From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

Hi,

Yesterday - to my surprise - I found two Macs on display at Costco
(Bend, Oregon). A Mac mini listed at ~$600 and an iMac at ~$1350. Also,
in the software section was MS Office Mac (student version) for ~$130.

What does this mean? Are Apple and Costco back in business again?

Best,

Conrad
Camp Sherman, Oregon

PS The elegance of the Macs was quite in contrast to the ugly Windows
boxes for sale.

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

Conrad> wrote:

What does this mean? Are Apple and Costco back in business again?

Dunno, but there were a few pallets of iMac G5s at a NY Costco
recently.

It was my first ever trip to a Costco.

Whoa, I bought a 55 gallon drum of Heinz Catsup, a 90lb. box of
Cheez-its, and a box of cereal large enough to house a Meade LX-200.
Saved some serious coin in the process.

Plus, catsup on Cheez-its is delicious!

PS The elegance of the Macs was quite in contrast to the ugly Windows
boxes for sale.

And Costco won't even provide a bag for that ugly Windows box. It's
the walk of shame for those buyers.

--
-John Steinberg
email: not@thistime.invalid
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

In article <1145449610.602331.8430@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
"Conrad" <cweiler1@mac.com> wrote:

Yesterday - to my surprise - I found two Macs on display at Costco
(Bend, Oregon). A Mac mini listed at ~$600 and an iMac at ~$1350. Also,
in the software section was MS Office Mac (student version) for ~$130.

What does this mean? Are Apple and Costco back in business again?

I've heard that Apple is selling off old stock of PowerPC Macs through
Costco. That's probably what you saw, since both the mini and the iMac
have been replaced by Intel-based models.

--
Tom "Tom" Harrington
Macaroni, Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X.
Version 2.0: Delocalize, Repair Permissions, lots more.
See http://www.atomicbird.com/
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

In article <190420061043335916%seesig@bottom.invalid>,
John Steinberg <seesig@bottom.invalid> wrote:

Conrad> wrote:

What does this mean? Are Apple and Costco back in business again?

Dunno, but there were a few pallets of iMac G5s at a NY Costco
recently.

It was my first ever trip to a Costco.

Whoa, I bought a 55 gallon drum of Heinz Catsup, a 90lb. box of
Cheez-its, and a box of cereal large enough to house a Meade LX-200.
Saved some serious coin in the process.

Plus, catsup on Cheez-its is delicious!

Let's see how you feel about the combination three months from now.
Remember, the Cheezits will stay fresh-ish longer if you freeze them
after opening the package.

On the other hand, you'll need a larger freezer to fit the large box.

PS The elegance of the Macs was quite in contrast to the ugly Windows boxes for sale.

And Costco won't even provide a bag for that ugly Windows box. It's
the walk of shame for those buyers.

--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

In article <sehix-CF4FB3.12230719042006@news.isp.giganews.com>,
Steve Hix <sehix@NOSPAMspeakeasy.netINVALID> wrote:

On the other hand, you'll need a larger freezer to fit the large box.

I guess he didn't feel the walk-in freezer he got was worth mentioning.
It's such a small trinket, after all.

--
We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams.
from "Ode", Arthur O'Shaughnessy
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

Tom Harrington <tph@pcisys.no.spam.dammit.net> wrote:

I've heard that Apple is selling off old stock of PowerPC Macs through Costco. That's probably what you saw, since both the mini and the iMac
have been replaced by Intel-based models.

An acquantaince just got a 20" powerPC iMac through Costco, mostly
because he specifically wanted a power PC one. He uses a few things that
don't yet run on the Intel ones, not even through Rosetta. In time, they
will I'm completely certain, but that time isn't quite yet and he needs
it now.

This friend made up his mind right about the time that the powerPC iMacs started getting hard to find. In fact, he ended up with the local
Costco's floor demo unit because that was the last one here.

He brought it over to my house to get some help in setting up a few
apps. I took one look at it and told him that he needed to get it
serviced. It was sitting next to my iMac of the same model... and the
screen looked pathetic because it was so dim. I went into system prefs
to turn up the brightness and found it was already maxed. If you turned
the brightness down to 75% or so, the screen was completely black.

I think he's going to end up with a refurb unit via warrantee service.
He probably could have just bought a refurb in the first place and saved
a few bucks. :-(

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: my first.last at org.domain| experience comes from bad judgment.
org: nasa, domain: gov | -- Mark Twain
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

In article <1he1szs.ce7lx21ljhs9sN%nospam@see.signature>, Richard E
Maine <nospam@see.signature> wrote:

He brought it over to my house to get some help in setting up a few
apps. I took one look at it and told him that he needed to get it
serviced. It was sitting next to my iMac of the same model... and the
screen looked pathetic because it was so dim. I went into system prefs
to turn up the brightness and found it was already maxed. If you turned
the brightness down to 75% or so, the screen was completely black.

Did you go to the "Color" tab in Displays and check the monitor profile
and/or calibration?

If this was a floor model there a chance somebody screwed around in
there and screwed it up. Anyone can create a screen profile that
produces a very dark screen in a matter of a few seconds.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

Dave Balderstone <dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_Sbalderstone.ca> wrote:

In article <1he1szs.ce7lx21ljhs9sN%nospam@see.signature>, Richard E
Maine <nospam@see.signature> wrote:

He brought it over to my house to get some help in setting up a few
apps. I took one look at it and told him that he needed to get it
serviced. It was sitting next to my iMac of the same model... and the screen looked pathetic because it was so dim. I went into system prefs
to turn up the brightness and found it was already maxed. If you turned
the brightness down to 75% or so, the screen was completely black.

Did you go to the "Color" tab in Displays and check the monitor profile and/or calibration?

No, I didn't. I hadn't run into anything like that before. Thanks for
the suggestion. I'll definitely have him check that possibility.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: my first.last at org.domain| experience comes from bad judgment.
org: nasa, domain: gov | -- Mark Twain
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

John Steinberg <seesig@bottom.invalid> wrote:

Whoa, I bought a 55 gallon drum of Heinz Catsup, a 90lb. box of
Cheez-its, and a box of cereal large enough to house a Meade LX-200.
Saved some serious coin in the process.

But did you also get the Foodsaver to keep it all from going stale?-)

rick jones
--
portable adj, code that compiles under more than one compiler
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway... :)
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

If this was a floor model there a chance somebody screwed around in
there and screwed it up. Anyone can create a screen profile that
produces a very dark screen in a matter of a few seconds.

Given that it was a floor model and the ease of someone messing with
the box, mightn't it be a good idea to consider a complete reinstall
of the OS?

rick jones
--
portable adj, code that compiles under more than one compiler
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway... :)
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

In article <howard-3AC637.16271219042006@news.supernews.com>,
Howard S Shubs <howard@shubs.net> wrote:

In article <sehix-CF4FB3.12230719042006@news.isp.giganews.com>,
Steve Hix <sehix@NOSPAMspeakeasy.netINVALID> wrote:

On the other hand, you'll need a larger freezer to fit the large box.

I guess he didn't feel the walk-in freezer he got was worth mentioning. It's such a small trinket, after all.

Oh, well, then everything's taken care of.

Until the next trip...
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system



Tom Harrington wrote:

In article <1145449610.602331.8430@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
"Conrad" <cweiler1@mac.com> wrote:

Yesterday - to my surprise - I found two Macs on display at Costco
(Bend, Oregon). A Mac mini listed at ~$600 and an iMac at ~$1350. Also,
in the software section was MS Office Mac (student version) for ~$130.

What does this mean? Are Apple and Costco back in business again?

I've heard that Apple is selling off old stock of PowerPC Macs through Costco. That's probably what you saw, since both the mini and the iMac
have been replaced by Intel-based models.

I had the same thought. I saw only PowerPC iMac's and minis at the
Costco here in Westminster Colorado.

John
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

Entity John Rushford uttered this profundity:

Costco here in Westminster Colorado.

Hey I was just in there a few days ago looking at the Macs, did you see me?

-- Gnarlie

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

Rick Jones <rick.jones2@hp.com> wrote:

Given that it was a floor model and the ease of someone messing with
the box, mightn't it be a good idea to consider a complete reinstall
of the OS?

Yep. Agree. That was my first suggestion (before I even saw the screen
thing) just on general principles. He did that - with the
erase&reinstall option to make it "clean". That does make me wonder
whether the calibration/profile thing could be relevant. I'd think
anything messed up in that would have been reset on the
erase&reinstall... but then maybe I'd be wrong. It seems easy enough to
check anyway.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgement comes from experience;
email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgement.
domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

In article <190420061719057517%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_Sbalderstone.ca>,
Dave Balderstone <dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_Sbalderstone.ca> wrote:

Did you go to the "Color" tab in Displays and check the monitor profile and/or calibration?

If this was a floor model there a chance somebody screwed around in
there and screwed it up. Anyone can create a screen profile that
produces a very dark screen in a matter of a few seconds.

Absolutely! I have actually WATCHED a berzerker Mac-hater walk up to a
display model Mac and screw up the ColorSync profile. Needless to say I un-f*cked the screen after the little turd walked away.

When I am in one of the CompUSA Apple store-in-a-stores I often optimize
the color settings on their new display models. This is apparently
beyond the skills of many CompUSA Apple reps.

:-D

--
Fortune Magazine, 11-29-05: What's your computer setup today?
Frederick Brooks: I happily use a Macintosh. It's not been equalled for ease of use, and I want my computer to be a tool, not a challenge. <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/12/12/8363107/> [Frederick Brooks is the author of 'The Mythical Man Month'. He spearheaded the movement to modernize computer software engineering in 1975]
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

In article <1he20sf.vfmpfc1tsv9iiN%nospam@see.signature>,
nospam@see.signature (Richard Maine) wrote:

Rick Jones <rick.jones2@hp.com> wrote:

Given that it was a floor model and the ease of someone messing with
the box, mightn't it be a good idea to consider a complete reinstall
of the OS?

Yep. Agree. That was my first suggestion (before I even saw the screen
thing) just on general principles. He did that - with the
erase&reinstall option to make it "clean". That does make me wonder
whether the calibration/profile thing could be relevant. I'd think
anything messed up in that would have been reset on the
erase&reinstall... but then maybe I'd be wrong. It seems easy enough to
check anyway.

Another factor could be the vram setting in Open Firmware. (Note this is
for PPC Macs only). Here is how to wipe it:

Hold down the Command, Option, O and F keys at startup.

When the prompt appears, type:

reset-nvram (then press return)
reset-all (then press return)

The Mac will then reboot with clean default settings for Open Firmware.


And of course, you can reset the PRAM:

Hold down the Command, Option, P and R keys at startup.

Continue to hold these keys through four (4) bongs to completely wipe
the PRAM. (Or at least that is how I was taught to do it).


:-Derek

--
Fortune Magazine, 11-29-05: What's your computer setup today?
Frederick Brooks: I happily use a Macintosh. It's not been equalled for ease of use, and I want my computer to be a tool, not a challenge. <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/12/12/8363107/> [Frederick Brooks is the author of 'The Mythical Man Month'. He spearheaded the movement to modernize computer software engineering in 1975]
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113