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Best Buy will take your obsolete electronics for recycling at all US stores. There is usually a bin at the front door for small items, but larger items can be dropped off at the customer service desk.

Thanks for telling me about the sale after its over.

If you're in the USA, you can probably get a better deal on this phone through your carrier anyway.

Metro by T-Mobile - Free, if you're porting over a number (get a disposable AT&T number from eBay or something, then switch the phone to your account)
AT&T - $194.99 (Yes, it will work on postpaid AT&T, too)
Verizon - $199.99 (Not 100% sure if Verizon will let you use this on postpaid, as they're a bit anal about that sort of thing)
All of the Carlos Slim prepaid brands (America Movil) have the iPhone SE for $139.00
Cricket and Boost Mobile no longer have the iPhone SE on their websites, but local dealers might still have stock.

Thanks for telling me about the sale after its over.

If you're in the USA, you can probably get a better deal on this phone through your carrier anyway.

Metro by T-Mobile - Free, if you're porting over a number (get a disposable AT&T number from eBay or something, then switch the phone to your account)
AT&T - $194.99 (Yes, it will work on postpaid AT&T, too)
Verizon - $199.99 (Not 100% sure if Verizon will let you use this on postpaid, as they're a bit anal about that sort of thing)
All of the Carlos Slim prepaid brands (America Movil) have the iPhone SE for $139.00
Cricket and Boost Mobile no longer have the iPhone SE on their websites, but local dealers might still have stock.

Thanks for telling me about the sale after its over.

If you're in the USA, you can probably get a better deal on this phone through your carrier anyway.

Metro by T-Mobile - Free, if you're porting over a number (get a disposable AT&T number from eBay or something, then switch the phone to your account)
AT&T - $194.99 (Yes, it will work on postpaid AT&T, too)
Verizon - $199.99 (Not 100% sure if Verizon will let you use this on postpaid, as they're a bit anal about that sort of thing)
All of the Carlos Slim prepaid brands (America Movil) have the iPhone SE for $139.00
Cricket and Boost Mobile no longer have the iPhone SE on their websites, but local dealers might still have stock.

the likelyhood anyone at Lenovo or Dell has the muscle to steer the ship away from Intel is pretty slim

Not only is it likely, but it already happened. AMD PC products are in the channel but we haven't seen them in bestseller lists yet, that's the next milestone.

Safari costs $499 (source: Best Buy). Most people (except professional web developers) aren't willing to buy a second computer or second phone just to run a web browser. These comparisons include Edge despite it being exclusive to Windows 10 because Windows 10 has a much larger installed base than macOS and X11/Linux.

Wal-mart explicitly encourages brands to make lower-quality versions to sell at their stores for a lower price, capitalizing on the brand name recognition

I often see stuff that's also at WalMart; but your point is interesting.

Sony XBR55X800E at Best Buy and WalMart. Same with various models in stock at the store just up the street from me right now.

If they're labeling these as the same product and yet they're different, the FTC should put a boot in somebody's ass.

As I mentioned: they have the same brand products of food in their grocery area (plus really horrible store brand). It's clothing, blankets, and kitchen wares (plates, cups, utensils) that are often vastly-inferior--anything that's generally a minor purchase, something people don't think about what to buy but just that they need to buy it. They definitely pressure those suppliers for cheaper goods.

Best Buy's returns policy only discusses how they use your ID at the very bottom of the page, buried beneath all of the other information.

Where did you expect it? You probably only read it because of this article anyhow. I'd guess 99.87% of Best Buy customers don't read the policy at all, in which case the location of that text within the policy is irrelevant.

It reminds me of when I used to pay for some items by check and I had a check declined. I'd never bounced a check, and I had more than enough money in my bank account to cover the purchase. I asked why and was referred to Telecheck. I didn't realize that check purchases were being tracked, and I did a bit of online searching. Then I called up the store for more information and the manager indicated I should actually call a different company who was responsible instead of Telecheck. They declined the check and then they proceeded to give me the run around when I wanted to know why. I'd done nothing wrong, and wasn't actually able to get an answer as to why my check was declined. The basic issues are the false positives and the lack of transparency.

The issues are essentially the same here, plus that this system isn't going to be particularly effective at stopping abuse. Although the return tracking isn't especially transparent, it seems there may be a limit of three returns in a year before being flagged for abuse. If I purchase 10 items from a store and I try to return four of them, that's a high percentage. If I purchase 100 items from that store and I try to return four of them, that's a low percentage, and I'm a good customer who occasionally returns items. Amazon is able to track the percentage of returns that I make, and therefore is able to distinguish between the two scenarios I described. This system seems incapable of doing so, and disproportionately will impact customers who make lots of purchases and return a small percentage of them. I agree that retailers have a good reason to mitigate return fraud, but this may not be a very effective way to do so.

Best Buy's returns policy only discusses how they use your ID at the very bottom of the page, buried beneath all of the other information. Worse than that, the page only says "our third party processor" and doesn't actually say who is tracking the users. In fairness, it says they only require an ID if there isn't other proof or purchase. I think it's very reasonable to track returns made without proof of purchase, and hopefully that's all they're doing. If so, I think they should be much more transparent about what they're doing, but it's not unreasonable in principle.

Betrayed their customers? Dude, look at their privacy policy, https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-topics/privacy-policy/pcmcat204400050062.c?id=pcmcat204400050062

tl:dr version: You don't have privacy. We share your shit with everybody!

But about the legal stuff:

Sometimes we may be required to share personal information for legal reasons, for example, if we are required to do so by a regulation, court order, subpoena or other legal process. We may also share information when we believe it's necessary to comply with the law or to respond to a government request, or when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect Best Buy, our customers, or others.
Geek Squad's policy is to notify law enforcement (particularly in the states that have mandatory reporting like California) if a tech comes across evidence of child abuse, which cp is.

If these are sold to consumers (It says education market but will they be sold retail?) they will be a big hit and an utter disaster as soon as the proud new owners start trying to install regular Windows software. And while Microsoft says you can upgrade S to Home I suspect they make it as hard as possible to do so. I can already pick up a 11.6" Insignia tablet with Windows 10 Home for $199 It's only got an Atom X5 processor but I doubt there is a significant performance delta from their power throttled Celeron brethren.

http://www.lg.com/us/mobile-ac...
Took 3 seconds to google it.
Heres more:
https://www.amazon.com/LG-BL-5...
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/d...

Yeah, we have it. I even have a couple of FM tuners that pick it up. I have never seen a digital AM radio in the wild.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Here is a tuner that you can likely pick up in a store today:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/i...

However, there is not enough compelling reason to invest in HD radio in the US, at least from my experience.

Gentoo users are like Hatchanimals. You have to wait for them to emerge to see what you get.

The Moto X ($399) is filling the Nexus void. Also available on Project Fi with a potential trade-in.

Moreover, USB3 ports are blue

Years of Mac USB-3 ports have never been blue, in fact I don't know I've even seen a computer where it was color coded. Maybe in the early days of USB 3.0 some PC's came that way... they do not now.

There are oodles of PC's at best buy with non-blue USB-3 ports. Must be yet another part of the USB "standard" that everyone ignores.

By contrast, let's take a USB-C to HDMI adapter.

And the USB-A to HDMI adaptors work more constantly? Nope. Most require USB3.0 and since you can't tell that from looking at the port generally...

That's a far cry from "my external drive is only moving data at 45MB/sec instead of 85MB/sec", because that's not "technically work[ing]", that's
"actually working".

Hmm... have you *used* USB2.0 and USB 3.0 drives? You are really comparing 30MB/s (real transfer speeds factoring in USB overhead) to USB 3.0 and 3.1 realistic speeds of 500MB/s and 1GB/s respectively...

It's not "actually working" if you have a TB or more of data to transfer and you end up on USB 2.0. It's "technically infeasible" as would be printing it all out on paper and typing it in elsewhere, even though that would be "technically working" also.

Wow you are completely ignorant of modern technology.

....but amazingly you have the integrity to act like you know something.

You can buy 360 degree panorama cameras OFF THE FUCKING SHELF at big box stores these days. For example, at Best Buy you ignorant dishonest pretending fuck.

You can just plug an antenna in any TV!

Provided it's actually a TV. Many devices that are shaped like a TV and sold in the TV section, such as the Vizio E70-E3, are actually only monitors. They can display an HDMI signal or receive a Chromecast, and that's about it. The tuner is sold separately.

Which brand was that?

Westinghouse.

The big name stores are already authorized repair facilities, so your argument isn't holding a whole lot of water.

Yes, I only linked to Best Buy... which other big name store still does repair?

Sometimes we may be required to share personal information for legal reasons, for example, if we are required to do so by a regulation, court order, subpoena or other legal process. We may also share information when we believe it's necessary to comply with the law or to respond to a government request, or when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect Best Buy, our customers, or others.

The rest of the policy is immaterial. In other words - we can disclose whatever we want whenever we want if we believe it will "protect" somebody. I'm not arguing against the CP case disclosure - but the way this is written is wide open for interpretation.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/se...

seriously, 250$ does seem a tad expensive and non-newsworthy. you would probably be better off with a refurb elitebook with core i5.

cheapest nucs are under 250, but celeron as well and really not that good value for money if you consider you can get a screen, battery and and keyboard for the same price too.

I tend toward PC in principle, but sometimes I argue the other side to help keep both sides honest and help bring out both sides' strongest arguments.

Most families still need or want a computer at home for reasons besides gaming (e.g. internet, word processing, tracking finances, online banking, digital storage, remote connections to workplaces).

First, these non-gaming applications can be done with a cheap eight-year-old PC with a Core 2 Duo and Intel integrated graphics. I'm told just dropping a video card into a PC with a CPU that old isn't enough to run AAA games from the present generation (2014 and later), which would quickly become CPU-bound. Second, these can be done with a laptop, and I've seen no evidence that people routinely upgrade a laptop with a separately purchased MXM video card. Third, a console can be used while someone else is using the family PC.

The price of games should be factored into the cost of a game system and games are cheaper on PC through digital distributors like Steam, Origin, etc., which over time off-sets the initial cost of the PC.

First, though Steam has sales. PlayStation Store also has sales. Second, console games have historically been more likely than PC games to support same-screen multiplayer with two to four gamepads, and if you have more than one gamer in the house, one copy of a $60 game that supports multiple gamepads is cheaper than three copies of a $30 game that requires a separate copy per player. Third, if everybody were to wait for the sale instead of buying in release month at full price, publishers would have no money to continue to fund development of high-production-value games.

If you want to play games online (which many people do) you have to add the life-time cost of an online subscription to a console.

PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold cost $60 per year. But in addition to online matchmaking, this includes rental of a rotating selection of games (PlayStation Plus Free Games and Games with Gold respectively). What's the analogous way to try PC games?

You don't need an expensive PC to play games. A $500 PC (which is comparable to a new PS4+accessories) will play ~98% of the PC games.

Or you could go for a pre-owned PlayStation 4 console with a 500 GB HDD, which costs $280 (source). Which accessories were you including in the price?

I recall Monster cables just a year ago were listed at $900 plus. I just looked and that's not the thing anymore.

Now you can steal a bargain for $289.98 AudioQuest HDMI cable. There's a "platinum" version and it comes in chocolate brown. No, really.

Apple killer here.

If it had a 970M or 10-series, it'd be a no-brainer.
Even the 960M is 15% faster than Apple's offering.

Windows 10 with display keyboard touchscreen touchpad about $100 from any good discount electronics
http://nextbookusa.com/product...

Android with display/touchscreen $37
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/di...

Honestly, 56k ? Does that still exist in any country also featuring Fiber ?

Best Buy lists a 56k dial-up modem priced at $50. 133 reviews, 4/5 stars. So yeah, that still exists. Gotta say, though, that some of the customer questions are pretty hilarious (or maybe just sad): "Will this connect DSL line to a cable modem router?" "Can we use this for a USB port on the router to use as a phone line?" And the winner: "Can I connect it to a led flat screen TV to surf the internet. By the way, the TV has Roku streaming connected to it."

Checking Best Buy's website it doesn't mention any restocking fee. As a matter of fact a search on it indicates that Best Buy did away with virtually all their restocking fees back in 2010.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/he...

Did you do any research or did you just assume the Best Buy is going to charge such a fee?

Folks, before you mindlessly type your rant about the loss of a headphone jack: Things like this adapter are going to be everywhere - and include lots of market competition. Your 3.5mm jack will appear like a "dumb" phone in the blink of an eye. Remember, we have 6.5mm to 3.5in adapters for some of us, USB adapters for others, adapters for onboard-mic headsets, etc. This is just another in a long line of slight refinements on an idea. The 3.5mm connector itself is a changed standard. Think of video - we have countless adapters for generations of video, including proprietary nonsense from several companies, include Apple. Most people aren't going to care.

Not discounting the other things you said, but why invent a robot to move laundry between a washer and dryer, when you can just get one unit that does both without inter-unit movement?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/wa...

There's already a solution for that, and it even saves space.

How have you not heard of VIZIO? They're extremely well reviewed, inexpensive and carried by all the major big box stores.

If you've never heard of VIZIO then I'm guessing you haven't shopped for TVs in about 10 years.

Camping, swimming, diving, etc?

I took my camera scuba diving with me, went well past its depth rating and got some great pictures, without any loss to the camera. Why can't I buy a phone like that? I would pay $$$$ for a phone I didn't have to worry about getting wet.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/fu...

Took it to 100 ft..no issue at all.

It isn't like waterproofing is hard, just put the connectors behind sealing covers, or have no connectors and charge with wireless technology.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ap...

Here's an example of how deceiving those ads can be. Best Buy will have a 128GB flash drive for $19.99, discounted from the regular price of $99.99. Great deal, huh? Not really, as Amazon has the same drive right now for $32.44, and the list price is $52.99. Meaning, Best Buy had marked up their price to make the discount look much better than it actually is.

Best buy usually have very cheap android tablets for around $40.
Like this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ze...

I never tried these, though, could be garbage.

Best Buy has a whole section for phones less than $50. Some of them are on clearance, but not all of them.

I picked up an Asus Q551LN recently and despite it being a "convertible" laptop (which I will never "convert" but the only other i7-4xxx 15" options were a junky plastic HP and a "Republic of Gamers" cinder block) it has a proper cooling system in the hinge area similar to an older MacBook Pro (though not nearly as poor). It's a Core i7 ULV; it's not noisy but it's pretty darn fast. Admittedly, it's half the PassMark score of a 4710MQ, but the low TDP (it barely gets warm) and the fact that I don't have to lug around one of those absurdly fat gaming laptops totally offset the performance drop.

I happened to research this recently.

HP - ENVY 17.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 12GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive - Natural Silver

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp...

yes, but that need to be plugged into amp with "inverse RIAA curve", ie base boost and treble cut to match vinyl's properties, and boosted from the hundredth of a volt to the 1 volt or more a PC or your TV might need to function

. . . or not.

Here's a $51 sale price (regular $80) Turntable at Bestbuy with built in speakers, a headphone jack, RCA out (line level not phono) and USB connection:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/je...

You can buy if from Amazon too:
http://www.amazon.com/Jensen-J...

I assume it's a mediocre player, with even crappier speakers, but you can buy it, put an LP on it, and play it through the built in speakers, without any scanning software, and without a specially inverse RIAA curve Preamp, or any other hardware.

Records have a bit of a resurgence as being hipster, as well as people still having lots of old records they want to listen to (or convert to PC)

LG 65LB5200 $850
LG 65LB5200 $999

I used to think the same thing, until I learned you can get a NEW Toshiba laptop regular price at Best Buy for $300. I can't believe how inexpensive new machines have become. I can't even buy a Windows 7 license for less than $100, yet somehow I can get a whole laptop for $300.

The savings in buying something old, putting money into it and fixing it up, especially in computer hardware just doesn't make sense anymore. Unless you just have to reflow the solder in your trusty toaster oven, it is probably easier to buy a new one than fix up an old one.

well, there is one component that is pretty standard and easilly upgradable, the stereo. I just purchased a used car (2008 miata). The stereo came with a 30 pin ipod connector tucked in the glovebox. Ive outfitted it with the required lighting adapter to work with my phone, but i wouldn't mind having a modern stereo that can do bluetooth. The upgrade might be painless, but there's one big issue: THIEVES. The big selling point of the kind of crummy factory stereo is it's good enough and nobody is going to want to steal it.

There's an app, I mean, a product for that!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/al...

And yes, you raise a great point about thieves. When I used to use aftermarket radios I was always stressed about them being stolen. These days I just use aftermarket speakers / amps with the factory head units.

Newegg has your processor at $240 - the entire PS4, including controller & game is only $400.

The PS4 is a loss leader. This means you're paying more for games, peripherals and ancilary services to make up for it. So the more you game, the more a console costs you.

It's also worth pointing out the notorious unreliability of the last generation of consoles. Red Ring of Death, Yellow Light of Death.

I'd be curious to know what you shelled out for the full computer (please include input devices).

In that case, we'd need to include all the input devices for the PS4.
- 3 additional Dualshock controllers @ $59.99 each = $179.97.
- PS4 camera @ 59.99 = $59.99.
So an additional $239.96 (Plus taxes as these are American prices off of Best Buys web site). I'm using the PS4 beacuse it doesn't require a paid subcription for online content (yes, my point is strong enough that I can give my opponents the benefit of the doubt).

My PC peripherals cost me (in Australian prices so they include tax):
- 1 Keyboard = A$12.
- 1 Logitech gaming mouse = A$55
- 1 Logitech joystick = A$35
Total, $102.

You've always been able to buy more powerful machines than the consoles. Just not at console prices.

The thing is, this is a false economy because the console hardware are loss leaders. You cant buy a PC at the same price because PC's aren't being sold at less than cost. But this is also the reason that console games are more expensive than the PC equivalents.

Lets take the new release Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
PC: $ 49.99
PS4: $ 59.99
Xbone: $ 59.99

So if you buy two games a month, the console player pays $20 extra. Thats $240 per year, 480 over two years. Just two games a month pays for the difference between a $400 console and $880 PC in two years and yes, you can build a gaming box for under $900 in Australia so the US will be cheaper. What if you buy 1 game a week, that's $520 a year.

If you're a gamer, the PC is ultimately cheaper.

Newegg has your processor at $240 - the entire PS4, including controller & game is only $400.

The PS4 is a loss leader. This means you're paying more for games, peripherals and ancilary services to make up for it. So the more you game, the more a console costs you.

It's also worth pointing out the notorious unreliability of the last generation of consoles. Red Ring of Death, Yellow Light of Death.

I'd be curious to know what you shelled out for the full computer (please include input devices).

In that case, we'd need to include all the input devices for the PS4.
- 3 additional Dualshock controllers @ $59.99 each = $179.97.
- PS4 camera @ 59.99 = $59.99.
So an additional $239.96 (Plus taxes as these are American prices off of Best Buys web site). I'm using the PS4 beacuse it doesn't require a paid subcription for online content (yes, my point is strong enough that I can give my opponents the benefit of the doubt).

My PC peripherals cost me (in Australian prices so they include tax):
- 1 Keyboard = A$12.
- 1 Logitech gaming mouse = A$55
- 1 Logitech joystick = A$35
Total, $102.

You've always been able to buy more powerful machines than the consoles. Just not at console prices.

The thing is, this is a false economy because the console hardware are loss leaders. You cant buy a PC at the same price because PC's aren't being sold at less than cost. But this is also the reason that console games are more expensive than the PC equivalents.

Lets take the new release Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
PC: $ 49.99
PS4: $ 59.99
Xbone: $ 59.99

So if you buy two games a month, the console player pays $20 extra. Thats $240 per year, 480 over two years. Just two games a month pays for the difference between a $400 console and $880 PC in two years and yes, you can build a gaming box for under $900 in Australia so the US will be cheaper. What if you buy 1 game a week, that's $520 a year.

If you're a gamer, the PC is ultimately cheaper.

Newegg has your processor at $240 - the entire PS4, including controller & game is only $400.

The PS4 is a loss leader. This means you're paying more for games, peripherals and ancilary services to make up for it. So the more you game, the more a console costs you.

It's also worth pointing out the notorious unreliability of the last generation of consoles. Red Ring of Death, Yellow Light of Death.

I'd be curious to know what you shelled out for the full computer (please include input devices).

In that case, we'd need to include all the input devices for the PS4.
- 3 additional Dualshock controllers @ $59.99 each = $179.97.
- PS4 camera @ 59.99 = $59.99.
So an additional $239.96 (Plus taxes as these are American prices off of Best Buys web site). I'm using the PS4 beacuse it doesn't require a paid subcription for online content (yes, my point is strong enough that I can give my opponents the benefit of the doubt).

My PC peripherals cost me (in Australian prices so they include tax):
- 1 Keyboard = A$12.
- 1 Logitech gaming mouse = A$55
- 1 Logitech joystick = A$35
Total, $102.

You've always been able to buy more powerful machines than the consoles. Just not at console prices.

The thing is, this is a false economy because the console hardware are loss leaders. You cant buy a PC at the same price because PC's aren't being sold at less than cost. But this is also the reason that console games are more expensive than the PC equivalents.

Lets take the new release Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
PC: $ 49.99
PS4: $ 59.99
Xbone: $ 59.99

So if you buy two games a month, the console player pays $20 extra. Thats $240 per year, 480 over two years. Just two games a month pays for the difference between a $400 console and $880 PC in two years and yes, you can build a gaming box for under $900 in Australia so the US will be cheaper. What if you buy 1 game a week, that's $520 a year.

If you're a gamer, the PC is ultimately cheaper.

Instead of a battery powerd AM radio, go for a Crystal radio. If you still want one with batteries, use a cranck radio, so you can charge the radio when you need to and there is no power. Something like this right here.Solar power, hand cranck, USB charger for your phome.

I am sure that if you search, you will find other models as well.

Instead of asking Slashdot such a silly question you could also just google getting a gsm sim card in the us.

Lo and behold!

#1) "The best Prepaid SIM Cards"
#2) "SIM Cards - Best Buy"

It's been trivial to do this for about a decade and 5 seconds of googling got me the answer. This is one of the stupidest ask slashdots ever, and they are almost all incredibly stupid. I'm not looking and I'm going to guess tImothy put this story up.
checks the top of the page
Yup. Fuck timothy.

Nonreturnable Items: Opened computer software, movies, music and video games can be exchanged for the identical item but cannot be returned for a refund

He can get an identical copy of the software, thats it. No refund. Why? Because people buy software, return the disk, but burn the CD key so it's no longer valid.

Also, you've never worked at a retail store's computer repair before. Its "We can look into it... at a discounted rate" or if they do look into it for free, its put on low priority and put off until someone finally gets around to it.

No it's not dead, just renamed. "Surface RT" tablets became "Surface 2" tablets. They offer it at places like Best Buy. There are fewer models these days as Surface RT didn't sell very well so companies are wary to make many of them.

Makes me think it's junk that will never work right.