Not an Apple Laptop.

Written Feb 13th, 2005, and lurking on the hard drive until now - when I have time to start a mad posting spree of offline writing.

As I wrote about on Linux Gazette regarding laptops, I was going to buy an Apple 12 inch powerbook.

The Apple Store at the Falls was an adventure in Miami to get to from the Howard Johnson Hotel in Hialaeah - but I made it. Rafael was not there, but Roberto was the one I dealt with - after standing around waiting for someone to take my money for a while. It was quite strange in there. People were walking in raving about streaming video and audio requirements they had, and Apple representatives were in a selling frenzy. Maybe if I wore a suit they would have noticed me. Maybe if I had lit myself on fire they would have noticed me. Neither is an option that I would accept, so instead I inquired about who I had to talk to to actually *buy* something in the Apple store. A fellow customer grabbed one of the Apple representatives for me. I suppose it's good to know people. I'll have to try that sometime. But there we were, Roberto and I - me trying to buy, and Roberto trying to sell.

Minor problem: a 12 inch powerbook with a Superdrive was not available, and that made me less than happy. They had the 12 inch powerbook with the combo drive - no DVD burning ability. They sent me across the street to CompUSA to see if there were any that met my needs over there (how odd), and they didn't have them. CompUSA did have powerbooks, but the older ones and without the SuperDrive.

It was decision time. I needed a laptop. I had spent $30 US to get there by taxi. I was committed, and decided to take the lesser model. Whipping out my debit Visa from Trinidad and Tobago, I prepared to purchase. My card was declined, which was scarey - because I *know* I have money in the account. Thus I went to an ATM machine outside and lo! - my card was working and had the right balance on it. A lovely thing. Smiling away the bad things I had thought about my bank, I went back in to try again. But Roberto told me he could not swipe the card again - that once a card was declined, they could not retry. Less than amused, I went back out to the ATM to find I could only withdraw $600 US at a time. The machine costs $1600 US. If I camped out for 3 days, I could get what I wanted. 3 days were not a luxury I had, A Pakistani cab driver suddenly appeared in front of the TGIF restaraunt, encased fashionably in a Yellow Cab. I sincerely doubt that he will buy an Apple based on our discussion, but he did know about Linux. It's a good sign when Pakistani cab drivers in Miami know what 'root' is.

So, aside from the fact that Apple is selling a machine that won't run wireless with Linux because of the QUALCOMM card, I am also not happy with Apple because they wasted my time and money. The sole reason I had come up and stayed in a hotel prior to LinuxWorld was to get a laptop. Instead of solving this potential customer's problem, they opted to sell more iPods in the frenzy at the Apple Store. Fair enough. I vote with my feet.

The Gateway Laptop

After getting back to the hotel, I despaired. I needed a laptop. I needed a solution. I remembered the BestBuy nearby, and decided I would head there in the morning immediately after breakfast. This day I walked, and the concierge at the hotel was in shock that someone would walk two blocks. And yet I did, and had a lot of fun.

The people at BestBuy were extremely cool. Hiram, the salesperson I dealt with, bent over backwards to help me. After the initial discussion about all of the laptops not running Linux, he allowed me to access the net there so I could check Linux-Laptops.net and see what hardware would work with Linux. I showed him the site, and he was happy for the tip. I explained what had happened at the Apple Store to Hiram, and I don't know that this was the reason why suddenly I had more help than I could have found in the Apple Store with 10 credit cards stapled to my body. I was swarmed. It was really cool.

I ended up with the laptop I am typing this on now. A Gateway, which had the box opened - a real deal. It's not the greatest laptop in the world, but it's mine - and it runs Ubuntu well (though I have to figure out some wireless issues it has.

Service Made The Difference

The BestBuy team - and even the CompUSA team - beat out the Apple Store on service. Maybe it's because there wasn't a deluge of trendy people with iPod envy. I don't know. But I do know Apple lost a sale - and they lost it because they simply weren't interested in collecting my money.

Bad PR on their part, because I probably would have done some nice write ups related to running Linux on an Apple at LinuxGazette - and maybe even touched on OS X.