[geeks] FYI: CompUSA is offering OS X 10.5 for $99 (after rebate)

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Oct 25, 2007, at 9:36 PM, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> Have you noticed that the Geek Squad and FireDog (Best Buy and  
> Circuit City) have started advertising more - they want to fill the  
> void... CompUSA did a lot of computer "repairs" for clueless users  
> (meaning they couldn't fix their own problems) - I think there was  
> real money in the business, but not enough to justify the large,  
> cavernous stores full of expensive merchandise in prime retail  
> locations.

Haven't really paid attention, but I can see that happening.

I remember hearing a woman come to CompUSA to pick up her Mac.  They  
had installed some applications for her, installed a new keyboard,  
and added a hard drive.  The charge was $185.  The hard drive was  
USB, so what the hell did they even do?

> The local PC places we had before were worse, to be honest -  
> machines/parts were over priced, and their service was provided by  
> snot-nosed kids (at least that's how it was in my area - I knew  
> some of the snot-nosed kids ;^).

The local PC places here varied over time.  There were periods when  
they were very good.

Rarely were they ever priced higher than CompUSA until near the end  
when they all started dying.

One thing that happened here is the local distributors are  
outrageously expensive themselves, and so any store doing business  
with them had to raise their prices.

20 years ago the distribution channel was a lot cheaper than it is now.

These days your joe on the street gets better prices than the  
computer dealers.

> We eat a lot pizza in my town...

I think I know what I'm getting for lunch now...

-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com