Went to Microcenter today

[*kjm]

I have never been to a Fry's that wasn't a crap-hole and staffed by morons.

Me and my wife were on vacation and I went to my first Fry's and only Fry's in San Diego. You are right that the staff is not up on things but if you only could see what we have to shop at in Wisconsin you would be eating your hat We have a state law that will not let any store sell anything below cost so we will never have a Fry's/Microcenter

The San Diego store is not bad but you need to know what you want or need from them and get the rest online.

 

[Zap]

I do know that Fry's doesn't have the killer kick ass deals they used to have. Those days have been long gone for at least 2 years now.

You mean like last week's MSI G31 chipset motherboard with Celeron Dual Core (Wolfdale, no less) E3200 combo for $30? Oh, wait...

 

[Dadofamunky]

I heart MC. The ones I've been to (Boston, Sunnyvale) have always been excellent. And their prices beat Fry's like a red-headed stepchild, particularly for CPUs. The fact that they match anyone's price except for those shite Fry's CPU/mobo combos (which no one in their right mind should buy anyway) just seals the deal for me. They're just too far away from me these days. I miss wandering over there during my lunch hour and having my ATM card cower in fear...

Fry's is also fun but they're really hit or miss from store to store. It depends on how competently their stocking/inventory is handled. Also, anything off the sale sheets is usually full boat, and their TV/LCD sections are just terrible in my experience. I would never buy a flat-screen TV there.

And man - the OP got an i7 920 for 2 Bills? That is sick. Try doing THAT at Fry's.

 

[Markfw]

You mean like last week's MSI G31 chipset motherboard with Celeron Dual Core (Wolfdale, no less) E3200 combo for $30? Oh, wait...

Yes, and they sold out in 2 hours... I tried to get one.

 

[SunnyD]

And man - the OP got an i7 920 for 2 Bills? That is sick. Try doing THAT at Fry's.

As did I. Though incidentals ended up driving up the price some - like $40 or so in gas, snacks and dinner for the kids, etc. But I also coupled the trip with going to Frys and Ikea as well, getting a couple other items and calling it a "road trip" for the family to get out of the house. Incidentals would have happened either way.

Yes, and they sold out in 2 hours... I tried to get one.

As did I. They were long gone by the time I went.

 

[djnsmith7]

You mean like last week's MSI G31 chipset motherboard with Celeron Dual Core (Wolfdale, no less) E3200 combo for $30? Oh, wait...

I suppose I would miss a deal like that since I don't typically shop in that arena. I could have been more specific & referenced deals that actually pertain to me. So, with that being said, Fry's used to have tons of deals that pertained to me, but now I can't remember the last time they did.

 

[taltamir]

be aware that microcenter's return policy is rather restrictive.
if you have a good enough reason they MIGHT let you return something, otherwise they just say no.

there is nothing wrong with that, but you should be aware of it.

 

[ElFenix]

I suppose I would miss a deal like that since I don't typically shop in that arena. I could have been more specific & referenced deals that actually pertain to me. So, with that being said, Fry's used to have tons of deals that pertained to me, but now I can't remember the last time they did.

they had a 920 with msi x58 pro-e for $330 AR a few weeks back. that's nearly $500 at the egg. hoping they have something similar soon.

 

[djnsmith7]

Even though I don't buy MSI boards anymore, that does sound like a good deal. Maybe I've been too focused on the components I've needed & missed the miscellaneous deals that were still worth looking at.

 

[Arkaign]

Hey, this seems to be a good thread for me, I'm blessed to have multiple Fry's and a Micro Center near me (DFW metro area).

There's something bizarre I discovered recently though, and that is CompUSA (new owners), it's the best for finding various components and clearance stuff that I've ever seen.

Goodies over the past month :

Closeout G41 Asus Socket 775 mobo : $19.99
Closeout 19" Emachines LCD : $60.00
Closeout/Returned HP PC (Phenom I 9650, 7GB (weird, eh?) DDR2, 750GB HDD, DVDRW, Vista Home Premium, Wireless-N, Nvidia 9100 onboard, etc) $170

It just varies. Some of their stuff is kinda $, but for the most part they had great deals and totally comparable to Fry's/MC. The thing I loved was the bargain bin at the front, where deals like the above can sometimes be found. Fry's will just take a $299 video card and mark it 'discoutned' for $297.99

 

[zerocool84]

Fry's 15min from me
Microcenter 30min from me

Only reason I'd go to a Microcenter instead of Fry's is if they have some killer deal like they did with the processors and video cards. Other than that it's internet or Fry's.

 

[Meghan54]

be aware that microcenter's return policy is rather restrictive.
if you have a good enough reason they MIGHT let you return something, otherwise they just say no.

there is nothing wrong with that, but you should be aware of it.

I disagree completely with that.

Got an Antec Signature 850 sent to me for my birthday last year.....died two hours into its use. Took it back to a MicroCenter (it came from the NOVA MicroCenter, but no receipt....).

Store took it back, gave me store credit without any problems, questions, etc. Just "Do you want a replacement unit or store credit?"

I've returned quite a few things to both ATL MicroCenters and have yet to be refused the ability to return the item and have never gotten any grief while returning it. (This includes motherboards, memory, fans, and another power supply.)

And I've never been hit with a restocking fee, either. Guess it's more a store thing....or how one acts when returning it. I've seen people, mostly kids, go to the return desk and giving huge attitude before anyone says anything about whether the item will be returnable or not. In those cases, you reap what you sow.

 

[Chappie]

My son and I are heading over to the MC in St. Louis this afternoon once school is out. I didn't even know the store was there until I started reading this thread and decided to see if there was a store in St. Louis!!

Looks like we might be building tonight if all goes well. So thanks op!!!

chappie

 

[Gibson486]

My Microcenter here in Cambridge, MA is less than an hour away. The store is pretty good sized, although not huge. There's a trader joe's in the same parking lot, and the parking lot is always crowded beyond belief.

They generally have some decent deals, and pricing on some things, like the Antec 300 cases that are now $45, are better than Newegg, especially when you factor in shipping. Motherboards are about on par with Newegg, although MC doesn't stock quite as large a selection (witness them carrying the EP45-UD3L, instead of the UD3P).

Things like small cables and adaptors have gone up in price over the last few years. MC used to be really cheap, but now they are like CompUSA or (almost, but not quite) BestBuy, for cable prices. For example, a dual PS/2 mouse/keyboard to USB adaptor, used to be $6.99, now it's $19.99 a few years later.

They had a bin of SATA cables for $6-7 ea. I'd rather get my cables in bulk online, like at svc.com's clearance section. I've found many a bargain there in the past.

CPUs are MC are cheap, below-cost cheap. I guess that's to get you into the store. They are usually one per customer too, unfortunately. RAM is priced a bit higher than Newegg though. So I guess they figure that if you are buying to build a rig, that you will buy a slightly-expensive motherboard, more-expensive RAM, to go with your cheap CPU.

That is the one I go to. MC is alright. It was much better 5 years ago (the returned clearance section was awesome!), now the place is kind of messy. They have a smaller returned clearance section, but everything there is junk. If it's good, the person who returned broke it and they did not bother checking it.

Price wise, unless you go for something that is on sale, yeah, it's pretty overpriced. Even the OEM stuff now is being raised in price.

 

[AdamK47]

Microcenter always got me in trouble, so I made a deal with my wife where I set aside a certain about of money each paycheck just for PC upgrades.

 

[konakona]

wow I never knew MC does pricematching. That's the single most useful tidbit I learned here whole week! thanks

 

[DarkThinker]

wow I never knew MC does pricematching. That's the single most useful tidbit I learned here whole week! thanks

When I was at the microcenter in my area for the first time. I was attempting to price match with Newegg. The salesman told me that they only price match Newegg on processors. I am not sure if he was saying the truth or not, but there you have it.

 

[ModemMix]

MC in KC has awsome return policies, the policy is, they will take anything back with no restock fee, kinda like walmart!

I bought my wife a 500gb WD drive and it sat for 2 months before i got around to instaling it...wouldnt you know, DOA. I had lost my reciept, called the sales line, they looked it up, gave me the reference number for a copy of the reciept. 30 days outside their 30 day return policy, they said, "sure, well do that", and they let me grab a new replacement drive, did a new transaction, and now i have another 30 days to return it, although its working fine.

Micro Center is my absolute favorite place to go when im bored, although i cant leave without buying something. Last purchas was an refurb xbox 360 with 20gb hard drive for 149.00 i love their prices already, but didnt know they price matched untill reading this thread, THANKS for the future savings. Viva La Micro Center!

 

[JerYnkFan]

I have two microcenters near me in the NYC area. The one in Westbury, LI, is a shithole that I guess is still recovering from a fire. Disorganized and unappealing inside. My girlfriend describes it as a "rape pit."

The one in Paterson, NJ, however, is very clean and well organized. You can actually find what you need, and it's not laden with old, unboxed RAM.

I went to the one in Paterson today and it was awesome. I had to show restraint to not walk out of there with more than I needed. It's basically laid-out like a supermarket. My only complaint is some of the OEM items didn't have price tags.

 

[Chappie]

I have nothing but good things to say about the St. Louis store...bought all new parts Friday night..was up all night building Friday...Would not boot into BIOS once I had Windows installed. I freaking tried everything.

So I took the whole box..new parts and all still installed...to the store. Told them the problem. The man took it in the service area...came out 10 minutes later..the brand new ram I bought was bad.. made the exchange. They installed it and checked it out for me to be sure all was well.

Great service and a great store.

Chappie

 

[foghorn67]

I have both a Fry's and a Microcenter on the way home from work.
Problem is, that this Fry's sucks (Anaheim). It's like a trashed Wal-Mart with dis-organized shelves, and most of the items are opened returns.
It's great for combo deals or sale items if you can get to them right away.
The Microcenter is great, it's only 1 exit up on the freeway from my work. And really, I wish it was miles away because I can see myself blowing paychecks there.
Might have to go there and see if they have any of the old quad cores left.