Best buy or Microcentre (opinion)

[Lelandwardfchd]

Tell us which one is better 

Voice the issues and the best things about each

[Needfuldoer]

Micro Center:
+ Impressive selection of PC parts

+ They actually have a "maker" section that's more than just a token gesture

+ Better prices

+ Sometimes you can get a really great deal if you rummage through the open-box bins

 

- Far fewer locations

- Smaller selection of consumer electronics

- The salespeople are paid on commission, they'll slap their barcode stickers on anything they handle for you

 

 

 

Best Buy:
+ They're everywhere

+ They carry appliances, AV equipment, car stereos, etc

+ They're take just about anything e-waste (that doesn't contain a CRT or refrigerant) for free in some states

 

- They're generally more expensive

- They're carrying less and less across the board, spreading what they do carry out among fewer and shorter displays. (Remember the canyons of DVD shelves they had in the early 2000s?)

- Their PC component selection is virtually nonexistent

[dogwitch]

bb well over 1000 locations

 

mc  25  stores since the 1970s

[Lelandwardfchd]

1 hour ago, dogwitch said:

bb well over 1000 locations

 

mc  25  stores since the 1970s

Mc is better tho right? 

[dogwitch]

4 hours ago, Lelandwardfchd said:

Mc is better tho right? 

it up to location issue.

[Lelandwardfchd]

34 minutes ago, dogwitch said:

it up to location issue.

It's better (depends where you live) 

[IkeaGnome]

Best Buy. I can't just cruise over to MC when I need a part.

[Lelandwardfchd]

10 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

Best Buy. I can't just cruise over to MC when I need a part.

Fair 

[Erioch]

"Better" only means anything if you have access.  We don't have Microcenter here so I've never been to one.

[Lelandwardfchd]

1 hour ago, Erioch said:

"Better" only means anything if you have access.  We don't have Microcenter here so I've never been to one.

What County do you live in, or do you have something similar to a Microcentre like I, in my country have something called volts

[Erioch]

1 hour ago, Lelandwardfchd said:

What County do you live in, or do you have something similar to a Microcentre like I, in my country have something called volts

Pretty much just Best Buy.  I haven't been there in about a year, though.  We don't even have Ikea.

[Middcore]

For what?

[Lelandwardfchd]

8 hours ago, Middcore said:

For what?

Just in general

Selection

Locality

Parts

Price

Quality 

[IPD]

Best Buy has the same issue many big-box retailers do.  Namely, their staff are usually HS graduates with little expertise--and can't really offer much help.  Fry's used to have people who could talk you through specific build questions--but BB is usually "let me read what the packaging says".

 

I'd hate on them, but it's not just BB that has this issue.  THD and Lowes have the same issue; 20+ years ago, you could find a retired plumber or retired electrician who worked at THD and could give you bang-up expert advice about damn near anything.  But years of management fuckery, micromanagement and penny pinching turned THD from (back when I worked there) from #2 customer service in retail to #26.

 

So just assume you're going to have to YT or google it yourself, and that BB and MC are just means to an end, and you shouldn't ask questions there.

[tkitch]

If you have access to it?  Microcenter.

 

Otherwise, Best Buy has...  a better selection of hardware than they used to. 

[MageTank]

I live within 30 minutes of both Best Buy and Micro Center and it's not even a close competition. Micro Center is the only place I can walk into and buy full on watercooling components. Best Buy barely sells computer parts anymore, and what they do sell is overpriced and from the lesser-enjoyed brands.

 

My only main gripes with Micro Center are entirely related to the BYO section. If you are going for water cooling fittings like I often do, you have other customers that like to grab fittings and put them in the wrong bins. You open a bin with a Bitspower Silver Shining fitting in, only to realize when you got home that they had stuffed a Black Sparkle fitting in the same lot and you couldn't tell after grabbing a handful of fittings.

 

The other major gripe is with things being locked inside of glass panels and the key holder being mysteriously gone from the BYO section. As others eluded to, these people work on commission and will follow customers around the entire store picking out expensive peripherals to go with their BYO components just to sticker everything. Not too big of a deal, but certainly annoying when they are the holder of the only key to access the locked containers and you need RAM or an SSD. I've had to wait over 30 minutes once just to get an SSD out of a shelf while the remaining BYO sales people went on a quest to find the keyholder. Peter Jackson almost made a film about it...

 

Still, that experience in-mind, it's still the best local PC store we have. I live in the vicinity of 5 Best Buys, all of them combined can't match Micro Center's computer tech offerings. If you need to buy a fridge with your PC, sure, consider Best Buy, but otherwise, go to Micro Center and stop by Lowes on your way home, lol.

[Needfuldoer]

Selection - Micro Center (they're a computer store first and foremost, Best Buy is a consumer electronics store that also sells computer stuff.)

Locality - Best Buy (they literally have almost 46x as many locations)

Parts - Micro Center (where Best Buy carries one or two, Micro Center carries a dozen)

Price - Micro Center

Quality - Tie (it's the same merchandise)

[Dedayog]

On 8/28/2022 at 3:31 PM, IkeaGnome said:

Best Buy. I can't just cruise over to MC when I need a part.

Doesn't make MC worse, just makes BB more accessible.

 

MC is hands down better than BB, they don't lock shit behind a greedy Tech membership.

 

Fuck BB.

[Lelandwardfchd]

4 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Doesn't make MC worse, just makes BB more accessible.

 

MC is hands down better than BB, they don't lock shit behind a greedy Tech membership.

 

Fuck BB.

I agree man convinience doesnt equal a better service

[Stea1th]

Microcenter is a better store..period. Especially for tech. It's not even close to debatable. Microcenter's selection for tech is wayyyyy more...not to mention their prices are way better. I've come to see that bestbuy typically isn't really the best buy....they overprice a LOT of their stuff..especially smaller accessories like cables. While you won't beat amazon pricing on either for accessories like cables.

 

Now, bestbuy isn't without it's strengths..for TV's it's great..but price wise..they typically are more..bestbuy is rarely the best buy. The few times i've gone there to buy something has been because they had stock, but the price was less online...but they do price match which is why they will be known as amazon showroom.

 

For computer components the only reason i've went to bestbuy was because of stock and that was ONLY for GPU and a power supply during the shortage time. Otherwise microcenter is light years ahead in terms of selection..the fact you can walk in and pretty much by any component had have 20+ version of said item is way better.

 

My local bestbuy had like 3 sticks of ram and 2 motherboards...

Microcenter has 50+ of each if not more

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SchloobySnack]

I'll put it this way, Every time to travel to an area a few hours near me I always try to stop in at microcenter like it's a field trip. I only begrudgingly go to our local bestbuy when I'm not patient enough to just order it online and 90% of the time I have to compromise on what I actually want because of the limited selection at best buy. I'll give them credit for the fact that their pc hardware selection is at least sufficient enough now that if you were desperate to build a pc and over pay for it you could, but theirs still not a lot of variety available.

 

If a microcenter happened to pop up in my area I'd never visit best buy ever again.

[Obioban]

I'm local to both. I'll go to MC for anything they sell. One of my favorite stores.

 

Often during LAN parties we'll make a trip to Microcenter just for fun.