Compocalypse '09: The Repricening

[cleolinda]

If you are a salesguy at the Best Buy off 280 (Birmingham) who looks a touch like James McAvoy and helped a girl in a red v-neck who charged in and dragged you all around the store chattering away about what "people on the internet" told her about various computer brands:

Hi... sorry about that?

So... yeah. Apparently my will to deal with life returned. I marched in there with my printed-out specs ("I WANT THIS ONE. WHERE IS THIS ONE. HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE THIS ONE") and my carefully prepared questions ("OKAY SO WHAT DOES IT NOT COME WITH") and my Microsoft Office XP disk ("CAN I PUT THIS ON A COMPUTER RUNNING VISTA BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR IT AGAIN I THINK THAT IS REALLY STUPID I MEAN WHO WANTS TO DO THAT") and trooped through the store asking about service agreements and externals and UPSes and headsets (for podcasting!) with the intent of finding out how bad the total damage will be when I go yet again, tomorrow, third day in a row, and actually make purchases. I mean, yes, I went to newegg.com, but apparently the Best Buy price ($509) is as good as anyone else's, and yes, I am buying it off the shelf, and yes, someone somewhere probably could build this and transfer my data more cheaply, but you know what? I will PAY THE STORE to MAKE MY LIFE BETTER at this point. I DO NOT CARE. MAKE THIS COMPUTER-NOT-HAVING GO AWAY.

(Salesguy also said, "Yeah... I have a Gateway. DO NOT EVER GET A GATEWAY," which made me laugh.)

So basically, I'm getting the Asus. And don't bother trying to talk me out of it, because she already has a name.

(TO BE CONTINUED.)

Comments

[wondersheep.livejournal.com]

I have an Asus netbook. I loves it. I call him Moco 'cause he's green and moco is Spanish for booger.

[krazycat.livejournal.com]

You know what? Off the shelf has better warranty than a self-built machine. If you don't know how to change parts yourself, I would never recommend getting someone to build it for you - unless you can with 100% certainty rely on them to be there if it breaks. And it will, it's just a computer.

[shia-labeouf.livejournal.com]

i know this is very frustrating for you and everything, but damn, i am so amused by this saga. you have the ability to make almost anything entertaining.

[genmaicha.livejournal.com]

I, for one, am eager to hear her name. (I name my electronics, too.)

There's an end to the flailing and stress in sight. I would totally be in your position, too, except that I jumped to replace my dying old machine Scrubjay before he gave up the ghost, and got Ibis as a Christmas present. So I am completely sympathetic to the flailing and sorry that you've had to go through it, because computer problems suck. I mean to say. Words. Thing.

[edda.livejournal.com]

OH GOD I AM SO EXCITED.

And yes, some things are worth extra cash if they make your life easier.

[piccgirl.livejournal.com]

Sounds great!

I love imagining you dragging the guy all over the store, talking about what the internet told you to do. That sounds like something I'd do. "They said to get that one, I'm getting that one Don't try to tell me otherwise What do you mean you don't have it?" ( I think I may have actually done this with friends, at a Dillards...whoops)

I want to hear the name!

[megalosaurus.livejournal.com]

yay! I have nothing more to add.

[alliancesjr.livejournal.com]

Hooray! What is her name?

My computer's name is Felix. No, really.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! I'm glad to hear you've made it through the flailing to Determined, and I look forward to hearing the continuation.

[robinmc.livejournal.com]

Apparently my will to deal with life returned. Yay! Very glad to hear it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, that was partly my theory--if someone builds it, where do I go when it breaks?

[annemaeve.livejournal.com]

Yeay you, the educated and empowered buyer! That's just what you should do: research the heck out of something, make up your mind, then march in and out-sales guy the sales guys.

Can't wait to hear what you're christening the new 'puter!

(Will you let The Clutziest Bella anywhere near it?)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Heh. "THEY TELL ME THAT THEY USE THE ASUS MOTHERBOARDS WHEN THEY BUILD THEIR OWN. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE MYBOOK EXTERNAL, THEY SAY THEY LIKE THE IOMEGA OR MAYBE IT WAS THE PIONEER OR MAYBE THOSE ARE ACTUALLY THE SAME THING, I DON'T KNOW, THERE WERE THINGS THAT THEY SAID."

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

You will have to wait and see!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

(HALE NO)

[alliancesjr.livejournal.com]

Nooooooo cliffhanger!

[angelene.livejournal.com]

If there is a guy out there who looks a touch like James McAvoy and is up to helping a girl with her disaster-computer... could he call me, please?

Kidding! Sort of.

No, (more) seriously: when you say "I'm getting the ASUS", what uh exactly do you mean? Forgive me if you stated it perhaps repeatedly throughout the comments to your previous entry/entries, but... I can't see it. I mean, are you getting a pre-built ASUS brand of desktop computer, or do you just mean that it's mounting an ASUS MB?

May I suggest that you insist that it comes with the most current and/or working drivers and/or BIOS installed? Because many, many, many of my troubles with my current machine derived from the fact that the guys who did the HW installation for me did it using the factory discs from the box, which are NOTORIOUSLY prone to contain waaaaay outdated (i.e. likely bugged) versions of drivers and the such. Which, odds are, wouldn't make life with your new machine as better as you'd expected/loved to.

The good thing is about this is that... you live in the US and, well, I don't know exactly what specs your new machine has, but if it's strong and if it's fast, then chances are you're getting it for roughly 1/3 of the price of what it'd be selling at here/in Italy (and/or possibly in Europe). Bugger that.

[krazycat.livejournal.com]

And this is why I put my foot down with my mother: "No, don't let my brother get you a used laptop again. Let's go down to the nearest shop and BUY YOU ONE."

She's never been happier with a computer ever.

[ahirutwin.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that your ducks are lining up nicely. Especially because Best Buy is the awesome-est store ever and the people that work there are the coolest. :D $509 isn't that bad, when you think about it.

I'm really wondering what you named her, though. XD

[elbales]

*sporfle*

Oh, Cleo, never, never change.

So what's her name?

[lunylucy.livejournal.com]

Woo, we're moving towards the happy ending!

And dude, wasting time and adding stress can totally be valued in $ terms as well, so yes it is "worth" paying more to avoid both.

[elbales]

I DON'T KNOW, THERE WERE THINGS THAT THEY SAID.

LMAO.

And in the category of Most Apropos Icon...

[elbales]

LADIEZ AN GENNLEMEN, WE HAVE A WINNAH.



(ETA: WTF, Safari flags GENNLEMEN but not LADIEZ OR WINNAH. WTF, srsly.)

[greyduck.livejournal.com]

I ain't talkin' you outta nuttin'. I have no problem with the Asus people. (They've had their rough patches, but none recently that I'm aware of.)

And you know what? I'm a "computer guy" and I still buy off-the-shelf when it's appropriate. As in, "Look, I could spend two sleepless nights assembling this beeyotch myself, or I could come home unbox it plug it in turn it on AND BE USING IT IMMEDIATELY." So. Nothing wrong with that, is what I'm saying.

[all-ephemera.livejournal.com]

YES! I'm okay with a self-built machine because my husband can build it, and when he gets flustered he knows two other guys who can do everything he can and then some, and charge for it. So we're cool. For a lot of other people I want to run screaming at them and flailing my arms like I'm scaring geese off the lawn because who will they call when the machine breaks down? My husband. Who won't get paid for it!