14 DAY TRIAL // According to Slate.com’s The Big Money, Best Buy’s $40 “Mac optimization” solution is worthless. Some of the alleged benefits are either something that even a monkey could eventually figure out, or simply borrowed from the PC demographic, hence don’t really apply.
Leaving aside that there’s really no good reason not to buy your Mac directly from its maker’s online store, or retail establishments, Apple can also hook you up with an expert on the spot and answer any questions, solving all your problems. You can even bring your PC to the store and have everything migrated to your new Mac, free of charge. And this would be a Mac guy assisting you, not some Best Buy Geek Squad member who knows a little bit about everything.
And still, some prefer shopping at Best Buy. Well, as CultOfMac’s John Brownlee advises, if you do decide to pick up your next Mac from your local Best Buy, tell its Geek Squad, “I’ll pass” when they try to push the $40 optimization onto you. Slate.com’s The Big Money explains why.
As even a computer novice might expect, “Mac optimization” is useless. One supposed benefit is putting the user’s name on the computer, according to Best Buy representatives I spoke to. Presumably, anyone who is buying a computer knows how to type in his or her own name, or follow the prompts to do it. Another supposed benefit: checking the Mac’s network connection. This has no value because it is done in the store, while the buyer will use the Mac with a different network at home. Yet a third step involves loading the Geek Squad’s own proprietary software on the computer to scan drives—drives that have never been used and so don’t need to be scanned for trouble. An anti-virus program is also part of the mix, which is an insult to the virus resistance of Macs.