Is Bestbuy the best place to buy a laptop?

H

H-street

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Been looking for alaptop for a while and i am kindof suprised,

is bestbuy really the best place to buy a laptop?

i've looked online, (dell newegg etc..)

looked at a bunch of B&M Stores (Circuit city, office depot, office max)..

all of their prices are based off horrendeous (>150$) Mail in Rebates while Bestbuys laptop prices are usually the price after the rebates..

am i missing something here?

i usually pin bestbuy as one of hte most expensive to buy hardware from, but maybe i'm wrong on this one.
 
They can be decent if you just look at the prices. They make their money with those scam replacement plans. Just say no. They just send it back to manufacturer and usually take 2-3 months. If you are looking at dell buying direct gives you slightly better service. I once had an out of warrant LCD monitor and used my laptop XPS code and got them to replace it.
 
The only problem with BestBuy is you are limited to the crap models they carry. If you want a B&M I recommend Microcenter if you have a local one.
 
Best buy is a good place to get an idea of what you want but generaly I perfer to customize my notebooks which means a custom order from the MFG most of the time.
 
eh they are ok for a B and M, but overall you pay more for what you get there.
 
Best Buy carries a Dell Inspiron 1525 seen HERE for $499. I built almost the same model at dell.com and it came to $854. The only difference is the one from Dell.com had 3GB of RAM. Hardly worth the price difference. Ive always thought BB had pretty good deals most of the time. Just my $0.02...
 
BB is alright in the sense that they dont do MIR anymore. Also, say no to performance service plans. I used to sell them and trust me, dont believe 70% of the shit they tell you.

I still would go with Dell though, but B/7M... out of CC,BB, Staples, OD, etc.. BB ranks higher.
 
HexiumVII said:
They can be decent if you just look at the prices. They make their money with those scam replacement plans. Just say no. They just send it back to manufacturer and usually take 2-3 months. If you are looking at dell buying direct gives you slightly better service. I once had an out of warrant LCD monitor and used my laptop XPS code and got them to replace it.
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they usually only send items back to the manufacturer if it's unrepairable at their service centers. if that's the case, they usually give you a replacement in the store.

everything else that IS repairable is sent out to one of their service centers (for computers, it's usually Geek Squad City; everything else like cameras, DVD players, etc. goes to an authorized service center by that manufacturer).

there are no replacement plans for computers, only service plans. you get the same quality service out of these plans as you would from the extremely shitty 1-year limited MFG warranty that comes with every computer.

also, yeah, best buy is pretty expensive in terms of hardware (HDDs, RAM, Video Cards, etc). stick to newegg or tigerdirect.
 
brokenarrow03 said:
Best Buy carries a Dell Inspiron 1525 seen HERE for $499. I built almost the same model at dell.com and it came to $854. The only difference is the one from Dell.com had 3GB of RAM. Hardly worth the price difference. Ive always thought BB had pretty good deals most of the time. Just my $0.02...
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Just priced it out at $704. It's not $854, but it's not $499 either.. BB actually gets a checkmark. Never thought I'd see the day!
 
I bought a new laptop from Best Buy in April and its an HP pavilion, I don't use it to play games on it because I have my 360 for that but as for web design and game design its does what I need it to in order for me to get through school. I just priced out my laptop on Hp's website and I cam about $150 to almost $175 cheaper through best buy...just another 2cents
 
p4gs said:
they usually only send items back to the manufacturer if it's unrepairable at their service centers. if that's the case, they usually give you a replacement in the store.

everything else that IS repairable is sent out to one of their service centers (for computers, it's usually Geek Squad City; everything else like cameras, DVD players, etc. goes to an authorized service center by that manufacturer).

there are no replacement plans for computers, only service plans. you get the same quality service out of these plans as you would from the extremely shitty 1-year limited MFG warranty that comes with every computer.

also, yeah, best buy is pretty expensive in terms of hardware (HDDs, RAM, Video Cards, etc). stick to newegg or tigerdirect.
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Very true. Also worth noting is that Sony's almost always go to Sony directly. Almost everything else is fixed in Louisville.
 
Very true. Also worth noting is that Sony's under manufacture warranty almost always go to Sony directly. Almost everything else is fixed in Louisville.
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Quick correction.
 
HexiumVII said:
They just send it back to manufacturer and usually take 2-3 months.
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one more note: usually it takes 2-3 weeks to get it shipped out and shipped back. RARELY does it take 1-2 months. i have yet to hear or see anything that takes 3 months to come back from the service center.
 
Only when they are running a great sale. Brick-n-Mortar usually costs a little more, so look for deals there. I got a Toshiba laptop on a great buy there two years back.
 
HexiumVII said:
They can be decent if you just look at the prices. They make their money with those scam replacement plans. Just say no. They just send it back to manufacturer and usually take 2-3 months. If you are looking at dell buying direct gives you slightly better service. I once had an out of warrant LCD monitor and used my laptop XPS code and got them to replace it.
Click to expand...

Gaiden133 said:
BB is alright in the sense that they dont do MIR anymore. Also, say no to performance service plans. I used to sell them and trust me, dont believe 70% of the shit they tell you.

I still would go with Dell though, but B/7M... out of CC,BB, Staples, OD, etc.. BB ranks higher.
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HexiumVII: If you have or had a business wouldn't you want to make money? If such service and replacement plans are such a scam then why is newegg, staples, CC(I even think Fry's has them now) selling them now?

When you call dell you usually get India. I don't Qualify that as better service.

Gaiden133: I know I drop stuff and service plans From Best Buy cover dropping IF it is being used the way the manufacturer intended it to be used. If you don't believe in them WHY did you sell them or work retail at all for that matter?

I would stay way with Dell it seems like every Dell I have ever seen or worked on has just been FUBAR'd right out of the box lately.

I have an HP and a Gateway and haven't had any problem at all.
 
I never buy from the big box stores anymore. Seems like these days they dont care about the actual product as much as all the accessories and BS warranties they try to throw on you.
 
R0cko said:
I never buy from the big box stores anymore. Seems like these days they dont care about the actual product as much as all the accessories and BS warranties they try to throw on you.
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That's because Best Buy and other stores make almost no money on computers. Sometimes, they even sell it at a loss. If they make anything it's no more than $50 (I don't work in computers, so this may be slightly incorrect).

Service plans and services are pure profit. Also, accessories usually have huge mark ups on them. That's why the salesmen push them.
 
That's because Best Buy and other stores make almost no money on computers. Sometimes, they even sell it at a loss. If they make anything it's no more than $50 (I don't work in computers, so this may be slightly incorrect).

Service plans and services are pure profit. Also, accessories usually have huge mark ups on them. That's why the salesmen push them.
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Exactly but that doesnt mean that I will excuse it.
 
Best Buy isn't a bad place to buy a laptop. I bought mine there when it went on sale for $1099. Mine has had no problems whatsoever but it sits on my desk 99% of the time. I passed on the extended warranty. I generally don't buy a warranty unless I know I will be abusing the product for some reason. I don't prefer BB over any other vendor, but at the time it was the best bang for my buck in my price range.
 
sparta.rising said:
The only problem with BestBuy is you are limited to the crap models they carry. If you want a B&M I recommend Microcenter if you have a local one.
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I would agree with MicroCenter. They have a HUGE selection of Laptops and generally are willing to help you instead of BS you into something that wont work well for you.

The hard part is BB is willing to take a huge loss on their laptops to draw customer's in over a better shopping experience. :(
 
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