Best Buy seems to keep getting better and better...

[W1GUH]

It could be that I've just now learning how to deal with their floor personnel, but the last few times I've been in the store near me have been very, very good. ALL of the people on the floor have been very tech savvy and have been very pleasant to deal with. They know their shit. The one thing I ordered form them (my Asus laptop) got here quickly and with no hassle. And taking it over to Best Buy to get the protection plan (they have to inspect it to determine it's not already broken) was also a pleasant experience. Also, in the throes of my learning curve about 3D imaging I talked to their Geek Squad, and they, too were very good.

OTOH it's true that a trip to Best Buy up in Kingston wasn't so good. There, I got the indifferent, say anything to get rid of me treatment. Detail: Wanted a Rocketfish laptop supply. The first person I asked about laptop supplies said, no, we don't have any. Had to explain what I was looking for and got a vague hand-wave (that could have pointed anywhere) "over there' response. Probably a function of the individual stores. Never would happened at the local store where, if you ask where something is, they'll lead you there and stick around in case you've got questions.

And Amazon shipping has been amazing. Ordered a case for my tablet yesterday with 2-day shipping and it came today. Also, when I ordered some anaglyphic stereo glasses estimated shipping was something over a week, and THEY were here in 2 days from Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, or so the shipping label reads.

[KG4CGC]

Our local BB got a bit zealous with the security goons until 2 years ago.

[N2RJ]

I haven't stepped into a best buy in ages. Too high priced.

Micro center on the other hand is the shiznit.

[n2ize]

I haven't stepped into a best buy in ages. Too high priced.

Micro center on the other hand is the shiznit.

I generally use MicroCenter.. We have one right nearby too,

[KG4CGC]

We could use a Fry's.

[W1GUH]

Frye's...now there's a highly unique and fun store to visit!

[kf0rt]

Last time I was at a BB (couple months ago) I was accosted by a young lady with an Australian accent who was intent on making sure I knew that:

1] She didn't work on commission
and 2] She was there to help me with ANYTHING.

It was real tempting, but I smelled a set-up from the git-go. And was really there to just look anyway.

[W1GUH]

Vice squad?

[kf0rt]

Vice squad?

I think she may have had something geeky in mind.

[W1GUH]

Um.....might not want to go there....

[NQ6U]

Um.....might not want to go there....

Not at all--she might try and sell you one of those "ham radio" things. Ham radio is sort of like CB.

[WØTKX]

Microcenter rocks for me as well, but I purchase most of my gizmos from Amazon now.

[W1GUH]

Just checked out Microcenter's website. Couldn't find an overall, mail-order type site, the sites I went to always returned what was available at the Westbury, LI store. Can I get a link to their mail order site, if there is one. google-fu fails on this one.

DID come across a site listing a few complaints about them. Those "out-there" or par for the course?

Things like ordering online for instore pickup, but the store wouldn't honor the price he'd already paid, also orders cancelled due to no stock, but NO refund for a long time.

The one price I found, tho' reflects the comments about good prices, I think. Their price on a G53S was a couple hundred less than I paid at Best Buy...but I think it's not quite the same one and has a smaller disk. It that's the only difference, you'd still be money ahead if you populated its other HD slot.

But do they offer something like Best Buy's accidental damage protection plan?

[n2ize]

I asked the clerk if they had a Texas Instruments Explorer Lisp machine and he scratched his head and looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.

[W1GUH]

I asked the clerk if they had a Texas Instruments Explorer Lisp machine and he scratched his head and looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.

You were.

[N2RJ]

Microcenter rocks for me as well, but I purchase most of my gizmos from Amazon now.

Do you pay sales tax? They're going to start collecting it here next year.

Micro center collects 3.5% sales tax (instead of 7%) because they are in a UEZ. The State gives up its share of sales tax so that private industry can bring jobs and economic development to economically depressed areas.

[n2ize]

You were.

Next time I'll ask about a PDP-11. ;)

[WØTKX]

Ask 'em about the Logo Turtle. It's kidstuff. :lol:

[WØTKX]

Do you pay sales tax? They're going to start collecting it here next year.

Micro center collects 3.5% sales tax (instead of 7%) because they are in a UEZ. The State gives up its share of sales tax so that private industry can bring jobs and economic development to economically depressed areas.

Not yet. Bound to happen. I don't care, really. The service and prices still win me over. The Music and Literature digital downloads are great.

Recently, I bought three pairs of work shoes (safety toe) from Amazon. I wear a 10'ish shoe, but need a serious EEE to EEEE width. Finding shoes for me (let alone ski boots) is usually quite difficult. Tried them on, and two of the tree fit very well. I can't get that kind of selection in Brick and Mortar stores. Sent back the ones that didn't fit, no problem.

Microcenter sells refurbs, and I have purchased a laptop and desktop from them in the past three years.

[KB3LAZ]

Microcenter rocks for me as well, but I purchase most of my gizmos from Amazon now.

No no no. Dont you know you gotta make them from scratch. An apple, an ice pick...wait. Wrong thread. =)

[n2ize]

Ask 'em about the Logo Turtle. It's kidstuff. :lol:

How about Tops-20 and TENEX ?

[NQ6U]

CP/M

[kf0rt]

CP/M

TurboDOS. Or as we used to call it, TurdoBoss.

[WØTKX]

I'll raise ya. CP/M-86.

Or even better... TPM-II (as well as III) and ValDocs. :lol:

[W4GPL]

Not yet. Bound to happen. I don't care, really. The service and prices still win me over. The Music and Literature digital downloads are great.Uhhh. Get out your receipts and add up your taxes now, my friend. :)

Colorado law demands you voluntarily submit your Internet sales from out of state Internet purchases. And they're cracking down.

[W4GPL]

I like MicroCenter, but I only drive down there if I'm in a hurry. Otherwise I methodically, to the point of insanity, choose my toys from an online source.

[n2ize]

Uhhh. Get out your receipts and add up your taxes now, my friend. :)

Colorado law demands you voluntarily submit your Internet sales from out of state Internet purchases. And they're cracking down.

How would they know ?

[W4GPL]

How would they know ?Well they're in the process of suing Amazon for Colorado receipts.. and seek & peeks at financial records are very common for tax purposes. I don't know what the state authority is on that though. And besides that -- it's the law, and I don't screw around with taxes.

I wouldn't want to be the guy who gets the back taxes bill if/when Amazon is forced to disclose their sales.

[W1GUH]

How would they know ?

The panopticon.

[K7SGJ]

Frye's...now there's a highly unique and fun store to visit!

For me, it used to be. I haven't been to a Frys Electronics in a long time. I've always received good service in the past, plus they always seemed to have a fairly good technical grasp of the product line. However, I was in one earlier this week looking at computers. I had to go find a sales person, who couldn't seem to answer some pretty basic questions about a couple of the products. Plus, he kept leaving and I had to keep having him come back to try to answer more questions. He didn't seem to be very interested, which was very different from past experiences. I understand it is hard to be able to know all the ins and outs of products, especially when there is such a huge selection, but he didn't seem to know where to find the answers, or care about making the sale. Which didn't happen. Then, I went to another department to get a new hard drive and had the same experience. Maybe it was just an off day for them, or all the knowledgeable sales people were in a meeting or something. Hard to say. It was just a very different experience than I had been used to.

[KG4NEL]

Ask 'em about the Logo Turtle. It's kidstuff. :lol:

Was kid stuff for me, I think I was in the 4th grade when I last saw Logo...

[n2ize]

Well they're in the process of suing Amazon for Colorado receipts.. and seek & peeks at financial records are very common for tax purposes. I don't know what the state authority is on that though. And besides that -- it's the law, and I don't screw around with taxes.

I wouldn't want to be the guy who gets the back taxes bill if/when Amazon is forced to disclose their sales.

Most online purchase I make don't charge me sales tax either. I think NYS is the same basic policy. I am supposed to collect the sames tax and send it in myself. The question I have if this. let's say instead of buying an item online I instead travel to another state, say Colorado and I buy it there and during my purchase I pay Colorado state sales tax. Am I also required to pay NYS sales tax when i get back to NY ? Now when you buy online most vendors don't charge you state sales tax if you live in a different state. They neither charge me NYS sales tax nor Colorado state tax (assuming they are in Colorado). But apparently NYS wants me to report iut and pay sales tax on it. But would I have to pay NYS sales tax if I physically traveled to Colorado and bought an item and carried it back here ? There seems to be a grey area here or, at least a cloud of uncertainty I'd imagine this was not considered much of an issue back when most everyone bouth things locally and mail orders or purchased while visiting other states were relatively few, or at least not enough to be very concerned about. But the Internet and online sales seems to have drastically changed all that and now states see a revenue potential.

Just on a side not if I were to buy tobacco online legitimate online out of state tobacco vendors will charge me the ridiculous 75% NYS sales (sin) tax.. But on virtially all other non-tobacco items I am never charged sales tax by the vendor, unless he is in New York.

[n2ize]

Ask 'em about the Logo Turtle. It's kidstuff. :lol:

Interesting. Logo was a Lisp dialect. The nice thing about Lisp is that it's easy to create dialects. I use Common Lisp for some tasks.. It's extremely powerful and robust for certain tasks and you can make changes on the fly. It's also interesting how many concepts that are implemented in modern computing language were derived from Lisp concepts, i.e. inheritance, garbage collection, etc.