Buying laptops from Best Buy is a bad idea
By Jonathan Schlaffer
It could be argued that buying anything from Best Buy is a bad idea but laptops especially. There are any number of things that could be wrong with a laptop right out of the box, usually cosmetic or problems with the LCD. In my opinion, there is no reason at all that a laptop should not be 100% perfect right out of the box. Just about any laptop from Best Buy from various manufacturers will not meet that criteria.
Back in 2003 to 2006 I had an eMachine, Acer and HP laptop, all of which had zero issues both new and after I had used them for a bit. In 2008 so far I have had a Sony, a two Gateways, a Toshiba and a HP. All have had issues right out of the box.
The Sony had scratches on the underside of the display which I could not live with. The first Gateway randomly overheated and shut down, the second one was afflicted with the “cloud” effect in the display. The Toshiba did not boot and the HP has a very tiny spec under the display that causes one pixel to be off color to the others.
Best Buy may or may not be willing to exchange again but I’m done. This is the last time I will purchase a computer product from Best Buy. I can’t blame them for being upset of having to exchange so many laptops but all they do is have the Geek Squad fix whatever is wrong or send it out to service and stick a “serviced by Geek Squad” sticker on it. I’ve seen certain stores do this and they’re still charging full retail price for the laptop.
You can say that I’m being too picky but that’s my right. After paying just north of $1500 for a laptop, I have a right to demand perfection. If you ask me, quality control has taken a down turn across manufacturers. Here’s how that could be dealt with, stop making products in China, end of story.
I’d gladly pay more for an item if I could be assured that it wasn’t made in China. I’d prefer the US but Japan would be an acceptable compromise. Lesson learned, Velocity Micro it is and its laptops are all but guaranteed not to be a piece of crap with tiny nagging issues out of the box.
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Stumble It!
September 24th, 2008
I think more important than country of origin is quality and pricing. If you cannot provide high-quality products it’s ludicrous to charge high prices.
Unfortunately that’s what Best Buy has become and it won’t be long until consumers stop caring about the convenience of having one in every strip mall.
September 24th, 2008
I blame the user.
September 24th, 2008
it’s hard to believe that Best Buy is at fault for this. They sell the exact same laptops as other stores (staples, circuit city, HP online, amazon, etc.). They don’t test each and every laptop before they are put on the shelf. If you get a bad laptop then it’s just that the manufacturer built a POS laptop – I’ve seen it a few times.
Geek Squad does offer a nice service when you purchase a laptop that I’m sure no other company will offer – “system functionality check” – it’s free when you purchase any computer – they will plug it in and power it on so that you can see there are no noticable problems right off the bat.
February 6th, 2009
Who ever wrote this article is a DUMBASS….
Let me start by saying, I WORK FOR BEST BUY… And i love it..
Second.. When you buy a Shelf Display, its because your to cheap to pay full price.. (your compensated anywhere from 10-30%.. which means for that difference you can get a full warranty.. and still pay less then new..
Second.. YES NOrtong will slow your computer down.. and you are not forced to take it off, or purchase anything.. ITS FREE advice we give you.. DUMBASS…
And like the other person says.. we offer a free Hardware/Quality check with all sales..
Second we offer a Cheap Optimization.. but then again i cant expect you to actually pay money for these services…