Best Buy ''Optimization'' A Waste of Money

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Abrahm

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Best Buy has always been a huge rip off when it comes to computers and computer accessories. I can't say I'm surprised by this finding.
 

dtemple

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There's not enough information here to say that the optimization that Geek Squad offers is a bad thing. I know a guy who works at geek squad, and I asked him about this whole thing. He said that the optimization is 40 dollars in-store, no matter when you have it done. It doesn't get rid of viruses (which is a software repair closer to 200 dollars) and it won't speed up your computer 200 percent. It DOES give you all the Windows updates, they disable startup items that aren't necessary, they uninstall the trial bloatware, and then run a registry patching program that speeds up everything just a tad - making the computer devote more CPU time to foreground apps than background apps. If you get it done with the computer brand-new in the box, they also set the date and time, as well as configure it for automatic updates and configure your username and password for you.
Did the geek squad guy say Windows Updates could take 2 days? Maybe if the consumer said they have dial-up. Maybe the person who they said the computer would be "incomplete" without the optimization meant it wouldn't be 100% ready to go out of the box without it, since you have to go through the initial setup process.
For 40 bucks, people who dont have time to clean out bloatware, do updates, and configure the initial settings are getting a deal here. For most Toms readers, it's a waste of money.
 

walt526

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"For 40 bucks, people who dont have time to clean out bloatware, do updates, and configure the initial settings are getting a deal here. For most Toms readers, it's a waste of money."

FWIW, I think that your conclusion is spot-on. If my parents didn't have me to basically do that for them (for free), then I'd suggest that they would pay someone to do that.
 

christop

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It's total bs. I use to work for staples and they had a tune up for 20.00 and it was just a norton tool kit. The same tools your os has defrag stuff like that. I loved how they told me if I didn't sell a pc with the extended coverage they lost money. I told them they are retarded and that their purchase order er is buying all these computers at retail price and hoping to sell an extended warranty to make money yeah right.. They are stupid to think I would not know they are making 30 percent profit if not more.. So I quit working for those freaks.. ALL THE TUNE IS.. EMPTY YOUR WALLET WITH UPSALES...
 

PLiNkO

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Apr 19, 2009
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OMG,I've been saying this for a while now. Best Buy is such a rip off, they only sell flashy low quality electronics marketed to twenty something morons. I've made lots of money following the Geek Squad around with a mop.
 

jsc

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I shop at Best Buy - for CD's, DVD's, and other minor parts and accessories. But for major computer parts, my vendor of choice is newegg.
 

loomis86

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Best buy occasionally has a killer sale. I bought a hewlett packard HP50g RPN scientific calculator there last spring for 60 bucks. that's a hundred dollar calculator. Not too enthusiastic about their extended coverage plans etc.
 

jrewolinski

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Agreed, BB, is not worth giving money to. Unfortunately they are just about the only retail electronics store left in Anchorage.

And why can't the suppliers just stop installing all of that useless crap on consumer PCs to begin with? BB has a big enough name to go to their suppliers and say "Don't install Bloatware". But hey they can make an extra buck if they don't.
 

adillhoff

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[citation][nom]jrewolinski[/nom]Agreed, BB, is not worth giving money to. Unfortunately they are just about the only retail electronics store left in Anchorage.And why can't the suppliers just stop installing all of that useless crap on consumer PCs to begin with? BB has a big enough name to go to their suppliers and say "Don't install Bloatware". But hey they can make an extra buck if they don't.[/citation]

Because those advertisers give companies like HP and Dell money to put that bloatware on there. Best Buy is simply offering a service to remove all of that junk while applying registry tweaks to slightly speed up the system. It definitely does not increase processing speed by 200%, but it is a great value for a lot of people who don't have the time or resources to set up their PC correctly.
 

millalyte

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I work part time at Geek Squad as a second job and the details in this article are very bias. You have to figure that majority of the customers that come in here do not know how to even install a memory chip let alone operate in the registry or tweak the start up services/programs. We get calls from customers asking how to turn their laptops on and some people don't even know that the battery is removable.

Just because this optimization process is something YOU might beable to do it might not be something the average consumer could perform on their own or have time for. You guys ridicule best buy for their rip-offs and gimmicks yet you folks all shop there at one point or another maybe thats why circuit city went out of business and not best buy? I'll be one of the first to admit that best buy needs to step it up on their requirements for computer sales associates because they are not the greatest but most retail stores i've been to (such as Fry's/Circuit/Staples) try and spew the same garbage at me that I know is false so it doesn't all happen at one place.

To the informed consumer who knows his/her way around computers this service probably isn't for them but for the illiterates who need help and or are too scared to set it up themselves it's a good option for them.
 

amabhy

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Now that CompUSA and Circuit City are gone, Best Buy feels its ok to gouge consumers, which is why i avoid them whenever possible.

Can someone say $90 HDMI cables???!?!?!?
 

jay236

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200%? At most 5%, and to not have to go through the hassle of uninstalling all the crap and doing all the updates. It's good if you have dial-up I guess.

Even then, there's always the dumb Geek Squad Agent who takes longer than the average consumer could do it in.
 

millalyte

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Also just an FYI the optimization is a flat $39.99 there is no "variations" of it. They are completely different services that are offered and it's not like we're FORCING anyone to buy it it's an option that seem to benefit a lot of people. Again I would suggest furthering the research done on this before publishing an article that spreads inaccurate knowledge further around the public.

Plinko - I've cleaned up my fair share of messes from third party/mom and pop shop repair centers. You guys make plenty of mistakes too.
 
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Guest

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The geek squad "fixed" my parent's computer but somehow managed to reinstall an OS :p
If I didn't boot it up then than that would have sucked XD
 

frozenlead

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Their claim of "32% slower" is based off of a 3D Mark 2003 score. A benchmark like that shouldn't have been used on a notebook - they should have used a more productivity-oriented suite, like PC Mark. If you read the article, it's full of garbage one-liners that make Best Buy look bad, when, in fact, they really aren't. There's a big block quote on some very nice things that Best Buy changes that I find customers (my customers) ask me to do for them often. Consumer Reports is not a technical journal, and should not write technical reviews.
 
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I can vouch for this article. I worked in GeekSquad for 6 months, and quit because they wernt flexible with my hours around classes. Back to the topic, yes best buy has geeksquad pre-optimize 20-30% of its laptops that will go on sale 1 week prior to next weeks sale ad. So if your wondering why you had to buy that laptop for an extra $39.99, its because best buy sets it up that way. Our store makes money on services, warrenties and accessories that are marked up 500% above store cost. Lets see, most popular accessory, a USB cable for a printer $29.99, nothing cheaper sorry. The store buys those cables at $4.XX a piece, and employees are able to buy them for 5% above store cost.

Anyways, back to the (Optimization) part of the story. Most of the time geek squad will be assigned to pre-op about 30-50 laptops before the weekend, so they will be up and ready by sunday morning. Sometimes there isnt enough man power to manual do all these units, so at night we connect all the laptops to a website called geeksquad.com/jonnyutah , you will not be able to access this page because it detects if your on best buy's intranet protocol.
The laptops are remotely pre-optimized by people in India using Logmein Pro licenced by best buy.

Being a geek myself, I have noticed they help out on netbooks and celeron laptops, but honestly they dont do crap for anything else

My name is Anthony, my employee number is A322034 at store 0543 Fort Lauderdale,FL. I hate best buy and im proud to disclose this information :)
 

jitpublisher

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Best Buy and finallyfast.com Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. But when you get over the initial rip off reaction and really think about it, millalyte hit the nail on the head. People who frequent Toms or read these forums already do exactly what Best Buy is doing, probably on a weekly or monthly basis. You wouldn't dream of owning a PC with all the bloatware and crap they put on prebuilds. So why would you knock Best Buy for offering a simple service (for a price LESS than a decent steak dinner, or a tank of gas, or 18 holes of golf for crying out loud) to basically do what enthusiasts do almost constantly? Would I pay for it, heck no. But is it something that the average PC buyer should do, probably...yeah probably. For 40 bucks, why not?
 
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