New Member Intro / Apple Store vs. Mac Store

[bjackson2718]

I didn't see an official place to say hi and introduce myself, but I figure this sub-forum will work (if it isn't, then if a moderator could move it to the correct location that'd be great). I've been a slight lurker of the site for some time, but up until my recent iPhone 4 purchase (my first iPhone) I hadn't thought of joining. I'm just starting my second year of college at the University of Oregon and have been a life-time Mac user. I've always had a Mac desktop at home and got a MacBook Pro 15" when I started college last fall (I love it!). Having grown up in Silicon Valley near Apple HQ, and just a stone's throw from Steve Job's house, I can easily say I am Mac for life. That said...


There is no Apple Store where I go to school in the Eugene, Oregon area. However there is a Mac Store, which I assume is very similar. Just wondering on what the difference is or what I should expect, because I've been used to going to the Apple Store and would prefer to not go through a third party not directly affiliated with Apple when I have tech questions. The genius' at the Apple Store have been life savers when I can't find the answer to my question on google. Thanks.

 

[arjen92]

Here in the netherlands there are no apple stores. Only apple certified resellers. And some are very good in mimicking the Apple store.

So for repairs and such, they'll send it to an apple certified repair center. (altough you can bring your mac yourself, to such a center, or a store where they fix them in the store) Because they send it, it takes a while. (most times something like three weeks).

About the cleverness of those people working there, they don't no everything. And most times I know more than them. That's all I've got to say. They know their basic things, but exceptions and such, they do not.

However this is based on a single store I visit. So it could be different in the store you visit. And I'm also arrogant, so saying that I know more might be because of my reality distortion field .

 

[maflynn]

Apple stores are retail stores owned by apple, where as there are authorized apple dealers that exist as well. In the past apple's only retail outlet (for the most part) was relying on authorized apple dealers, bit that channel kept shrinking so they went into the business themselves and its been wildly popular for them.

 

[R94N]

I didn't see an official place to say hi and introduce myself, but I figure this sub-forum will work

There have been a few threads about this subject in the past, but I'd say the best place is in Community Discussion (i.e. off-topic).

There is no Apple Store where I go to school in the Eugene, Oregon area. However there is a Mac Store, which I assume is very similar. Just wondering on what the difference is or what I should expect, because I've been used to going to the Apple Store and would prefer to not go through a third party not directly affiliated with Apple when I have tech questions. The genius' at the Apple Store have been life savers when I can't find the answer to my question on google. Thanks.

Is it an 'authorised reseller' store? If so, they should be just as good as an Apple Store. I live near to both an Apple Store and an authorised reseller, but the authorised reseller gives just as good advice and answers, in my opinion.

The difference is that someone else owns the store, but they stock Apple products and give Apple-related advice, I suppose There's no massive differences.

 

[mutantteenager]

You are completely at the mercy of the quality of staff whether you shop at an Applestore or a Reseller.

Resellers have the advantage of being able to offer alternative solutions, which Applestores may not stock or even know about. For instance wireless routers. Apple make and sell their own branded solution, but Linksys, Belkin and Netgear all have products which both undercut and surpass Apple's offer in terms of price and functionality.

They can also be objective about Apple products, something which I've found Apple staff find impossible. The Apple TV product up until recently, was a dog of a product, and couldn't really outclass the competition, but you would never hear that from Applestore staff.

The warranty support is just as good, and Apple often use authorised resellers/service centres as overflow for warranty repairs.

I used to work for Apple within third party resellers, it was often shocking to hear what customers were told by the 'genius' at the Applestore. A lot of my colleagues had a wealth of knowledge about Apple products through their own historical use, something which is sadly a rarity now wherever you shop.