- 2003.10.30
I'm sometimes driven to walk into a computer store and buy stuff on
impulse. The whole point of shopping in person is to respond to the
packaging, pick up a box, decide you want it, and buy it right then and
there without having to wait for UPS or FedEx or wrestle with online
ordering forms.
You can try it now, while the thought's still fresh in your head.
That's the whole appeal of the Apple Store to me - I don't go in there
unless I intend to pick something up and go out the door with it.
My local Apple Store is in Walnut Creek, California, a site I
suggested years ago when the Apple Stores were first introduced. Walnut
Creek used to have a robust ComputerWare store, and when that chain
folded there was a void created that the Apple Store has more than
filled. By the time Walnut Creek opened, the postings of store opening
photos and lines wrapped around the block had pretty much ended on the
Mac Web. So I went in with a general idea of the layout but nothing
specific.
In my three visits I have been steadfastly ignored by store
personnel until I stepped up to the Genius bar with a question. (I must
admit that I don't appear to have the financial wherewithal to purchase
anything in the store, but still.) I ask each time if the Genius has
heard of Low End Mac, and the results have
been: "Oh, sure, I read it all the time," "I've heard of it, uh yeah,
that's the ticket," and "No."
I also went to the Apple Store in Emeryville, California shortly
after it opened. My experience there was much the same, and the Genius
there hadn't heard of LEM either.
One thing I've notice about the Apple Stores is that they are very
clean. Now, I'm a pretty messy person, and I am also - how shall I say
this - very hairy. Hairy arms, hairy legs, beard, etc. As I've gotten
older, I've kept all my hair, but it has moved from politically correct
locations into more inconvenient places.
Apple Stores are not good places for people who shed hair like a
cat. Neither are white iBooks good computers to own. Black arm-hairs in
between iBook keys are almost impossible to remove. Anyway, not that
you care about my shedding, but it makes Apple Stores and other places
like that very uncomfortable for me. I'm afraid to touch anything lest
I leave a fingerprint on it.
That may also explain why I get steadfastly ignored when I go into
these stores - I don't fit the image of Ben Affleck scraping his arm
hair off with a rock that the Store seems to emit.
With all that said, my last visit to the Apple Store turned out to
be worth the 30-mile drive and sense of impending contamination that
accompanies my visit. My PowerBook G4 power supply had died (for the
second time), and I went to get it replaced. Without a receipt,
they couldn't help me (okay, fair enough), but when I dug out an iBook
hockey-puck power supply from a computer at school, looking for the
receipt, they asked why I didn't just use that one instead.
"Huh?" I said. "I thought they weren't compatible. I read that on a
technote once upon a time."
"The original ones aren't," said the Genius, "but this one is second
generation and will run a G4 laptop just fine." Then she showed me the
power specifications on the backs of the power supplies, which were
identical. I experienced a BGO (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious) and
realized I'd been carrying my replacement all along.
"Thanks," I said. "you just saved me $80."
"No problem," said the Genius. "Why do you think your power supplies
are failing?"
To that, I had an answer, and something those of you with Apple
laptops should note. "It falls between the couch cushions when I'm
sitting on the couch and overheats." Now, I don't think that should
make a power supply overheat, but as we all know the white block power
supplies get very hot while in use, and if they're insulated well it's
entirely possible they're overheating and shorting out internally. A
voltmeter confirmed my power supply was as dead as a doornail. (What's
a doornail, and why is it dead?)
The Genius agreed, so I left to shop a little and wound up buying a
copy of Keynote.
But that's another story.
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
