curious why the education system and teachers had an obsession with Macs. We always had Macs in our school computer labs growing up and the teachers all raved about them. My sister is now a teacher and constantly chimes in with how much she loves her Mac. I have rarely seen Macs used in the business world (in my experience) and few others I interact with (excluding, evidently, many people posting on this thread) seem to use them. Do you have an idea as to why Apple has such a prominent presence in education? Is that a corporate goal of theirs or something? Just curious if you had any insight.

miller is spot on about Mullet God at the SLP HD. He slays.

I was drywalling my basement last week, with no prior knowledge of how to drywall. Mullet talked me through that like a well-trained negotiator would talk down a dude about to jump off a cliff.

When I stopped by for the third time in two days to pick stuff up, he came up and gave me firm hand shake (hands turned up, not outward – know what I’m saying?) and asked me how it was going. After sharing some of my frustration he gripped my shoulder and said, “You got this brother. Finish it.”

I walked out feeling like the love child of Rambo and Bob Villa.

Artsy peeps (designers, photographers, film editors etc.) are also big into macs for all the glorious things they can do that PCs cannot. I am not a designer, photographer, or film editor, though, so I cannot say why. It will soon be time for me to get a new computer, and I personally believe that mac is the only way to go.

I was always curious why the education system and teachers had an obsession with Macs.

Because Bill Gates is no dummy. Years ago, like back in the 80s, Bill Gates gave away tens of millions of dollars worth of macs to public school systems. He knew it would result in generations of little brainwashed computer users who knew nothing but Apple. It’s paid off I see.

Actually, I taught for 11 years in a PC district, but had a Mac at home. So my pro-Mac stance isn’t tied to my teaching. I’m not disputing maz’s claims of Gates’s strategy.

But all I know is that my Dell PC desktop that I had in my classroom was about the least intuitive, clunky, slow, awkward, and frustrating machine I could imagine. My thoughts about Macs simply came from spending 8 hours a day on PCs and then my evenings on Mac and being fully aware that one experience was quite enjoyable and the other was consistently not.

I do think that educators like working with Macs more mostly because of the experience the kids have. In terms of ease of use, creative applications, and flexibility, they’re much easier to integrate into a curriculum.

Undoubtedly, maz will counter with a snide remark about student achievement scores being tied to Macs based on his years as a devoted public servant, so I’ll wait to see what he says.

You seem almost hostile towards Macs and Mac users, Maz. Why is this?

When your Web page no longer looks like it was designed in 1998, included frames and animated gif, I will take you seriously as a computer guy, Maz.

“I have rarely seen Macs used in the business world (in my experience) and few others I interact with (excluding, evidently, many people posting on this thread) seem to use them. Do you have an idea as to why Apple has such a prominent presence in education? Is that a corporate goal of theirs or something? Just curious if you had any insight.”

Half of our biotech company is mac, including those of us in the laboratories.

Macs have a monopoly on the media industry. I am not sure why (I don’t have strong feelings on the matter), all I know is tech and design geeks get all gooey and weak kneed over them.

My first computer was a transistor-based BiTran 6 … that I built myself … in 1969. You can judge my expertise however you want to, I suppose.

I’m guessing he had a bad experience at the US festival.

That was Woz, Maz. Don’t hate on Mac for Woz’s bad.

I built a battery out of a potato when I was in sixth grade, but I don’t call myself an electrician.

For you, I’d say that was a technological pinnacle.

For you, I’d say that was a technological pinnacle.

Hell yes! I can also make a radio out of a rock and a pin.

I made a kid out of a sperm and my girlfriend, but I hardly consider myself a parent.

I’m guessing he had a bad experience at the US festival.

Man, who didn’t?

I spent years in IT and can fix PCs with the best of them. Moving to a Mac was a very difficult choice for me. But, I grew tired of the piddly things I had to do to keep Windows running well.

“You got this brother. Finish it.”

I forgot that he calls all other guys “brother” – just like Hulk Hogan. I don’t need anything from Home Depot, but I might stop in this weekend just to thank him for being so awesome. Also to find out his name.

mnblrmkr- as a Bio Student in college, Macs were the way of life in the science building, but PC’s were everywhere else. By the time I graduated I was having a full on computer identity crisis…thank god my Company has indoctrinated me into the PC way of life! I kid…

I’m a professional. I don’t use macs.

Their no beige enough for you?

Edit:

They’re not Beige enough for you?

Speaking of computers, how about an edit function for this place?

I like the old wedge as well.
I’m not a fan of BB and most of the sales dudes there are clueless when it comes to computers and electronics, but every once in awhile I hear a friend talk about a sales dude that was knowledgable and not smarmy.
And the SLP HD MG is my BFF – I have learned much from my HD Sensei.

FR Cat! The MF knows his S IandO!

I have just been to Maz’s website and find it very professional, well structured and an easy to navigate home page.
He has put alot of information on the home page discribing his expertise and what is available for a client in an uncluttered environment.
I have seen many websites that are the opposite. ie: they are full of flash, noise and non-essential junk.

“Do you have an idea as to why Apple has such a prominent presence in education?“

Apple tried to pull part of the PC market away by filling schools full of Macs, for a ready-made new generation of Mac buyers. They’ve recently announced that this hasn’t been cost-effective, and are scaling their school grants back.

C’mon, guys, which is better, a forklift or an air conditioner? How about, neither is “better”, each simply has a different purpose, and different strengths and weaknesses. If I were running tons of graphics or sophisticated sound engineering, I’d be on a Mac. If I was looking to provide productivity tools to an office, or to home workers, etc., and money was important, and being able to easily hire staff with experience on the exact programs we run, and I wanted to produce files that were not just compatible with, but identical to, the files that my competitors, customers, vendors and stalkers use, I’d buy PCs.

Maz, we just noticed your picture, have you doctor’d your picture?
We think you at least colored your hair. heh.

Macs can run Windows now.

YES, the Mac can run Windows now. Not only that but on comparable hardware the Mac run’s Windows faster with less problems. That has been proven in benchmark testing.

“YES, the Mac can run Windows now. Not only that but on comparable hardware the Mac run’s Windows faster with less problems. That has been proven in benchmark testing.“

Mac can make their machines do everything PC’s can do. They can price-match for comparable machines. They can make them pretty. They can design in a cool imitation BSoD. (btw, my T42 TP with WXP hasn’t crashed in a year. Not once.)

Mac’s still gonna have to fight the huge inertia of a buying public that doesn’t know enough to judge the veracity of Apple when it says “this can do all that and more.” When the buying public knows it isn’t sure about something, it stays away in herds.

I forgot that he calls all other guys “brother” – just like Hulk Hogan.

Kinda creepy if he does it like Hulk Hogan, but kinda cool if he does it like Desmond on Lost.

All I know is I’ve liked my Macs just fine, they’ve done everything I want them to do without much hassle, and they look good doing it.

buying public that doesn’t know enough to judge the veracity of Apple when it says “this can do all that and more.”

And shops for price first, second and third.