Putting the Apple Store geniuses to the test

the "Laptop" article says you can't but a Mac laptop with the 2.6GHz processor that the salesperson recommended for 3-D rendering. Yes, you can.

They also confuse a Mac Specialist (salesperson) with a Mac Genius (tech support).

Finally, they rip the salesperson for being honest about the "Air" being a supplemental computer

I also find it a bit unfair to compare Apple Employees knowledge base against big box retailer emplyoee's knowledge. Apple employees only have a few products that they must learn extensively. In a big box retailer, they are getting new products every single week and already have to know A LOT more about A LOT more products. So of course their knowledge will be lesser across the board because it is spread so thin. An Apple employee would be like making one Best Buy employee only sell Sony computers (which is 1/5th of their computer selection) and only learn about the Sony computers.

I don't know why people seem to think that a genius needs to know more than them. Guess what. The bulk of people that shop at the Apple Store don't read sites like TUAW. They're looking for nice people to help them out in their own terms. They go to other service centres to deal with arrogant nerds like us.

The fact that we can sit here and argue about how we know more than a genius or the fact that sales people only know how to sell (umm... so?) shows that knowledge isn't everything. Clearly there's several very smart people on this thread who couldn't possibly deliver excellent customer service, which is not only my experience at the Apple store, but most likely their top priority, not knowing what a KVM switch is.

If you think they don't know what they're doing, do a little research. I suggest Forbes magazine

not to hate on the geniuses but can someone bring in a macintosh classic or even a Apple ][ and bust them about how it wont boot or something just to see how they think on their feet..... If u do it plz reply

To be fair, Macs aren't known for being in the KVM switch market. Prior to everything being USB (which, by the way, was Apple's doing), the IBM PC clones used Serial, PS/2, and other, lesser connections for all the input and output devices. Macs used their own connections, and thus the KVM switches that worked for a PC were useless for a Mac.

These days, Macs connect to peripherals either via Bluetooth (thus no need of a KVM switch) or USB (again, no need for KVM), and the video is usually DVI (get a splitter).

So faulting some Mac guy because he doesn't know what a KVM switch is kind of like faulting a police officer because he doesn't know the names of fire department equipment. It just wasn't something he ever needed, used, or was asked to provide to Mac users.

I can't say much about Apple Stores, though, because the nearest one is about 50 miles away. They keep building them in the Detroit metro area (there are at least three now, I believe) and in the Grand Rapids area (on the opposite side of the state), but none for the Lansing/East Lansing area (the state capital, home of MSU, and one of the largest cities in the state of Michigan).

Why do they keep adding Apple Stores in areas that already have a few of them, but keep ignoring areas that have none?

I'd love to have one in my mall. Hell, I'd work there!

I worked the Bar at the Soho store and helped open the Cube on 5th Ave - I was there for the Moment and resisted the temptation to put His Steveness' name up into Concierge, cause they would've taken me out back and had me shot - and I can honestly say that the MGs are a hard working lot who are woefully underpaid.

YOU try standing on your legs for 8 hours a day dealing with the endless iPod complaints and stupid user tricks (hey, its called a warranty and its NOT infinite, and you didn't buy AppleCare, so STFU and buy the replacement). Sure, MGs are empowered to 'surprise and delight' customers (my fave was swapping out a dead iPod nano for a NYPD officer in uniform, don't ever refuse an attractive lady with a gun), but the sheer numbers wear you down.

Apple spends a LOT of money teaching the MGs, and many of them are Mac-heads anyway who decide to see what life is like behind the curtain.

The Associates out on the floor, by contrast, are basically retards. The weekend that we opened 5th Ave, after some of the most intensive training Apple Retail has ever done for a new store opening, we had MAs giving out completely incorrect information about MacBooks.

Basically, trust the tabletop signs first, ask the humans later.

Yea dude they work in retail! They are not the guys in california who Designed your little toy, the one study day in and day out. soo..
After a 8 hour on your feet all day talking to 60 year old first time computer users w/alzheimer's about how to use a mouse, then talking to super smart ass mega geek gods about the differences between the Apple ][ and the Apple //e, all this includes dumb ass computers pissed off about not reading that there is a 10% restocking fee on there open box 499 iTouch. They should after all this go home and study another 16 hours about everything Tech! good luck ;-)

I had an issue where my mic wouldn't work on the line-in port. The genius at the bar swore that plugging in ear-phones and tapping them on the counter was just like having a mic plugged in. It registered on the meter, but it took a random helpful fellow online to tell me that microphones don't work on the line-in unless you have a mic-preamp. So the geniuses are sometimes helpful, sometimes amusing, but not quite geniuses.

If the people at the "Genius Bar" were truly geniuses, then they would be in Cupertino writing firmware instead of doing what a Dummy's book could teach you to do.

Dont forget that the salespeople can also vary widely, I've talked to some that knew quite a lot and some that didn't know the specs for the brand new iMac. But never have I met someone that worked at the apple store that didn't know what they were talking about and were able to help someone who hadn't made their decision yet make a good decision about what computer to buy. That's their job and if you're the sort that researches things online for hours then certainly they're not always going to know everything, but they're not there for you, they're there for people that _don't_ research before going into a store, and they provide solid information to people that want it.