Mac Shopping at CompUSA

- 2000.01.18

My week started out with me deciding to upgrade to Mac OS 8.5. I hadn't heard of too many problems with 8.5 running on a S900. The only question that remained was where to find it, because it is out of print.

I searched high and low. Before I knew it, Thursday had rolled around, and I still didn't have my Mac OS 8.5. Most of the places that claimed to have it were out of stock, and the ones that did have it wanted too much money for an out of print operating system.

So I said to myself, "Why don't I just get Mac OS 9?"

That line of thought led me down a long winding road through the hell we call search engines, trying to find if anyone had successfully installed OS 9 on a SuperMac S900. After four long hours I turned up nothing, and just when I was about to give up, I found one of those anonymous message boards containing a message saying that someone had installed OS 9 on a SuperMac C500 with success.

Even though these were two completely different model clones, I figured I had a shot and that was enough to enable me to purchase OS 9. I immediately browsed over to compusa.com, and they had it in stock at my local CompUSA store.

Shopping at CompUSA for Macintosh software was quite troubling at first. I walked around for 20 minutes screaming, "Where the hell is the Mac software!?" Then I realized something. I was a Macintosh consumer. All the shoppers were looking at me funny, and I know they were saying in their minds, "Damn Mac users, always have to announce that they don't use PC's".

I finally found the Macintosh area of CompUSA, a small closet sized area all the way in back of the store. When I entered the closet (a.k.a. the Apple section), I knew I felt something strange, like I had crossed over some invisible border. It felt like I was speeding on the highway with a cop behind me and I had just crossed over the state line and the cop had no choice but to back off. All of a sudden all the computer "professionals" who looked like they wanted to sucker me into buying the latest piece of garbage Compaq computer scattered in every which direction.

In a way, it's kind of cool. All I have to do is go into the Macintosh section of a CompUSA and all the loser salesmen will leave me alone. I wish I had known this a few years ago; I could have saved myself many anxiety attacks.

Locating Mac OS 9 on one of the shelves, I quickly grabbed it and was about to make my way out when I spotted a modem cable I needed. "Wow, they got Macintosh cables too!" I said to myself. (Remember this is my first time as an Apple consumer)

After getting over my initial shock, I proceeded to leave the Macintosh section (a.k.a. my new sanctuary), and all the salesmen began to shift their bloodthirsty eyes at me. Then they looked down, and once they saw Mac OS 9 in my hands they ran like vampires that had just seen a crucifix.

A short time later I got home installed my modem cable and began to back up my hard drive. Once that was done, I put the OS 9 CD in my CD-ROM drive, started the installer, and 20 minutes later I was done.

But that's a story for another time, besides I have to get back to CompUSA with my soapbox to start my "Get A Mac!" rally.

Join us on Facebook!

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Macintosh Portable, introduced 1989.09.20. The nearly 16 lb. behemoth was innovative but not a smashing success.
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Mac Metamorphosis articles copyright © 1999-2003, 2007 by Eric DeStefano. � Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2012 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Custom Search

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler 11 is now in the Mac App Store!! -- Special Introductory Price of $59.95!! -- To Buy From The Mac App Store Click Here Now!! Or buy direct from Strider Software.

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker and Mac Casino applications in minutes.

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The Apple Store
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
GainSaver
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

Mac Shopping at CompUSA

Links for the Day

Recent Content

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Favorite Sites

Affiliates

Advertise