So, I bought a new computer
Last winter, when we got our tax return, I said to my wife “I think I’m
going to have to replace this laptop this year and I’m going to put some of
the money aside for that.”
She agreed, and money was put aside.
Seven months later, my laptop died. I’m fairly sure it is just the hard
drive. And, I could pull that out, replace it and reinstall everything.
And, I probably will at some point.
But, I had put aside that money back in February, and thought “this is the
time.” As my laptop died midafternoon and the stores were still open, I
could do it right then.
Given the general ambivalence I got when buying my phone, I decided to go
to a different store instead. And, Best Buy is open later anyhow. I
checked they had what I wanted in stock and headed over.
I walked in, went to the department I wanted and saw the machine I wanted.
No employees around.
After a short wait, two folks in Best Buy shirts came down the aisle
towards me.
“Hi, can you help me with this?” I asked.
“Oh no,” one of them said. “We sell Google products. That’s an Apple
product. You need the Apple guy.”
“Where is he?”
“No idea.”
“Any way to get him?”
“Nope.”
They started talking about their Apple TV with their backs turned to me.
Then, the Apple guy for the store did show up.
“Hi, can you help me with this?” I asked, pointing to the computer I wanted.
“I have to help these two first,” he said, pointing to the Google guys.
“Don’t they work here?” I asked.
“It won’t take long.”
This launched a 20 minute discussion of the Google guy’s Apple TV and why
he can’t get sound out of it. The answer is very simple, it has no
speakers. The sound comes out of your TV, not the Apple TV.
He needed a lot of convincing of this. And, then argued about the volume
level.
At one point I found all three of them looking at me.
“It’s true,” I said. “The Apple TV has no speaker. Also the line level of
Netflix is notably higher than that of normal cable or iTunes.”
They looked at each other then back to me.
“Why were you here again?” the Apple guy asked me.
“I want to buy this computer,” I said, pointing again to the one I wanted.
“Oh, I can help with that. Did you want to buy a refurbished one with the
box open or a brand new one.”
“At this point I’ll take whichever you have.”
He went out back to look.
“I don’t have any refurbished ones,” he told me. “You can try again later
this week and I might.”
“I’ll take a new one.”
“I don’t know if we have any.”
“Your web site thinks you do.”
“I’ll go look.”
“We only have one,” he said when he returned. “Do you want it?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll go get it.”
He came back with it under his arm.
“Now, I need a monitor,” I said.
“You’ll want the Apple Thunderbolt monitor,” he said.
“No, I won’t. I’m not putting a $1000 monitor on an $800 computer. I’m
going over to where your $300 monitors are and going to get one of those.
I need you to tell me which ones will work with this.”
“But, the Thunderbolt is much nicer.”
“Yes, I’m sure it is. I’m replacing a damaged laptop where I play World of
Warcraft, back up my iPad and write my blog on it. Does any of that
require the Thunderbolt?”
“No.”
“OK, let’s go over to the cheap monitors.”
“Why are you replacing the laptop?” he asked. “We could fix it for you!”
“The hard drive died.”
“We can just swap that out!”
“I know. I’ve done it twice before myself. I am tired of doing that. If
I’ve got to restore everything I’ve done, I’m going to get a new computer
too.”
“OK.”
We went over to the monitors.
“I’ll go get you Alex the monitor sales guy,” he said and walked off with
my new computer under his arm.
I looked through the monitors they had in stock and picked the one I wanted.
“I’m Alex, can I help you?” a man in a store shirt asked me.
“Alex, the monitor guy,” I said. “This is the monitor I want.”
“Oh, you wanted Alex the monitor guy. I’m not that Alex.”
“Can you get that Alex?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Can you sell me this monitor?”
“No, you need Alex.”
“Your name tag says Alex. I won’t tell if you don’t.”
“Oh no. You need the other Alex. You’ll know him as he’s much better
looking than me.”
I paused to consider that and that Alex drifted away.
Finally an Alex with his foot in a cast and clearly suffering from a cold
came up to me. I pondered the first Alex’s self image while this one
limped over.
This one had the computer I wanted under his arm.
“I hear you want a monitor for this,” he said. “But, you don’t want the
Thunderbolt.”
“That is correct.”
“You want this one here,” he said, pointing to one on the top shelf.
“No,” I said. “I want this one here.”
He looked at the one I indicated.
“Better resolution. Same screen size. Right connectors for your computer.
On sale for $60 off.”
“Am I wrong?” I asked him.
“No. You’re right. Let me go see if there are any in stock.”
“There are three on the shelf to your left,” I said.
“Let me make sure they are the same model.”
“They are. Trust me, I’ve had time to double check.”
“You’re right,” he said. “They match.”
“I need the cable to connect them too,” I said.
“For that, we have to go to home theater.”
“You don’t keep the cables near the monitors?”
“Oh no. Why would we do that?”
“Because they are used together?”
“Oh no, that’s not how we do it.”
So, I followed him as he limped and sniffled over to the home theater
department.
“Do you want the $150 cable here with gold fittings?” he asked.
“I’ll take this $25 one here,” I said.
“It doesn’t have gold fittings!”
“Very true. But, it is what I used on my television and is just fine.”
Then I followed him as he limped back to his area to ring me out.
“You sure you don’t want us just to repair your laptop?” he asked me.
“Do I put my credit card in this slot or the other one?” I asked him.
“Don’t you want to get one of our store credit cards?”
“No.”
“You can have free financing on this!”
“No.”
“What length of extended warrantee do you want.”
“None.”
“It’s very cheap. Only $150!”
“None.”
“How about just on the monitor for $50?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Really sure?”
“Yes.”
“OK. Here is your total.”
I paid.
“Do you want me to carry it to your car for you?”
I looked at the cast on his foot and the cold symptoms he had. It was
40F/4C out and windy.
“I’m fine.”
So, I got a new computer. Now I’ve got to restore all my backups. I did a
bunch last night. I’ll do more tonight.
Some day I probably will repair that laptop. But, not right now.