How hard is it to set up a new laptop (what does the Best Buy Geek Squad actually do?)

Last night we went to buy my mom a laptop for her Christmas present. She just needed something cheap to surf the internet and check her email and watch DVDs on, and Best Buy had a $300 Toshiba laptop that fit that bill perfectly.

While my toddler and I were promenading around the store (she decided she’d rather explore than stand right around one section), the Best Buy Geek Squadder was giving her a hard sell on having them set up the laptop for her for $99. When she finally found me, I said oh no, we don’t need that, I can do that. Since I was also trying to hold on to the Little One, I didn’t quite catch what they actually did, but it seemed to include installing updates, checking to see everything worked, getting rid of junk apps, and in general configuring the computer. The guy figured out a good selling technique to use with me – he acknowledged I could totally do it, but pointed out that spending hours clicking OK at a bunch of dialog boxes maybe wasn’t the best use of my time. Which was a compelling argument, and I admit I was a little tempted, but ultimately declined.

He said that all the computers they had were already pre-Geek-Squad configured, so he’d have to remove the configuring before selling it to us. I said okay, sounds inefficient, but sure. I then went on another round of toddler-promenading, so I didn’t see what happened next; my mom says that he went out back to the warehouse supply and got one, but she says he did not do anything to the box.

So once everyone went to bed I opened it up, plugged it in, and turned it on. It… basically worked straight out of the box. It came with two junk apps she’ll never use that I cleaned up (there are probably more running in the background, and I didn’t clean that, so that will take longer). It didn’t take hours. I think it took me all of 15 minutes to get it to a point where she could use it to do basically all the tasks she wanted.

So is that all they do, or did I get a “pre-configured” one by mistake? It was so easy (I haven’t bought a new computer in many years now; my work computer is configured by IT) I am actually wondering if we got a pre-configured one, but then I thought that Toshiba/Windows probably wants it to be easy to use straight out of the box, too (I must say my estimation of Toshiba and Windows 7 went up after this).

Another thing that makes me think it may already have been pre-configured is that it came out of the box with Chrome, which I can’t imagine is normal for Windows machines…? Or is Toshiba a Google fan?

(I’d still recommend my mom get the Geek Squad for setup if neither my sister nor I (or our husbands) were around, because the slightest things will stymie her – I’m not dissing on them as they perform a valuable service – but I just want to know if he was exaggerating about the “hours” or what.)

I recently spent several hours setting up my mother’s new computer. Some things that took my time or COULD have taken my time:

  1. Transferring data/programs from old computer to new computer.
  2. Setting up computer to wireless router or the internet, if applicable.
  3. Setting up printer
  4. Registering laptop
  5. Setting up her email account
  6. Installing Adobe Acrobat, Java, etc.
  7. Putting icons for her frequently used items onto her desktop
  8. Disposing of her old computer
  9. Setting up Netflix Streaming, etc to dialogue with a WiFI enabled TV

I bought a cheapie Lenovo in October and I spent maybe two hours setting it up the way I like it. Most of that was spent downloading updates and downloading and installing various programs that I like. I run PC decrapifier and then check the installed programs list to see if I want to remove anything else. I’d also say that it wasn’t fairly intense as I was talking to my dad and watching TV at the same time so I probably wasted a bunch of time doing other stuff.

It does take time to do it yourself - but no money.
I think what is going on here is that they use this line because they don’t want to call potential customers too stupid to do it themselves. But I’ve seen plenty of smart people who don’t intuitively understand how a computer works freeze in fear that they are going to choose the wrong option and mess things up - even for very simple tasks. It is more anxiety than hours, and anxiety those responding to this thread don’t face. Eliminating this anxiety is the value add for the Geek Squad.

This is really all you need to do. Have something else that you can do while keeping an eye on the new computer as it gets set up.

There is a long standing problem with Best Buy Geek Squad upgrading your computer for you (for a price) as you buy it. They will give you every excuse in the book that it’s merely a suggested upgrade but do it to your new machine and charge you for it whether you like it our not.

The consumerist.com web site (it’s a Consumer Reports site) is no fan of Best Buy with their shady tactics. So it’s quite a surprise to them when Best Buy is actually nice to a customer the consumerist site made a big deal about it. Unfortunately the feel good lasted only a day before the next Best Buy negative article came out.

If you have the capability to maintain the computer for your mother, keep at it. If a problem develops and you are not around, get her to wait until you can look at it before you even consider taking it to Best Buy. The wait will be a blessing in disguise.

Ahhhh… thanks, especially Duckster – that is exactly what I was wondering.

PunditLisa, you also reminded me I need to go load Acrobat Reader on her computer while she’s still visiting, so thanks! The funny thing is, some of the things I am thinking about doing but haven’t yet (like Caffeine.addict’s decrapifier) I don’t think, looking at Duckster’s links, are things Best Buy does either… now I’m really glad I pushed not to spend that extra money.

But yes, if I were setting up the computer for myself it’d take a lot longer, because I’d want to install cygwin, latex, emacs, etc… but for her, all she needed was to have Office Starter and Acrobat Reader installed.

ninite.com is a great first step with a new pc. Grab all the install files you needs and kick it off.