[crimsonsky]

Boy, Vincent, you really hit the nail on the head with this one. The Apple store is always a place I look forward to going to for exactly the reasons you mentioned. My only gripe with our local Apple store is where it's located - in an upscale mall that's not all that easy to get to from where I live because of traffic. But that's a small price to pay for the experience and great shopping experience. 9 times out of 10, I go just to play around with the new Apple stuff, but when I do buy the process is as quick and painless as it gets.

I've had to take my Macbook into the Genius bar twice - once for a key that wasn't working and once for a bad battery. I made my appointment online and both times I was actually seen about 5 minutes before my scheduled time. In both cases the problem was identified and solved rapidly by a genius who actually knew what he was doing!

I've got my share of gripes with Apple, but the retail buying experience isn't one of them.