I don't prefer Best Buy to begin with, but upon recently being in the area of my neighborhood store not too long ago, I decided to stop in because I needed a few small items.
Along the way I asked if they had Macs, yet, because I just wanted to see if I could recommend Best Buy to some Mac interested friends, rather than sending them farther away to the Apple Store (in our case, a lot farther away). The sales clerk that was "helping" me literally snickered and scoffed - "harumph, um, no." I explained to him that some Best Buys do have Macs, and he said "well, we don't." That about sums up my experiences in general in a Best Buy store.
Nevertheless, the Apple Best Buy relationship does seem to be working out for both companies, and apparently Best Buy wants to roll out Apple to more of it's stores. Even though this may come as a shock to the clerk at my Best Buy, it's a good move.
Really, just from a rising tide perspective, forgetting the cash both companies earn on the deal, if more people end up with Macs, due to more exposure at big box stores (they are in Frys now too), the world will be a better place (fewer viruses, fewer spam, fewer support calls, more satisfied and generally content computer users - shangri-la-di-da).
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Oh yeah, Best Buy. Snicker.
Oh yeah, Best Buy. Snicker. The last time they dropped the Mac, it was because Apple insisted that they take color iMacs in equal numbers by color, rather than be able to stock more of whatever colors turned out to be most popular. Sort of one point off for both sides.
It'd be easy enough to bash Best Buy for their employees' anti-Mac attitude (and hey, computer section boy smirking at me for using a Mac, if you're so good with computers, why the heck do you work at frickin' Best Buy?), but I think they've actually pissed me off more by reducing the CD section to 100 copies each of the same 1,000 titles, ditto the DVD section. Fry's offers insane depth on both counts, and there's always iTunes and Amazon.
True on all counts. I
True on all counts.
I normally buy all of my Apple stuff from "store.apple.com" (and the refurb at that, same warranty, factory refurb, a lot cheaper), but in this case my buddy wanted to try out a few Mac products in person. And, we recently got a Frys in Alpharetta, that place is awesome (had never been there before until the other day). It's almost literally like the Costco in Idiocracy, goes on for miles, I tried to get a legal degree there ;). Frys has Macs too, I didn't know that, that saves us 15 miles over an Apple store (and Best Buy *would* save 30, if it didn't suck).
iTunes and Amazon are pretty much all I use for audio (I search on iTunes and buy on Amazon sometimes, cheaper and still DRM free and high quality - well, high for an MP3). That, or buy direct from artists who sell their stuff DRM free on their own sites (that is actually my favorite). As for video, bought my first movie on iTunes the other day, holiday gift card, and will *never* do that again. Quality sucks, price is high, and can't export it to anything other than an iPod - no thanks. Just buying the DVD at target (or again Amazon) is a far better deal (though I rarely buy movies).