Am I too easily impressed?

I went to Calgary's one and only Apple store today, for like the 5th time since it opened in late September. What can I say...... I'm a gadget junkie and Apple has some very nice gadgets.

But today I was there to buy something. Now that my old Macbook sold (thank you to the buyer), I was ready to get the new one. I was hemming and hawing about which one to get and finally settled on the lowest model in the lineup, which has more than enough power for my current needs. The only things I gave up were a back-lit keyboard, a bigger hard drive and a slightly faster CPU. Not worth the extra $300 to me.

Now I have to tell you, the Mac aesthetic is impressive enough, but the buying process in their stores adds even more of a coolness factor to the experience. First of all, any employee that can help you can also sell you a product - right on the spot. They simply log into one of the Macbooks or iMacs and place the order. You fill in your particulars and they fill out the rest. Within seconds, the order is placed and filled and someone walks out from the back room with your product in hand. Your associate then scans the box with their portable scanner and if you're paying electronically, the transaction completes courtesy of the scanner. No line-ups. No bags (in the case of the Macbook anyway). No paper receipt either if you choose to get yours via email.

I thought the box my old Macbook came in was small and compact - the new one is even smaller even though the Macbook is the same size. No wasteful packaging here.....