Mac Book Pro 2011

Question

hello,
i just purchased a MPB 2011 15", i returned one to best buy because of dead pixels. i was treated like crap there, and they said keep the machine or get a refund. i took the refund and bought one from the apple store. glad i did!so far this MBP has no issues. i want to ask, the MBP i purchased from best best seemed to have a different keyboard in the sense that the keys seemed a bit more raised and had a plastic feel to them, this MBP i purchased from the apple store seems to have a keyboard that is a little more inset and the keys have a rubber feel to them, i don't know if that's the best way to describe it. seems these key are made of a polymer. it is simliar to the apple aluminum keyboard i had with my 2008 imac. i like this keyboard better. i had an awful experience with best buy. i feel much more at ease buying my machine from the apple store. i'm just wondering if it is my imagination of are the keyboards different? thanks!
jaco

Answer 1

Never, ever, EVER buy Apple products from any other place than either Apple's website or an Apple Store. Even if they're waving discounts in your face (the 5% you save is not worth the trouble of dealing with a reseller), never give in.
The people at an Apple Store are paid to keep you happy. You can literally walk in with any issue, no matter how ridiculous, and know that you will be offered at least SOME aid (in the most ridiculous cases), and typically they'll make your day. I walked into an Apple store a few months ago and got to talking to one of the guys walking around about the iPhone. I showed him an app on my iPhone 4, and he noticed that my screen was slightly more yellow-tinged than his. Within 5 minutes, without even ME asking for it, I had a brand-new, replaced iPhone 4, even though the one I was holding had a nasty scratch on the back from dropping it.
When you buy Apple, you are paying more than the hardware is worth (except in the case of iPads/iPods) for good reason: their SUPPORT is worth the surcharge. Buying anything Apple from Best Buy, etc., is like buying a Ferrari at Joe Bucktooth's trailer dealership. You're paying the premium but not getting any of the support you're buying into.
Also, I'd much rather talk to the workers in the Apple store, who are told specifically not to pressure you into any purchases (to prevent buyer's remorse), than to walk into Best Buy and have some moron insist that I buy something by reading what's on the box to me.
Two weeks ago I was in Best Buy looking for a new router since my friend's old one bit the dust. Ten seconds after I enter the router aisle, there's a guy breathing down my neck, just waiting for me to touch something so he can start talking it up. I tell him that the old D-Link router crapped out on me, and that I was considering buying a Linksys. "OH this Linksys no crap out it have Xtreme N network, no, no, it no crap out. Would you like to purchase our product service plan with your router? It protect you from..." The most frustrating thing is seeing one of their sleazy salespeople try to push every penny out of non-techie customers; before I walked out, I heard one of them trying to sell an elderly woman a ridiculously-expensive gold-plated ethernet cable that "would make her connection better and not drop out like it would with other cables." I walked up and helped her out, and she filed a complaint later that day (not that it'll be useful in the least).