Touching the back wall of the Apple store

I remember the first time I went into an Apple Store.

I was looking at a 17” PowerBook, salivating at the screen and performance but struggling with justifying the price tag. An incredibly nice lady walked up to me and asked if I had any questions. I told her I was thinking it over as it was a large purchase. She beamed and said “Of course, that’s totally understandable. In fact it takes on average 3 visits to an Apple Store before making a purchase”. It was the smartest, nicest, most low key way of saying don’t feel pressure…you’ll be coming back, and then you’ll buy the machine you’ve always wanted.

Very on brand. And surprisingly still not really copied by others.

i wonder if it's true anymore.

Recently i've bought the new iphone, it's not as expensive as the high end macbook, but still, not a small amount of money.

I got to the store, asked for the phone, finalized my purchase and got out, all in 15 min i guess. No second guess, no cold feet, because i had been researching smartphones for years before going with it, i knew what i would get and what i wouldn't.

Back in the day you would indeed need to go to the store to know what you were getting.

If you know how iPhones work then online research is enough, but if you haven’t played with one it makes sense to use it at the store as research, or even if you’re just curious.

Same for Android, I wouldn’t buy one without testing before, for example.

Also: The Microsoft and Chromebook displays at electronics chain-stores have seriously stepped up their game in the last 10 years or so. Before that it was a shitshow, with keyboards missing keys and the OS crashing on demo devices that would be otherwise perfectly usable machines.