PC World
David Baxter
I was in my local PC World this afternoon and was having a play with the
Macs they have in stock... in need of some TLC - missing keys on a
couple, sticky keys on another (F9/F10 randomly pressing themselves),
generally scruffy, and those security units they mount the laptops in
are a real pain in the backside.
What got me the most tho was a 20" iMac running Vista. Running it very
quickly, but with no sign of a Mac OS install on there anywhere... Asked
a passing sales guy who said "Hmm, I don't know, let me go ask one of
the guys in there", pointing to the business center. Came back a couple
of minutes later and said "I'm not sure, but I'll get back to you in
just a min." Waited a couple of mins and had a chat with another
customer who was looking at the Macs and was a bit annoyed that they
didn't have them running their correct OS, then left.
Overall, a very uninspiring visit. I really do wonder if PC World sell
many Macs - they certainly didn't seem to know anything about them, and
the machines themselves weren't in the best of condition.
I wonder, (completely uninformed assumptions here) if the deal with
Tesco really takes off, and if sales through PC World aren'tparticularly
high, if Apple may stop selling to PC World, or if they're not really
bothered - after all, a sale's a sale...
Dave
--
(remove spamblock or reply to group)
Gary
(in article <dMWdnXDU7fm...@giganews.com>):
> I wonder, (completely uninformed assumptions here) if the deal with
> Tesco really takes off, and if sales through PC World aren'tparticularly
> high, if Apple may stop selling to PC World, or if they're not really
> bothered - after all, a sale's a sale...
>
> Dave
>
I bought my first Mac there when I switched a couple of years ago. They did
have one staff member who was very enthusiastic about Macs but as usual, I
knew what I wanted before I went in there so as long as they have the item in
stock at a price I'm prepared to pay, that's about all I want from them.
--
remove stars for email
g*a*r*y*c*o*w*e*l*l*a*t*m*a*c*d*o*t*c*o*m
Stargazing blog at
<http://tinyurl.com/398eom>
Chris Ridd
> On Sat, 2 Jun 2007 04:54:14 +0100, David Baxter wrote
> (in article <dMWdnXDU7fm...@giganews.com>):
>
>
>> I wonder, (completely uninformed assumptions here) if the deal with
>> Tesco really takes off, and if sales through PC World aren'tparticularly
>> high, if Apple may stop selling to PC World, or if they're not really
>> bothered - after all, a sale's a sale...
>>
>> Dave
>>
>
> I bought my first Mac there when I switched a couple of years ago. They did
> have one staff member who was very enthusiastic about Macs but as usual,
They used to occasionally be staffed by Apple employees. But probably
only once a week or something.
Cheers,
Chris
Peter Lee
I read a couple of years ago that PC World were the largest 'over the
counter' seller of Macs in the UK.
That was before the Apple stores opened, and may have been a result of
large contracts rather than individual's purchases.
But you're right - their collection of Macs is almost invariably
appalling, and may do more harm than good to the Mac name. I suspect
it's a combination of factors - lower commision on sales of Macs than on
Packard Bells etc, and abject ignorance among the staff (and presubably
any training that they receive) about anything other than XP/Vista.
It's sometimes entertaining to visit PCW and ask Mac-related questions,
just to hear the utter garbage that they spout: stand in front of the
Macs, and ask for advice about a simple, easy to run computer for the
net, email and basic Word Processing etc, and say that you really don't
want to have to worry about viruses and security, and se what happens...
Peter
--
This address is never read; use
peterattheleesdotukdotnet
Ian Robinson
(in article
<0001HW.C286AEE9...@news-europe.giganews.com>):
> I
> knew what I wanted before I went in there so as long as they have the item in
> stock at a price I'm prepared to pay, that's about all I want from them.
Same here.
Ian
--
Ian Robinson, Belfast, UK
<http://www.canicula.com/wp/>
Peter Lee
<snip>
>
> What got me the most tho was a 20" iMac running Vista. Running it very
> quickly, but with no sign of a Mac OS install on there anywhere... Asked
> a passing sales guy who said "Hmm, I don't know, let me go ask one of
> the guys in there", pointing to the business center.
<snip>
Usually, if you look in the Windows Control Panel of a Mac running
Windows in Boot Camp, there's a Control Panel item called 'startup
disk'. Clicking on that gives you a choice of Mac OS or Windows as the
next OS to boot into. There's a 'Restart' button there too.
Andy Hewitt
> On Sat, 2 Jun 2007 04:54:14 +0100, David Baxter wrote
> (in article <dMWdnXDU7fm...@giganews.com>):
>
>
> > I wonder, (completely uninformed assumptions here) if the deal with
> > Tesco really takes off, and if sales through PC World aren'tparticularly
> > high, if Apple may stop selling to PC World, or if they're not really
> > bothered - after all, a sale's a sale...
> >
> > Dave
> >
>
> I bought my first Mac there when I switched a couple of years ago. They did
> have one staff member who was very enthusiastic about Macs but as usual, I
> knew what I wanted before I went in there so as long as they have the item in
> stock at a price I'm prepared to pay, that's about all I want from them.
I agree. I went in last year to buy a laptop, and hadn't decided between
a new MacBook or an older iBook. As it was I didn't really like the
shiny screen on the MacBook, and they didn't have any in stock either. I
walked out with a 14" iBook at a very good price (like almost £300
cheaper than a MB.
--
Andy Hewitt
<http://web.mac.com/andrewhewitt1/>
Robert Moir
"David Baxter" <tae...@spamblock.atlanticrealm.com> wrote in message
news:dMWdnXDU7fm...@giganews.com...
> What got me the most tho was a 20" iMac running Vista. Running it very
> quickly, but with no sign of a Mac OS install on there anywhere... Asked a
> passing sales guy who said "Hmm, I don't know, let me go ask one of the
> guys in there", pointing to the business center. Came back a couple of
> minutes later and said "I'm not sure, but I'll get back to you in just a
> min." Waited a couple of mins and had a chat with another customer who was
> looking at the Macs and was a bit annoyed that they didn't have them
> running their correct OS, then left.
>
> Overall, a very uninspiring visit. I really do wonder if PC World sell
> many Macs - they certainly didn't seem to know anything about them, and
> the machines themselves weren't in the best of condition.
Seems about typical.
I can't blame the shop assistants themselves because if they don't know
something from their own experience and initative then I suspect the
training is very poor, but from what I've experienced they don't know their
ass from their elbow when it comes to Macs or Windows for that matter.
They'll all be experts on upselling you guarantees and stuff you don't
really need for either platform.
Gary
(in article <1hz2ntq.uq3ay28mv3aN%pete...@softhome.net>):
> ignorance among the staff (and presubably
> any training that they receive) about anything other than XP/Vista.
Training? PC World? On anything other than flogging warranties and to always
sell the most expensive thing the customer looks likely to want to pay for?
Woody
That is true. Recently a friend was saying she needed to get a new
laptop, but went to PC World and left empty handed, as the most
important thing to her was digitial photography, and they only had vista
widescreens. Asked why that was a problem she told me that the sales
staff in PC World said that photoshop didn't work on vista, and she also
asked that as they were widescreen, wouldn't all the images be
stretched, the guy went away to ask and came back saying, yes, they
would, but they stretched on all wide screens, so she would have to get
used to it as that is all they did now.
I reasured her that not only did photoshop (pretty well all versions)
still worked on vista and the widescreen didn't stretch, but fitted on
the screen. So she bought one. I think she got it from a different
place.
--
Woody
Ian Robinson
(in article <1hz2y2u.8iwqn1lddsi4N%use...@alienrat.co.uk>):
> I reasured her that not only did photoshop (pretty well all versions)
> still worked on vista and the widescreen didn't stretch, but fitted on
> the screen. So she bought one. I think she got it from a different
> place.
Did she not get a Mac for the digital photography stuff?
Woody
> On Sat, 2 Jun 2007 12:21:04 +0100, Woody wrote
> (in article <1hz2y2u.8iwqn1lddsi4N%use...@alienrat.co.uk>):
>
> > I reasured her that not only did photoshop (pretty well all versions)
> > still worked on vista and the widescreen didn't stretch, but fitted on
> > the screen. So she bought one. I think she got it from a different
> > place.
>
> Did she not get a Mac for the digital photography stuff?
Nope - she is a happy windows user. The PC was £400 and she was happy
with it. A mac would be into decent lens territory for her.
--
Woody
Jon B
Well they did buy out MacWarehouse a few years ago, and I know a few
years ago our local PCW used to shift a lot of boxes to educational.
Shortly after they bought out MacWarehouse at the PCW expo at Twickenham
(2005 at a guess) the 'Apple MacWarehouse' stand was the biggest
displayer there. This year at Wembley Apple [1] had a little spot hidden
away, with a tiny Xserve rack, a MacPro set up to access it, and a
MacBook & MacBook pro to enter an iPod competition. It was poor, very
poor. Mind you the whole event was a bit poor on the whole, but the
Apple & one or two other bits were really shitty.
[1] My 9-5 has an account as PCW is 1/2 mile away, if you desperately
need something it's handy.
--
Jon B
Above email address IS valid.
<http://www.bramley-computers.co.uk/> Apple Laptop Repairs.
Robert Moir
news:1hz2z1b.17g0w508u9qb7N%use...@alienrat.co.uk...
Seems fair. I've always believed in stopping once you've got something that
does everything you need.
On the positive side of the balance sheet I have converted a windows user
looking for a laptop to run music software into a mac user ordering a
macbook.
I'm pleased with myself for that, not because I've converted someone to
using a mac but because it happens to be pretty much the cheapest and
simplest way to solve their problems with a reasonable degree of elegence. I
had initially pointed them towards Acer laptops (good place to start if you
_do_ want a cheap Windows laptop btw) but these turned out to not quite do
what they wanted.
--
Robert Moir
http://www.rhymeswithgeek.com
Wayne Stuart
> Do PC World sell many Macs?
<snip>
I think if differs from branch to branch, presumably dictated by their
branch manager. I have heard of ones where the Macs are nicely
presented and the staff are brought up to speed on Mac basics. But my
local ones are not one of them...
One local branch has got a MacBook Pro on display which has been showing
the same kernal panic for months. Then another one often has them
switched off. And if they are on, they've been fiddled with so bad,
they're not going to impress anyone... until I tidy them up a bit, which
is bit sad I know. ;)
If someone were to say my locals don't sell a single one from one month
to the next, I would not be at all surprised. If they do, I'd guess
it's only to those for whom it's their closest Mac retailer, and they
know exactly what they want when they go in. They're certainly not
going to sell any on the strength of their displays.
--
This message was brought to you by Wayne Stuart - Have a nice day!
Reasons why not to choose Macintosh... debunked:
<http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wssenterprises/whynotmacfaq/>
Rolly
> That is true. Recently a friend was saying she needed to get a new
> laptop, but went to PC World and left empty handed, as the most
> important thing to her was digitial photography, and they only had vista
> widescreens. Asked why that was a problem she told me that the sales
> staff in PC World said that photoshop didn't work on vista, and she also
> asked that as they were widescreen, wouldn't all the images be
> stretched, the guy went away to ask and came back saying, yes, they
> would, but they stretched on all wide screens, so she would have to get
> used to it as that is all they did now.
Hence why models are so thin.
R.
Peter Lee
> On Sat, 2 Jun 2007 08:45:02 +0100, Peter Lee wrote
> (in article <1hz2ntq.uq3ay28mv3aN%pete...@softhome.net>):
>
>
> > ignorance among the staff (and presubably
> > any training that they receive) about anything other than XP/Vista.
>
> Training? PC World? On anything other than flogging warranties and to always
> sell the most expensive thing the customer looks likely to want to pay for?
Actually, I think it's the item with the greatest mark-up or commission.
Ian Robinson
(in article <1hz3pwb.san1d31pv233lN%pete...@softhome.net>):
>> Training? PC World? On anything other than flogging warranties and to always
>> sell the most expensive thing the customer looks likely to want to pay for?
> Actually, I think it's the item with the greatest mark-up or commission.
PC World don't pay commission to the floor staff. So they say anyway.
David Kennedy
Well, maybe things will change
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?email&NewsID=18465>
--
David Kennedy