HardOCP News
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Tablet sales are crashing? According to Best Buy's CEO that is exactly what is happening and he thinks there is hope for a PC revival to boot.
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Best Buy CEO: Tablet Sales Are Crashing, Hope for PCs
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Grahamkracka
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They are still relevant? The best buy down the road from me is almost always empty. I'm convinced it's going to close soon.
Krenum
Fully [H]
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There is absolutely nothing that Best Buy has to offer. Nothing. Every single item they have in their store can be purchased somewhere else for cheaper.
The only thing that they can market on is convenience.
The only thing that they can market on is convenience.
How fast does a tablet have to be?
I've still got a dual core Tegra 2 tablet with dock I use for a media center and a pair of dual core 1gb ram 7 & 8 inch tablets the kids use for Angry Birds and Chromecasting.
I still prefer my laptop or desktop for email and games,
I've still got a dual core Tegra 2 tablet with dock I use for a media center and a pair of dual core 1gb ram 7 & 8 inch tablets the kids use for Angry Birds and Chromecasting.
I still prefer my laptop or desktop for email and games,
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Best Buy is still a great place to buy high-risk items like monitors and laptops, where 8 out of 10 are fucked up with dead or stuck pixels. Hell, I just bought a Chromebook yesterday and there is a stuck blue pixel.
If I bought it at Amazon, I'd have to go through the trouble of shipping it back, but I got it at Best Buy and can simply walk in and get my money back.
I also prefer to get certain things like Blu-ray movies there, since they tend to come in cases that are all scratched and fucked up from Amazon.
If I bought it at Amazon, I'd have to go through the trouble of shipping it back, but I got it at Best Buy and can simply walk in and get my money back.
I also prefer to get certain things like Blu-ray movies there, since they tend to come in cases that are all scratched and fucked up from Amazon.
Decent tv's. Sure you can cheap crap tvs online for loads cheaper but if you spending $1500+ on a tv, best buy is usually the same or with in $50-$150 of amazon or another online reputable merchant. For the small extra price and the ease of exchanging if there are dead pixels or backlight issues I will pick it up at best buy.
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Wait, apparently people don't realize that Best Buy price matches Amazon.
Depending on the manager, price matching at Best Buy is a tremendous pain in the ass.
voklskier4452
2[H]4U
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They actually have a pretty solid price matching program assuming the person you are working with isn't a dick head about it. I would go out of my way to help people price match stuff because frankly I felt bad watching people pay to much and getting people to give me good reviews earned me more cash money.
Back to the topic I really only see one tablet that I want and its the surface pro 3 but the price is just to much for me to justify getting rid of $8 worth of notebooks a semester for a $1000 tablet. Either cheaper prices need to become more then just play toys or prices need to come down to meet ultrabook prices.
Back to the topic I really only see one tablet that I want and its the surface pro 3 but the price is just to much for me to justify getting rid of $8 worth of notebooks a semester for a $1000 tablet. Either cheaper prices need to become more then just play toys or prices need to come down to meet ultrabook prices.
Grahamkracka
[H]ard|Gawd
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QFT. I tried this once with a monitor and it was like pulling teeth. I left and bought off of Amazon for less, without sales tax (third party seller).
Grahamkracka
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The Pro 3 IS actually pretty sweet. I'm in the same boat though, I won't spend $1000 on it.
They don't match 3rd party sellers on amazon. Has to be shipped and sold by amazon.com.
My quad core 2.2GHz (Snapdragon 800) Kindle Fire HDX with 2GB has one of the faster CPUs available in a tablet, but it's still not very fast. It's more than acceptable for many tasks, but I can't imagine comparing it to anything on the x86 side other than a low end CPU made several years ago (excluding old Atoms and Bobcat/derivatives of course because those are dogs).
Parja
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You bet! They're a great showroom. Well, great as long as you can keep the blue shirts from pestering you all the time.
8/10, huh? Did you know that 82% of all statistics are made up?
Irrefutable proof! 100% of Chromebooks have a stuck blue pixel!
You've got to be a Best Buy shill. I've bought approximately 3 metric fucktons of stuff from Amazon in recent years and very rarely is the product not pristine. And if it's not, their returns process is incredibly easy and forgiving.
mastaBlasta
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Tablets (and smartphones) are forced into obsolescence by their manufacturers. I have a 1st gen IPad (2010), and Apple has locked it at iOS5. Most apps being put out today require iOS6 or 7. This iPad is perfectly adequate for almost everything i need, except that i can't get the latest apps (such as chromecast) because of arbitrary "GET A NEW ONE" restrictions.
Grahamkracka
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I have an iPad 2, and iOS 7 runs like shit on it. It's obsolete....because it's obsolete (in terms of capably running the newer OSs).
There was a market vacuum for tablets, and they reached saturation. The same with computers.
A three year old iPad still works just fine, just like a three year old tablet. And when everyone has a computer and a tablet, there's nothing left to buy.
In fact, I'd wager that malware is what drives computer sales (computer has virus, time to buy a new one), and physical damage to tablets (always carry it around, drop it and step on it, woops) is the real thing driving replacement sales these days.
Amazon Return: Click my orders, then return, pick a reason. Print prepaid shipping label, then drop it off at your office's mailroom.
Amazon > BBuy
A three year old iPad still works just fine, just like a three year old tablet. And when everyone has a computer and a tablet, there's nothing left to buy.
In fact, I'd wager that malware is what drives computer sales (computer has virus, time to buy a new one), and physical damage to tablets (always carry it around, drop it and step on it, woops) is the real thing driving replacement sales these days.
Best Buy Return: Drive to the store, stand in a long line at customer service. Stand longer again explaining what was wrong while a teenager unpacks everything to check if anything is missing. Sign various crap, then you can get back in your car and drive home.
Amazon Return: Click my orders, then return, pick a reason. Print prepaid shipping label, then drop it off at your office's mailroom.
Amazon > BBuy
kbrickley
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I think the problem is that everybody wants to treat each new technology as the replacement for all the other technologies that preceded it ... in some cases that is true but it doesn't have to be ... electronics are especially this way ... all the different computing form factors have advantages and disadvantages and I use multiple devices regularly:
Desktop - still the performance platform (the Ferrari of computing) ... best performance, best capabilities, most flexible solution ... however, not very portable
Laptop - the most common form factor but more complex price vs performance calculation ... fast, good, cheap - pick any two ... the mobility factor makes this the most ubiquitous solution
Smartphone - ultra mobility makes this platform very useful ... you can browse and run many applications on the go (including GPS) ... however, the small size limits it as a productivity tool compared to a laptop (and less powerful capabilities than a full blown computer as well)
Tablet - a nice hybrid device being a mix between the smartphone (with similar capabilities and limitations but a bigger screen) and a laptop (with less capabilities but far more flexible and sometime with better battery performance)
When I travel I carry everything but a desktop with me, and when I am at home I am using all four devices at irregular intervals ... but I am somewhat of a gear head
Desktop - still the performance platform (the Ferrari of computing) ... best performance, best capabilities, most flexible solution ... however, not very portable
Laptop - the most common form factor but more complex price vs performance calculation ... fast, good, cheap - pick any two ... the mobility factor makes this the most ubiquitous solution
Smartphone - ultra mobility makes this platform very useful ... you can browse and run many applications on the go (including GPS) ... however, the small size limits it as a productivity tool compared to a laptop (and less powerful capabilities than a full blown computer as well)
Tablet - a nice hybrid device being a mix between the smartphone (with similar capabilities and limitations but a bigger screen) and a laptop (with less capabilities but far more flexible and sometime with better battery performance)
When I travel I carry everything but a desktop with me, and when I am at home I am using all four devices at irregular intervals ... but I am somewhat of a gear head
Ashbringer
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Anyone who didn't see this coming was a moron. Tablets are now intrinsically worthless. There's nothing that can be done on a tablet that can't be done on a laptop. There is however more things you can do on a laptop that a tablet couldn't do. It doesn't help that tablets are.
1. Locked down devices.
2. Have multitasking capabilities that makes Windows 3.1 laugh.
3. Devices keep getting faster while software can still work just fine on a single core CPU with an GPU stuck onto it.
4. No expansion ports or usb ports. Some of them aren't even coming with SD card slots, which is just laughable.
5. Extremely delicate devices made out of glass.
To be fair my HP Dv7 is from 2009 and it's 2.4 Ghz Core2duo with Nvidia 9600M GT is still better than all $300 laptops and most $400. In the past 5 years, moore's law hasn't really applied to the laptop market.
Dr. Righteous
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LOL! I never had any actually price match an online retailer.
A lot of them advertise they price match but when you take them up on it; they will tell you only local merchants, no online.
I actually took Advance Auto up on price matching. Need a Edelbrock 1406 carb; took the Summit catalog and shows the guy they were like $50 less than their price. So to my shock, he priced matched, and I walked out with the carb. Found out later they fired him for it! Local retailers are always usually within a few dollars of each other on price. No big deal to match that.
mastaBlasta
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Because releasing a new OS version every year totally makes sense. There were just so many fundamental changes from iOS6 to iOS7 that it's like comparing wagons and tanks
Bestbuy is pretty specific on what they pricematch
At the time of sale, we price match all local retail competitors (including their online prices) and we price match products shipped from and sold by these major online retailers: Amazon.com, Bhphotovideo.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, HP.com, Newegg.com, and TigerDirect.com.
I have never had a problem with them doing it.
Grahamkracka
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Because releasing a new OS version every year totally makes sense. There were just so many fundamental changes from iOS6 to iOS7 that it's like comparing wagons and tanks
Software is constantly updated no matter what platform or application we are talking about.
mastaBlasta
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On a different tangent, i can see how retailers don't like tablets. Tablets are a totally locked product.
When you sell PCs you can also sell accessories, software, guides for said accessories and software, hardware upgrades, and so forth. Whole stores revolve around PC and PC parts (e.g. microcenter).
When you sell a tablet, all you can sell is the tablet. There are no accessories. All the software is managed by the tablet marketplace, no upgrade options, nothing. You can't build a store around that.
When you sell PCs you can also sell accessories, software, guides for said accessories and software, hardware upgrades, and so forth. Whole stores revolve around PC and PC parts (e.g. microcenter).
When you sell a tablet, all you can sell is the tablet. There are no accessories. All the software is managed by the tablet marketplace, no upgrade options, nothing. You can't build a store around that.
Some of you guys must live by some horrible Best Buys. I've been to maybe 4 of them throughout my area and its always easy to price match and very little do I have to stand in a long line to return things. Also since Amazon charges tax in Florida now, its pretty convenient to take advantage of their price matching. Provided the item is sold by Amazon.com and not any other seller of course (which I hope you guys are making sure is the case!).
Responsiveness mostly. That's mostly independent of OS/CPU architecture.
For example, the speed which an activity (all local data, no network activity) is created and UI displayed under Android has the feel of a pretty old CPU running under XP. Plus cross-platform benchmarks suggest best case integer performance on ARM is about equal to what I estimated above for x86. AMD's SPEC estimates for the upcoming ARM Cortex A57 "server" chip @ 2.5GHz are about equal to 1.6GHz 2004-era Pentium M (Dothan), comparing single core performance. Not impressive.
I know this totally goes against the magic fairy dust hype (suggesting there's not tradeoffs between power and performance) ARM usually gets, but whatever. Efficiency isn't magical.
Haven't had an issue yet. Last time I went in I picked up the Star Wars BR set. Marked $150. Pulled it up on Amazon for $90 (I think), manager said "Nice price" and matched in a second. I've spent more money there in the last year with price matching since I pay taxes either way, and $2 in gas is worth the differeince in waiting 2 days for some things.
Mine is crap, mostly teens on their first jobs that think Apple is the only company in existance, or old retired people working part time to supplement their social security that think ham radios are still cutting edge.
Makes me sick to see them tell people they need to buy a copy of something that can be legally had for free on the net, or Geeksquad charging $100 to put classic shell on a Win8 pc.
Can't stand the place.
It could be that tables were the cool thing to have so everyone wanted one. When some of these people who were technology averse before got a taste and found it wasn't so bad and wanted to do more they quickly found they couldn't with a tablet. Tables are ok for looking and very simple tasks, but when you want to actually do something you're SOL. For that you need a PC.
About that $300 laptop statement. Yes, you can get laptops for under $300. And they compete well against Chrome books, as they have larger hard drives, more ram, and better cpu.
Example: A Dell 3000 series with a N2815 Celeron, 4gb ram, and a 500gb hard drive, in a 15.6 inch laptop for $250 at Orifice Depot/Max has better specs than the Chrome book of the same price, with Windows 8.1.
Downside? That laptop is stripped. No DVD/CD Drive. No NIC, only wifi.
But, if you consider the PC can do all the lightweight stuff PC Users expect (Office, Surfing, Facebook) and it is less than a Samsung 10.1 tablet, well, many will opt for the PC over the Tablet.
Example: A Dell 3000 series with a N2815 Celeron, 4gb ram, and a 500gb hard drive, in a 15.6 inch laptop for $250 at Orifice Depot/Max has better specs than the Chrome book of the same price, with Windows 8.1.
Downside? That laptop is stripped. No DVD/CD Drive. No NIC, only wifi.
But, if you consider the PC can do all the lightweight stuff PC Users expect (Office, Surfing, Facebook) and it is less than a Samsung 10.1 tablet, well, many will opt for the PC over the Tablet.
SixFootDuo
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Good to hear.
I ended up trading a Mac in and getting credit toward a Surface Pro 3 at the Microsoft store.
It still sucks at Art. It just doesn't feel right. The artistic portion of the SP3 was an after thought, I can assure you. It was a gimmie, a marketing tool, etc
I ended up trading a Mac in and getting credit toward a Surface Pro 3 at the Microsoft store.
It still sucks at Art. It just doesn't feel right. The artistic portion of the SP3 was an after thought, I can assure you. It was a gimmie, a marketing tool, etc
VladDracule
[H]ard|Gawd
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What part of it sucks at art? Check reddit and youll see some incredible stuff done with the surface
Pretty much this. I used to live less than five minutes from a BB and after Amazon started charging taxes in VA I started going to BB a lot more. I did not once have an issue getting a price match for items that fall under their policy (must be sold by amazon not third party as others have pointed out).
Pretty much everyone that wanted a tablet has one at this point, the only real innovation is on the ultra high end. Each of the devices has specific uses that complement each other. I can't spend a few hours on my couch and use my laptop comfortably, but that isn't an issue on a tablet.
and appliances. I just bought an open box washer and dryer for about half of what I could find them anywhere else
Maybe not all bestbuys are the same but the should be. I have actually bought a few things that I needed immediately and easily price matched it from amazon etc. Literally just showed them the price on my phone, immediately priced matched it and didnt even call up their manager. Also on a lot of things Amazon will dock shipping costs to return, that is if I dont lie to them and tell them its defective instead of you just dont want it. Bestbuy although short has a 14 day policy with no restocking fee and I have had no problems returning a lot of things.
They have gotten massively better in the last year that I actually buy from them now, BestBuy might not be what you thought it was.
They have gotten massively better in the last year that I actually buy from them now, BestBuy might not be what you thought it was.
VladDracule
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Im a mybestbuy elite plus member which makes all of my returns/exchanges a 45 day window