For those who haven't seen my profile, I live in Maine, USA. Maine isn't exactly a very popular place, or as I should say, It's not exactly the hot spot of the worlds technical prowess. If you want to go on a camping trip, or take a vacation away from the noise and commotion of the city, sure, it's a great place to be. But not so much for someone with interests in the things that reside in those noisy citys.
Why Not Move?
Well, as many may know, it's just not that simple. There are many things keeping me here, such as family, or the financial inability to move. Moving takes a lot of preparation, and I'm just not ready to make that yet.
You have the Internet, whats the big deal?
Again, as many may know, buying online sometimes simply doesn't give the same satisfaction that picking it up in a store would. Sliding your hands over the newest graphics card on the market can be so much more satisfying when you get to see it in person before purchasing. Imagine buying a table, for instance, online, and when it arrives, Its half the size you thought it would be! I mean, it's happened to almost all of us before, right? Now imagine needing to buy a new computer monitor or case, and then when it arrives it's much too small for your purposes.
But almost everywhere has small tech stores, Why not go there?
Well, you're right, I actually do have a small store right in my town. The problem is, they have a very limited selection of hardware, and almost all of it is at least 3 years old. Places like Walmart, or other stores, simply don't have anything other than overpriced Alienware pre-builts.
Even so, it's a tech store, right?
Well, yes. But small stores like this don't exactly have much room, nor money, to buy in mass quantities. So almost everything in there is overpriced beyond belief. For example, this power supply, currently priced at 74.99 on Amazon, was being sold for 165 in the store. I mean, I guess they have to make a profit, right?
Well, can't you just look at them in the store, then buy it online?
Well, that's sort of a good point, but as I stated before, most of the hardware is at least 3 years old, So any chance of finding something somewhat relevant is out of the question. Now if the store was more of a thrift/used computer parts store, I would be much more interested, especially if they were priced reasonably.
The somewhat rushed conclusion
While living in Maine is quite "unexciting", per say, for someone with my interests, thank god that Amazon exists. Without it, I'm not sure where I would be. It's really a shame that big box stores such as Microcenter or Frys Electronics don't exist up here. I mean we do have Best Buy right?... Well, I have my experiences with Best Buy, but that's for another time.