No you did not. You did the exact right thing! If we dont start hurting them in the pocket books, they will just continue to do it.

Once they understand we have choices - and are ready to use them, maybe they will stop. Office Max and Staples will get my business, but Office Depot never will again.

I am sure they had "one or two" in stock to protect them from the false advertisement claim. They are deceptive, but not stupid (the company - I cant say the same for the salesman).

As for my mom, yea. I did not get a chance to install LogMeIn yesterday, but will today. I had an Acer desktop years ago. It was fine. A couple of people I know have the laptops and so far so good! So I am guardedly giving them a thumbs up for now.

Everyone should say see ya later when they pull this nonsense.

I'm glad  your mom got set up either way. Now, when she learns e-mail she is going to learn forwards!

Nah, she has seen her sister do it, and I doubt she will. My aunt is in the forward stage (and has been for years), and my mom has been saved by the lack of a computer. However another sister has not been spared, and now hides her email address from the still emailing sister.

I definently will not let a computer sales person bully me around period. If they keep trying to sell me something I do not want I will kindly tell them that I will shop elsewhere where they do not force me to buy something I do not want.

I have a Dell laptop and have had it for well over 12 months.  I really enjoy the portability of it.  Of course, Dell have a great record for being able supply what they say advertise.

That is why I love shopping on line. The computers never bully you.

I bought my oldest daughter a Gateway when she went to college. That was the last Gateway I bought or will buy. I prefer Dells, but the one my mother got (It is actually an HP now that I can see it with LogMeIn) looks pretty nice! And one thing I really liked about it? I went in to remove all that "freeware" that all computers come with - guess what? There was not very much!

I will be giving HPs a closer look.

Well, in Dell's defense (my verdict: I like Dell laptops, would prefer to build my own desktop), while they DO have bloatware, a simple wipe and reload fixes THAT problem. So while I don't like that feature of Dell, it's easy to deal with.

But yes, I have seen the new HP laptops and I like them.

So far so good for me. I have always liked "HP" boxes, but not Compaqs. They may make me re-evaluate my stand if this one holds up. It has only been 13 years since they shafted me - I guess I can change.

I don't think I'll ever be a big fan of Comcrap. They shoehorn their components into the cases and seriously hinder the whole PC repair process.

As for HP's, I've seen some professional machines I've liked, but that's about it. I've replaced mobo's, hard drives, and optical drives on one model and never had to turn a screw except to remove the processor's heatsink.

I don't usually bother with looking for sales at stores or newspapers. I just go to the store and if I see something I like and the price seems reasonable to me, I buy it. If I can get it cheaper then by all means but at least I don't have to worry about the disappointment of a sale that wasn't. I try my best to educate myself on prices and quality before buying something so as to not over pay for it but at times I figure it's worth it. I know how stores work, their purpose is to get you thru the doors so that you end up spending more than you intended.

I have an HP laptop I bought a couple of months ago and I love it. I knew what I wanted and I went and got it. I'm not one to wander around the stores for several hours before making a decision. I paid a pretty penny for the laptop but I bought it for specific reasons which I felt were worth every penny.

My laptop did not bring much stuff installed, the anti-virus is always the first thing to go and considering it had Vista on it, I made sure not to mess with stuff I wasn't so sure would work on it. So my laptop has been kept lite on the software side, keeping only what I use. And so far, I have had very few problems, nothing that would make me change my mind.

Don't try those early bird sales, from 7 am to 11 am ,  at Christmas time either. A couple of years back our local Wally World advertised a laptop computer for around 350 dollars or so. Several of my coworkers went in to try and get one. What they didn't say in the advertisement was that there would be a limited supply. There were 20 of them to be sold. Of those, 10 were bought by Wally World employees before the store even opened. So the other 10 were gone in 15 minutes afer opening. So the people that came in around 10:30 am had no chance of getting one. I am sure they tried to sell the other items that they had plenty of in stock all year round. I now see in small print, not so fine you can't read it print, in their ads now, the limited supply notice.  I don't think employees should be able to take part in a sale with a limited supply item either. Doesn't Wally World give employee discounts?

As a former employee of said Depot I can attest to this review. Many people were shocked to find out I actually knew something about computers. Now the extended service plans? Yes I sold them, by the truck load, and I am going to hell for it.

Fact: those plans are near pure profit. The company only got me to sell the crap because they paid me extra for it. They do work in most cases but there is always a catch. One of the biggest catches on nearly any plan anywhere is that you have to send it back (even with Dell). A computer is often one of the most important tools in the house hold. Being with out one for weeks on end is a horrible feat to manage. I didn’t often feel guilty with digital cameras, PDAs, printers, and whatever tech because even if you smash it up you could always get a new one mailed and you might survive the time with out it fine. Still....

You can always get the Geek Squad protection from Best Buy and have the work done right there and then. You will also pay out the nose for it, in many cases, right there and then regardless of what you spent previously. If you know nothing about computers you will always pay people like me too much money to fix them for you. I understand that I am the guy at the body shop making the noises my engine makes because I have no idea how to explain what is happening. I understand that until I pony up to a class or read a better book on cars that I will always get taken to the bank on my repair bills.

The two biggest rip offs out in retail are mail in rebates, and protection plans. More than 70% of the people that purchase them do not use them. Free money in the bank for who ever. Moral of the story is don't trust anyone that has something to sell to you, and all computers suck. If you have both of those going in you stand a much better chance of getting out alive.

 

And use proprietary parts and Bios! When HP bought them, they were supposed to keep the Compaq desktop and HP server line. I hope they just used the compaq plants for HP and ditched all things compaq. We will see.