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The Apple section of the Best Buy stores around here are set up like an Apple Store... all the Apple products set up, turned on, connected to the internet on wo

The Apple section of the Best Buy stores around here are set up like an Apple Store... all the Apple products set up, turned on, connected to the internet on wooden tables with plenty of room to play with them. At the same time, almost all the Windows laptops are either running a demo app showing specs and videos you can't quit to the desktop from, have been rebooted by someone and are stuck on the welcome screen waiting for a password you don't know, or are turned off. I haven't been able to buy a Windows laptop in stores for a couple years. They only stock junk with dim, low-DPI 1366x768 screens, and don't let you try them out enough to tell if you want to work on that computer every day for the next few years. I've ended up relying on online reviews and videos to pick models, then using manufacturers' sites to custom build them with decent screens and SSDs (14" 1600x900 in my HP Envy right now). If I were forced to replace my laptop today, I'd be mighty tempted to make a switch to a MBA or MBP, even if just to run Windows on it. I hope the retina displays and Win8 release push the rest of the manufacturers to build some decent alternatives next year.

tseabrooks 14y ago
I used to work the PC dept at BestBuy in Highschool and I never noticed that the apple store goes out of it's way to make sure you can play with and try the computers but the windows machines are never (almost) in a situation you can play with. Why is that? My guess would be that it's related to the bloatware on the PC. There is probably some agreements where they agree to have their logo and application name displayed in store on the slideshow. Or something else? Different marketing strategy by MS? Can MS really think the slideshow of bloatware logo and specifications are going to help sell?
- dangrossman 14y ago
  Microsoft just provides operating system keys and logo stickers to OEMs. They have little to no control over how computers are sold, marketed, or presented in stores. Those demo apps and preinstalled software come from the manufacturer.
  - tseabrooks 14y ago
    Of course, I forgot that somehow, I've been living in Apple world too long. In that case though, doesn't the same still apply to the other OEMs who seem to want their products presented this way?
    - cube13 14y ago
      If they're all running an unlocked Windows shell, there's really nothing that differentiates them from the rest of the pack. The first thing anyone looks at on a laptop(unless it's closed) is the screen. And often, there is little to no branding on the keyboard and screen. So when you have a row of Asus, Acer, Compaq and HP ultrabooks/laptops sitting in a row, each OEM needs to find a way to differentiate themselves from the rest. Apple can present the unlocked shell because nobody else sells OSX devices.
      - toyg 14y ago
        Wouldn't that just need a branded wallpaper? They preload so much junk anyway, one extra image won't make any difference...
        Someone 14y ago
        Wallpaper, screen saver, and home page, I would think. If you want to go over the top, name the account and the hard disk, too. Finally, if you have style, create your own set of system sounds.
    - lmm 14y ago
      If you go to the manufacturer's own stores (e.g. sony or samsung), their presentation is quite similar to Apple's.
      - tseabrooks 14y ago
        I'm going to make a point of trying to search out some of these other manufacturers stores. I've never seen any in the flesh in the cities I've lived in (Midwest, Midsouth). I think there might be a Sony store somewhere nearby. Thanks for the reminder of these other stores.
- gamble 14y ago
  The answer is, in part, that Best Buy and other retail stores are addicted to kickbacks from manufacturers. If a product in a retail store is anywhere other than sitting on an obscure shelf, it's because the manufacturer paid the store for more prominent placement. Special displays like the Apple mini-stores and iPhone kiosks in Best Buys only exist because Apple kicks back a lot of money to buy them. Retailers can't experiment with better displays without undermining a lucrative profit center. Apple can structure its stores the way it does because they only exist to sell their own goods.
  - tseabrooks 14y ago
    Do you know that apple kicks back? I'd think that apples own retail presence would give them the ability to say, "You sell our products this way on this table or you don't get to sell our products". Apple's strong retail presence has to give them more negotiating power than most other CE companies.
    - MBCook 14y ago
      There are still plenty of places in the US without an Apple store, but there are Best Buys everywhere. Even if Apple didn't sell laptops, you know they would want their own little corner for the iPad. The last time I was in my local BB, the Apple section looked like a little Apple store (as always). The other tablets were lined up shoulder to shoulder and locked into plastic cases bolted to the shelves. Some were setup so you could actually pick them up. Quite a few were dead (probably uncharged). Other than a basic grouping by screen size, it was a "Here's a bunch of tablets, good luck" situation. It's no surprise they don't sell too well. I'd imagine BB loves the Apple stores. It gives them something that no one else has... a little Apple store. Even if they have to kowtow to all of Apple's demands, it must be a good deal. When an Apple laptop sells (lets say at an average of $1200), how much do you think Best Buy gets of that? $50? $100? When a $400 or $800 PC laptop sells, how much do you think Best Buy gets? $15? $25? Even if BB gets the same percentage for all laptops, or even a lower percentage for Apple... I'm guessing the higher average sales prices makes up for it. Apple's margins are famous, and if I was Best Buy I'd want in any way I could. It's actually a pretty good deal for Apple too. Some beautiful Apple computers, fun to play with, and well setup. Just 10 feet away there is a sea of identical PCs, often with cheap plastic and poor screens. There are some good ones in there (and maybe promoted on isle caps), but still.
malkia 14y ago
Same here - Los Angeles, on Pico and Sawtelle.
drivebyacct2 14y ago
I've got one worse. I went to the Apple Store in Bellevue today. Then I went to the Microsoft store. A bunch of either awful disgusting looking, heavy laptops including one with, I kid you not, a backlit "Turbo" button, or a few Ultrabooks that were nice, but no match for even an only slightly more expensive Air. (Save for the Asus Zenbook which I can't wait to see this years' model of). Then, I saw an employee carrying around two very nice looking Ultrabooks (The new Samsung Series 9 and XPS 13 [both of which, incidentally are very hard to find on the manufacturers websites]). They were not out for display anyway. I played with them a bit and then incredulously asked "Uh, why don't you have these out, they're slick." The reply was "We just got those in yesterday or the day before". That is something I can't imagine happening in an Apple store.
- guynamedloren 14y ago
  > The reply was "We just got those in yesterday or the day before". That is something I can't imagine happening in an Apple store. Because the apple store only gets new machines once a year... so thats a bit of a loaded remark.
  - iuguy 14y ago
    I went into the apple store in Basingstoke, UK the morning after the keynote. They had a Retina MBP out (only one, it is Basingstoke after all, and not for sale) for people to play with. They were taking orders for pickup in the next week or two.
  - i386 14y ago
    Why make apologies for crappy retail management?
  - ajanuary 14y ago
    Indeed. New Apple releases are events, and staff are paid to be able to get everything ready in time. It's not really feasible to do that every time some partner releases a new laptop that's not had any hype or media attention and no-one is going to be coming in the next day demanding to see it. It's a luxury Apple have that other business models can't really afford to emulate.
jiggy2011 14y ago
I remember in the early 90s going to most of the computer shops in the local area and having fully usable display models. It was rare to see a display computer that didn't have MS Paint running with the previous person's doodle sitting at pride of place in the middle of a 320x240 screen (which felt like about a billion pixels back then). In fact I remember going to one of these stores when I was about 8 and asking the salesman about which games were available on the PC, at which point he promptly dropped the system out of Win 3.1 and into DOS , loaded up "The Secret of Monkey Island" and left me to play for about an hour while my parents went off and did some other shopping. That was probably the point at which I decided I wanted my next system to be a PC rather than a Sega Genesis. I suppose Apple is in a similar position, most people are roughly familiar with Windows and are mainly shopping around for specs/price. You could waste a lot of time playing with a system and asking the salesmans advice only to go off and buy the thing on amazon. With Apple devices they don't care where or when you buy it since they take money either way but since most people are not going to be familiar with OS X there is a definitely an advantage to selling "the experience".
- ja27 14y ago
  It's the same with cameras, iPods, and everything else at a lot of retailers. They often aren't even charged. Why even have a real one on display then? I had a somewhat similar experience with the Apple Store though. I wanted the 15" MacBook Pro with the matte, high-res screen, but my local Apple store doesn't stock those except for the highest end model. So they "lost" a sale, but they don't care because I'm still ordering it from the same company. That's the power of owning the whole channel. 10 PRINT "I AM AN ELITE PRE-TEEN GEEK IN THE EIGHTIES!" 20 GOTO 10

tseabrooks 14y ago

I used to work the PC dept at BestBuy in Highschool and I never noticed that the apple store goes out of it's way to make sure you can play with and try the computers but the windows machines are never (almost) in a situation you can play with. Why is that? My guess would be that it's related to the bloatware on the PC. There is probably some agreements where they agree to have their logo and application name displayed in store on the slideshow. Or something else? Different marketing strategy by MS? Can MS really think the slideshow of bloatware logo and specifications are going to help sell?

dangrossman 14y ago
Microsoft just provides operating system keys and logo stickers to OEMs. They have little to no control over how computers are sold, marketed, or presented in stores. Those demo apps and preinstalled software come from the manufacturer.
- tseabrooks 14y ago
  Of course, I forgot that somehow, I've been living in Apple world too long. In that case though, doesn't the same still apply to the other OEMs who seem to want their products presented this way?
  - cube13 14y ago
    If they're all running an unlocked Windows shell, there's really nothing that differentiates them from the rest of the pack. The first thing anyone looks at on a laptop(unless it's closed) is the screen. And often, there is little to no branding on the keyboard and screen. So when you have a row of Asus, Acer, Compaq and HP ultrabooks/laptops sitting in a row, each OEM needs to find a way to differentiate themselves from the rest. Apple can present the unlocked shell because nobody else sells OSX devices.
    - toyg 14y ago
      Wouldn't that just need a branded wallpaper? They preload so much junk anyway, one extra image won't make any difference...
      - Someone 14y ago
        Wallpaper, screen saver, and home page, I would think. If you want to go over the top, name the account and the hard disk, too. Finally, if you have style, create your own set of system sounds.
  - lmm 14y ago
    If you go to the manufacturer's own stores (e.g. sony or samsung), their presentation is quite similar to Apple's.
    - tseabrooks 14y ago
      I'm going to make a point of trying to search out some of these other manufacturers stores. I've never seen any in the flesh in the cities I've lived in (Midwest, Midsouth). I think there might be a Sony store somewhere nearby. Thanks for the reminder of these other stores.
gamble 14y ago
The answer is, in part, that Best Buy and other retail stores are addicted to kickbacks from manufacturers. If a product in a retail store is anywhere other than sitting on an obscure shelf, it's because the manufacturer paid the store for more prominent placement. Special displays like the Apple mini-stores and iPhone kiosks in Best Buys only exist because Apple kicks back a lot of money to buy them. Retailers can't experiment with better displays without undermining a lucrative profit center. Apple can structure its stores the way it does because they only exist to sell their own goods.
- tseabrooks 14y ago
  Do you know that apple kicks back? I'd think that apples own retail presence would give them the ability to say, "You sell our products this way on this table or you don't get to sell our products". Apple's strong retail presence has to give them more negotiating power than most other CE companies.
  - MBCook 14y ago
    There are still plenty of places in the US without an Apple store, but there are Best Buys everywhere. Even if Apple didn't sell laptops, you know they would want their own little corner for the iPad. The last time I was in my local BB, the Apple section looked like a little Apple store (as always). The other tablets were lined up shoulder to shoulder and locked into plastic cases bolted to the shelves. Some were setup so you could actually pick them up. Quite a few were dead (probably uncharged). Other than a basic grouping by screen size, it was a "Here's a bunch of tablets, good luck" situation. It's no surprise they don't sell too well. I'd imagine BB loves the Apple stores. It gives them something that no one else has... a little Apple store. Even if they have to kowtow to all of Apple's demands, it must be a good deal. When an Apple laptop sells (lets say at an average of $1200), how much do you think Best Buy gets of that? $50? $100? When a $400 or $800 PC laptop sells, how much do you think Best Buy gets? $15? $25? Even if BB gets the same percentage for all laptops, or even a lower percentage for Apple... I'm guessing the higher average sales prices makes up for it. Apple's margins are famous, and if I was Best Buy I'd want in any way I could. It's actually a pretty good deal for Apple too. Some beautiful Apple computers, fun to play with, and well setup. Just 10 feet away there is a sea of identical PCs, often with cheap plastic and poor screens. There are some good ones in there (and maybe promoted on isle caps), but still.

malkia 14y ago

Same here - Los Angeles, on Pico and Sawtelle.

drivebyacct2 14y ago

I've got one worse. I went to the Apple Store in Bellevue today. Then I went to the Microsoft store. A bunch of either awful disgusting looking, heavy laptops including one with, I kid you not, a backlit "Turbo" button, or a few Ultrabooks that were nice, but no match for even an only slightly more expensive Air. (Save for the Asus Zenbook which I can't wait to see this years' model of). Then, I saw an employee carrying around two very nice looking Ultrabooks (The new Samsung Series 9 and XPS 13 [both of which, incidentally are very hard to find on the manufacturers websites]). They were not out for display anyway. I played with them a bit and then incredulously asked "Uh, why don't you have these out, they're slick." The reply was "We just got those in yesterday or the day before". That is something I can't imagine happening in an Apple store.

guynamedloren 14y ago
> The reply was "We just got those in yesterday or the day before". That is something I can't imagine happening in an Apple store. Because the apple store only gets new machines once a year... so thats a bit of a loaded remark.
- iuguy 14y ago
  I went into the apple store in Basingstoke, UK the morning after the keynote. They had a Retina MBP out (only one, it is Basingstoke after all, and not for sale) for people to play with. They were taking orders for pickup in the next week or two.
- i386 14y ago
  Why make apologies for crappy retail management?
- ajanuary 14y ago
  Indeed. New Apple releases are events, and staff are paid to be able to get everything ready in time. It's not really feasible to do that every time some partner releases a new laptop that's not had any hype or media attention and no-one is going to be coming in the next day demanding to see it. It's a luxury Apple have that other business models can't really afford to emulate.

jiggy2011 14y ago

I remember in the early 90s going to most of the computer shops in the local area and having fully usable display models. It was rare to see a display computer that didn't have MS Paint running with the previous person's doodle sitting at pride of place in the middle of a 320x240 screen (which felt like about a billion pixels back then). In fact I remember going to one of these stores when I was about 8 and asking the salesman about which games were available on the PC, at which point he promptly dropped the system out of Win 3.1 and into DOS , loaded up "The Secret of Monkey Island" and left me to play for about an hour while my parents went off and did some other shopping. That was probably the point at which I decided I wanted my next system to be a PC rather than a Sega Genesis. I suppose Apple is in a similar position, most people are roughly familiar with Windows and are mainly shopping around for specs/price. You could waste a lot of time playing with a system and asking the salesmans advice only to go off and buy the thing on amazon. With Apple devices they don't care where or when you buy it since they take money either way but since most people are not going to be familiar with OS X there is a definitely an advantage to selling "the experience".

ja27 14y ago
It's the same with cameras, iPods, and everything else at a lot of retailers. They often aren't even charged. Why even have a real one on display then? I had a somewhat similar experience with the Apple Store though. I wanted the 15" MacBook Pro with the matte, high-res screen, but my local Apple store doesn't stock those except for the highest end model. So they "lost" a sale, but they don't care because I'm still ordering it from the same company. That's the power of owning the whole channel. 10 PRINT "I AM AN ELITE PRE-TEEN GEEK IN THE EIGHTIES!" 20 GOTO 10