This last weekend had a root canal, and my friend Marcus came over to check up on me to see how I was doing. The pain killers had kicked in, so I was up for an adventure.
What did Marcus want to do? Buy an Apple MacBook Pro, just like mine; he had played with mine, saw all the neat features, and loved the fact that it really could run XP at the same time (in addition to other operating systems, too!).
Now, in theory, the Apple Store and the online Apple Store are supposed to be the same for pricing. And, well, they are. Sorta.
The online store is far more up to date with the newest inventory.
There’s a hidden implication in that statement — and that is that the physical Apple store has left over inventory, so sometimes you can get a better deal, just by asking.
As it was, we were looking for the latest 15″ MacBook Pro with the faster processor, larger video memory, larger hard drive, and single 1GB memory stick instead of two.
But just as the physical Apple store has extra inventory, they don’t have the capability to configure the machine exactly as you want it. And there was the problem; the models the store physically sold were configured differently than the options we’d carefully crafted online.
Marcus decided to go with the “lesser” laptop that was identical to mine.
The guy ran to the back, and came back with the laptop and then made the announcement that the store was doing a silent upgrade. The models that they had in stock were larger processor, larger video card, larger disk space, and single stick memory — all at the cost of the lower end model!
The sales guy confessed that this happens all the time. If they don’t have enough low end machines, you pay for the low end machine, and they give you a high end machine. So, it’s always best to check a physical store first — you may get a better deal!
Speaking of deals; while there, the Apple store gave us a free photo printer for buying the machine.
We went back to my place, added all the OS X extras that come with the system, downloaded all the free goodies online — and Marcus was up and running in roughly about 2 hours. That’s a full system install from scratch, fully networked, and with a ton of applications and extensions. Including the ability to install his XP disc when he got home.
The next day I get a call from Marcus. Nothing was wrong. His sister had seen his laptop, fallen in love with it, and she wanted to get one too — only decked out with everything, including the 17″ display.
We went out to eat — and found free Wi-Fi. We came back home and connected the machines together in a little network; it was trivial.
There’s something highly infectus about the new laptops that makes a PC person want one after playing with it.
In assorted news, my nephew turned 4, and for his birthday party I brought over the laptop to let him take some Photobooth pictures. What was surprising was that he just sat down and started using the Mac with no instruction other than wanting to know where the button to “click the mouse” was since he had never seen a touch pad. He opened a number of apps and started playing movies. –At the age of four, having never seen a Mac before.–
UPDATE: Have to quote Marcus, who sent me an email…
Software? Missing? HAHA…um, you saw how sparse my software was on my XP box upstairs. I can already do more than I was ever able to do with my XP machine. Oh! Oh! Oh! AND!!! I haven’t had to put in but 1 liscense key…gotta love that! I don’t feel like I’m criminal for using software I own now.