2 gigs of laptop ram.

[brianeyci]

You don't worry about counterfeits because you live in Croatia and probably don't get a lot of asian counterfeits. There is no such thing as a "dividing line" between a good specialty store and a bad one... you have to try to find out. Those stores you mentioned would never have become big chains if you didn't give them a chance in the beginning.

My last resort would be shopping at a large store. Large stores are already established, and they don't need my money. I would go small and up, the smaller the better.

The place I went to for the USB pen didn't sell a mod chip, it was in a mall which sold mod chips and pirated stuff... holds true that you're judged by the company you keep though. It was an authorized HP dealer, authorized IBM dealer, and everything. The place I went for the memory was a smaller store, but still with four employees and dedicated to selling computers.

Megastores like Best Buy and Future Shop I consider to be like Wal Marts. Won't shop there, unless I have to.

Mmar, trust to me with a megastore or large store seems like a load of shit, I'm sorry. The only trust which matters is a personal relationship with the owner, and that requires a small store. To me this is what it seems like--you want convenience, and don't want to have to worry about haggling or the slight chance of a fuckup somehow, so you pay a ten percent markup rather than go shopping around to find the best price. Store loyalty is like channel loyalty on television, it makes no sense to me unless I personally know the owner or employees.

[General Zod]

You don't worry about counterfeits because you live in Croatia and probably don't get a lot of asian counterfeits. There is no such thing as a "dividing line" between a good specialty store and a bad one... you have to try to find out. Those stores you mentioned would never have become big chains if you didn't give them a chance in the beginning.

My last resort would be shopping at a large store. Large stores are already established, and they don't need my money. I would go small and up, the smaller the better.

The place I went to for the USB pen didn't sell a mod chip, it was in a mall which sold mod chips and pirated stuff... holds true that you're judged by the company you keep though. It was an authorized HP dealer, authorized IBM dealer, and everything. The place I went for the memory was a smaller store, but still with four employees and dedicated to selling computers.

Megastores like Best Buy and Future Shop I consider to be like Wal Marts. Won't shop there, unless I have to.

Mmar, trust to me with a megastore or large store seems like a load of shit, I'm sorry. The only trust which matters is a personal relationship with the owner, and that requires a small store. To me this is what it seems like--you want convenience, and don't want to have to worry about haggling or the slight chance of a fuckup somehow, so you pay a ten percent markup rather than go shopping around to find the best price. Store loyalty is like channel loyalty on television, it makes no sense to me unless I personally know the owner or employees.

Or you start learning about computers yourself so you can find the best deals on your own. I got sick of not knowing which systems were the best, so I started reading up on em. It's far better than having to rely on a friend that might not be available or some store employee which may or may not be trying to fuck you over.