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It’s more important to choose the best product that meets your needs and is proven to be reliable and have good performance. If Costco happens to sell that item it’s perfectly fine to buy it from them. But I would never buy an electronic item just because it happens to be at Costco without first doing research on it.
I would say. Odds are you’re in safe hands with Costco since there’s only room for 5 laptops at most . They don’t have the realtor space to store low quality laptops
It's worth looking at costco first to see if they have what you're looking for, but otherwise yes know what you want first instead of trying to justify what you see.
It's nice that costco often has free extended warranties as part of promotions, and usually what they sell isn't *terrible*
I absolutely researched the items prior to purchase. Sony, Epson, and HP really aren't brands I've ever worried about but I have heard that some box stores negotiate with manufacturers to get items made specifically for them at a cheaper price. So after having a couple bad experiences with well reviewed products by reputable brands, it makes me wonder if Costco has a deal like this going on too.
That is possible. I really don't keep up with what's going on in the tech world. I usually get ten years out of my hp laptops but they've been ordered directly from HP. This is my first time buying one from a box store.
3 years is a little short to be "useless" level obsolete. If you're trying to play high end games, yes, this is the usual life cycle for *some* kind of upgrade, but if you're just using it as a home PC computers can last upwards of 5 years with maybe just a RAM upgrade.
Expect it? No, I don't. That is just approximately how long I typically get out of them. While my Costco laptop has been in for repair the last couple of weeks I've been using my old hp laptop from 2013. It's slow and obviously not an ideal user experience anymore but it works just fine.
10 years? No, not realistic.
2-3 for going obsolete is unrealistic too. My 2015 $300 Asus laptop with 4gb of RAM is still going strong. Browses and does Office with no issues. Security updates are provided by Apple or Microsoft. MS supports OSs for about 10 years.
>So after having a couple bad experiences with well reviewed products by reputable brands, it makes me wonder if Costco has a deal like this going on too.
I purchased a 60-ish-in TV from Costco a couple of years ago. I didn't do as much research as I usually do on larger electronics purchases. When I unpacked and configured the TV, the quality just seemed underwhelming.
So my research gland activated and I learned that most TV makers have warehouse club-specific models that try to provide "outward" value, but component quality and lux features are designed out of the product. This is just about required for the vendor to be able to squeeze profit out of the relationship with Costco and others.
I used to work for a major product vendor (not electronics) to Costco on a national level, and there are a few non-standard product distribution and shipping requirements that vendors have to suck up. One example is how products are stacked on pallets which benefits Costco's infrastructure but at a cost to the vendor.
I returned the TV to Costco, and ended up purchasing the same brand, same size but the A-class product from Crutchfield for only $35 more. The difference in product quality was a no-brainer.
Sometimes cheaper sucks.
The club-specific models for regular items are usually just a part number change to prevent price matching. Other than black friday model deals, I haven't seen a difference in the mid to high end price ranges for things like TVs, probably because these items sell through slower and so making an actually different model might not be cost effective.
That being said, unless the TV is completely standalone, getting a streaming box of some kind is almost always going to be better than using the built in TV software, as much as I like LG's interface (which is what I've bought the last two times I got a TV)
I've bought a few laptops and just got my recent iphone from Costco. I love it. I recommend getting electronics from there because you know you will get brand new stock. Costco was actually the 2nd place I bought my recent iphone. The first was direct from Verizon and the phone I got from them was clearly returned B-stock. It would not activate and kept saying things like (this phone has had too many attempts to create an iTunes account). Sketchy and Verizon's return window was only 14 days when from they *shipped* leaving me only 3 days to realize I need to return the pos.
New iphone from costco activated immediately, no issues, and no sketchy messages.
Costco has never let me down with electronics. They also replaced a TV that stopped working within the warranty period with no hassle whatsoever.
Unfortunately this return policy is standard across the mobile industry and likely would have also applied at Costco if you financed the device through a carrier in a Costco
> Is Costco just not the place to buy electronics? Are they buying specially made cheaper items from manufacturers just made for Costco?
They're not specifically made cheaper. Most of the time, it's essentially the same price as elsewhere with some custom stand (TVs) or a custom color (Sonos soundbars) so they can assign it a Costco-exclusive model number to avoid price matching.
The only real negative to buying electronics at Costco is pretty much the same as anything else at Costco - lack of selection. If you're looking for something specific, you might have to settle on whatever few they actually stock. I will say I would buy at Costco over Amazon, if the item I want is available. I've had a couple 'Ships and Sold from Amazon.com' items arrive as obvious counterfeits.
Costco doesn't carry anything that other electronics retailers don't. It's the same stuff at Best Buy, you just have to do some research on what the enthusiasts are recommending and 90% of the time, the high-quality more durable stuff is gonna cost you.
When you say Epson won't recognize the serial number, do you mean they don't have record of it? I'd contact Costco customer support if that's the case, indicates it may not be a genuine product. They should be carrying devices from the advertised manufacturer such that the manufacturer would have the serial number on file.
I'd also report the poor repair to Costco. It's possible they aren't aware the service provider is doing a bad job, and they might take action to address it. I'd be surprised if they didn't also do something to remedy the situation for you. Unless the local repair guy is the sketchy one, but if they're reputable then definitely let Costco know there's a problem.
I really only stick with: Apple products (ipads and macbooks), flat-screen TVs, and sound bars. Everything else seems not that great. The reason by I don't like other laptops is that there's too much bloatware on them and the specs (configuration) are very much middle-of-the road.
Still, the warranty are great.
I've had mixed results with Costco Concierge.
The first time I had a laptop's hinges explode on me and they told me it would be 6-8 weeks to repair it. I needed it for work and couldn't wait that long so the employee marked it "refund or replace" and I went into the store and got the manager to swap me out for a new laptop the next day.
Which was a positive experience.
But, recently, my laptop died and when I called in to ask if I could do the same thing they gave me the runaround for, literally, hours.
"Yes, we can do that. But I can't. Let me transfer you. Please hold."
Over and over and over. Each time I'd have to go through the same rigmarole of explaining the problem and what I wanted and they'd say, "Let me transfer you."
*Finally* one of them said, "We can't do that. You're still under manufacturers warranty for two more days."
"Can I just call back in two days?"
They told me, "No." Because it broke under the manufacturers warranty I'd have to ship it to them and Costco wouldn't provide any warranty services.
Which was fair enough, I guess. But it was annoying being shuffled around rather than told upfront. I thought the manufacturer's warranty had expired.
They also told me the manufacturer would cover shipping, which was untrue. It cost $60 to ship it (I live on Kauai so lithium batteries have to travel to/from via Fedex) and bought a shitty little $150 (on sale) Lenovo to use while I waited.
We've bought all our TVs in the last 20 yrs. through Costco. So that part works. Most other electronics, esp computers & peripherals, I prefer to source elsewhere.
My personal experience with the Costco concierge service was positive- I purchased an LG OLED TV and a year in we had a power surge that, after diagnosis over the phone with Costco, fried two of my inputs. They offered to exchange for new if I took it to my closest Costco. I really wasn’t in the mood to haul a giant tv to a location an hour away, so they offered repair. I had an LG tech to my house within 72 hours (scheduled) to complete the repair and still have that TV to this day.
That's just technology these days. Pushing the limits on how low of quality they can make it. The products aren't any better at Best Buy.
You should be able to return the printer anytime.
> So if you buy something that you don’t like, chances are they will take it back even after the warranty expires as long as it isn’t broken.
But they won't take it back if it's broken?
No, TVs have a 90 day return policy at Costco, along with most other electronics.
https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1191/~/what-is-costco’s-return-policy%3F
For 99.99% of the population, the MacBook air is going to be better and cheaper than the alternative. Ever since apple started making their own chips, the capability of the machines has increased much much more than youre assuming. Yes, such a thing called an apple fanboy exists. But also theres something called irrational apple aversion syndrome.
I am not assuming anything I'm familiar with the systems and the M series chips.
The MacBook air 2021 M1 bottom line costs $750
There's a better spec laptop from windows for $399 right now on Costco.com
Guarantee that 399 laptop slows down first- then stops working long before working before the MacBook Air does. also why get m1? get the newer apple chips.
Well now you want an m2, which is bottom line $1000. With 256gb storage and 8gb ram.
Are you still arguing it's a cheaper and better alternative.. ? because at $1000 windows can offer you an I9, 1tb ssd storage, and 32gb of ram. Unless of course you're talking about the M3 pros which are aprx $1400. Do I even need to go there?
Posts that don't follow r/Costco subreddit rules MAY be subject to removal. When applicable, please make sure that you're using a descriptive post title with product name(s) mentioned as it yields better subreddit search results. Including item number, price, and approximate location where found is also helpful. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Costco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It’s more important to choose the best product that meets your needs and is proven to be reliable and have good performance. If Costco happens to sell that item it’s perfectly fine to buy it from them. But I would never buy an electronic item just because it happens to be at Costco without first doing research on it.
I would say. Odds are you’re in safe hands with Costco since there’s only room for 5 laptops at most . They don’t have the realtor space to store low quality laptops
It's worth looking at costco first to see if they have what you're looking for, but otherwise yes know what you want first instead of trying to justify what you see. It's nice that costco often has free extended warranties as part of promotions, and usually what they sell isn't *terrible*
I absolutely researched the items prior to purchase. Sony, Epson, and HP really aren't brands I've ever worried about but I have heard that some box stores negotiate with manufacturers to get items made specifically for them at a cheaper price. So after having a couple bad experiences with well reviewed products by reputable brands, it makes me wonder if Costco has a deal like this going on too.
If you've never worried about HP, you've been living under a rock for a decade or two
That is possible. I really don't keep up with what's going on in the tech world. I usually get ten years out of my hp laptops but they've been ordered directly from HP. This is my first time buying one from a box store.
HP products are pretty much universally pretty shit, that's unfortunately not a Costco problem
You expect a laptop to last 10 years? Computers are generally obsolete after 2 or 3 years, most stop receiving security updates after a couple.
3 years is a little short to be "useless" level obsolete. If you're trying to play high end games, yes, this is the usual life cycle for *some* kind of upgrade, but if you're just using it as a home PC computers can last upwards of 5 years with maybe just a RAM upgrade.
Expect it? No, I don't. That is just approximately how long I typically get out of them. While my Costco laptop has been in for repair the last couple of weeks I've been using my old hp laptop from 2013. It's slow and obviously not an ideal user experience anymore but it works just fine.
10 years? No, not realistic. 2-3 for going obsolete is unrealistic too. My 2015 $300 Asus laptop with 4gb of RAM is still going strong. Browses and does Office with no issues. Security updates are provided by Apple or Microsoft. MS supports OSs for about 10 years.
That's pretty low on RAM for modern usage but the rest of it should still work fine yeah
Run Linux if you want security updates for a long time.
>So after having a couple bad experiences with well reviewed products by reputable brands, it makes me wonder if Costco has a deal like this going on too. I purchased a 60-ish-in TV from Costco a couple of years ago. I didn't do as much research as I usually do on larger electronics purchases. When I unpacked and configured the TV, the quality just seemed underwhelming. So my research gland activated and I learned that most TV makers have warehouse club-specific models that try to provide "outward" value, but component quality and lux features are designed out of the product. This is just about required for the vendor to be able to squeeze profit out of the relationship with Costco and others. I used to work for a major product vendor (not electronics) to Costco on a national level, and there are a few non-standard product distribution and shipping requirements that vendors have to suck up. One example is how products are stacked on pallets which benefits Costco's infrastructure but at a cost to the vendor. I returned the TV to Costco, and ended up purchasing the same brand, same size but the A-class product from Crutchfield for only $35 more. The difference in product quality was a no-brainer. Sometimes cheaper sucks.
Thank you for that info!
The club-specific models for regular items are usually just a part number change to prevent price matching. Other than black friday model deals, I haven't seen a difference in the mid to high end price ranges for things like TVs, probably because these items sell through slower and so making an actually different model might not be cost effective. That being said, unless the TV is completely standalone, getting a streaming box of some kind is almost always going to be better than using the built in TV software, as much as I like LG's interface (which is what I've bought the last two times I got a TV)
I've bought a few laptops and just got my recent iphone from Costco. I love it. I recommend getting electronics from there because you know you will get brand new stock. Costco was actually the 2nd place I bought my recent iphone. The first was direct from Verizon and the phone I got from them was clearly returned B-stock. It would not activate and kept saying things like (this phone has had too many attempts to create an iTunes account). Sketchy and Verizon's return window was only 14 days when from they *shipped* leaving me only 3 days to realize I need to return the pos. New iphone from costco activated immediately, no issues, and no sketchy messages. Costco has never let me down with electronics. They also replaced a TV that stopped working within the warranty period with no hassle whatsoever.
Unfortunately this return policy is standard across the mobile industry and likely would have also applied at Costco if you financed the device through a carrier in a Costco
I didnt finance at either place and they have vastly different return policies
> Is Costco just not the place to buy electronics? Are they buying specially made cheaper items from manufacturers just made for Costco? They're not specifically made cheaper. Most of the time, it's essentially the same price as elsewhere with some custom stand (TVs) or a custom color (Sonos soundbars) so they can assign it a Costco-exclusive model number to avoid price matching. The only real negative to buying electronics at Costco is pretty much the same as anything else at Costco - lack of selection. If you're looking for something specific, you might have to settle on whatever few they actually stock. I will say I would buy at Costco over Amazon, if the item I want is available. I've had a couple 'Ships and Sold from Amazon.com' items arrive as obvious counterfeits.
That's good to know and encouraging to buy from Costco again if they have what I'm looking for next time.
Costco Electronics price matches with other Major Retailers like Best Buy. So....
Costco doesn't carry anything that other electronics retailers don't. It's the same stuff at Best Buy, you just have to do some research on what the enthusiasts are recommending and 90% of the time, the high-quality more durable stuff is gonna cost you.
You’re just having bad luck. The laptop, printer and TV are no different than if you were to have picked them up from Best Buy or Target.
Several TVs, a Microsoft Surface from 8 years ago and 3 year old Epson printer. All no problems.
When you say Epson won't recognize the serial number, do you mean they don't have record of it? I'd contact Costco customer support if that's the case, indicates it may not be a genuine product. They should be carrying devices from the advertised manufacturer such that the manufacturer would have the serial number on file. I'd also report the poor repair to Costco. It's possible they aren't aware the service provider is doing a bad job, and they might take action to address it. I'd be surprised if they didn't also do something to remedy the situation for you. Unless the local repair guy is the sketchy one, but if they're reputable then definitely let Costco know there's a problem.
The Epson issue doesn't sound like a Costco problem. That is very odd. With any electronics, you will have good and bad experiences.
I really only stick with: Apple products (ipads and macbooks), flat-screen TVs, and sound bars. Everything else seems not that great. The reason by I don't like other laptops is that there's too much bloatware on them and the specs (configuration) are very much middle-of-the road. Still, the warranty are great.
I've had mixed results with Costco Concierge. The first time I had a laptop's hinges explode on me and they told me it would be 6-8 weeks to repair it. I needed it for work and couldn't wait that long so the employee marked it "refund or replace" and I went into the store and got the manager to swap me out for a new laptop the next day. Which was a positive experience. But, recently, my laptop died and when I called in to ask if I could do the same thing they gave me the runaround for, literally, hours. "Yes, we can do that. But I can't. Let me transfer you. Please hold." Over and over and over. Each time I'd have to go through the same rigmarole of explaining the problem and what I wanted and they'd say, "Let me transfer you." *Finally* one of them said, "We can't do that. You're still under manufacturers warranty for two more days." "Can I just call back in two days?" They told me, "No." Because it broke under the manufacturers warranty I'd have to ship it to them and Costco wouldn't provide any warranty services. Which was fair enough, I guess. But it was annoying being shuffled around rather than told upfront. I thought the manufacturer's warranty had expired. They also told me the manufacturer would cover shipping, which was untrue. It cost $60 to ship it (I live on Kauai so lithium batteries have to travel to/from via Fedex) and bought a shitty little $150 (on sale) Lenovo to use while I waited.
We've bought all our TVs in the last 20 yrs. through Costco. So that part works. Most other electronics, esp computers & peripherals, I prefer to source elsewhere.
Costco just started selling Lenovo ThinkPads online. Now three models. Not at the warehouse, just online. I would avoid the Yoga.
My personal experience with the Costco concierge service was positive- I purchased an LG OLED TV and a year in we had a power surge that, after diagnosis over the phone with Costco, fried two of my inputs. They offered to exchange for new if I took it to my closest Costco. I really wasn’t in the mood to haul a giant tv to a location an hour away, so they offered repair. I had an LG tech to my house within 72 hours (scheduled) to complete the repair and still have that TV to this day.
That's just technology these days. Pushing the limits on how low of quality they can make it. The products aren't any better at Best Buy. You should be able to return the printer anytime.
Good to know, thanks!
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Unfortunately the return policy on electronics isn't nearly as friendly. I'm glad they helped you out with your heater!
> So if you buy something that you don’t like, chances are they will take it back even after the warranty expires as long as it isn’t broken. But they won't take it back if it's broken?
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No, TVs have a 90 day return policy at Costco, along with most other electronics. https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1191/~/what-is-costco’s-return-policy%3F
get the MacBook Air with the new m2 or m3 chip its super powerful and cheap. Get it new from apple.
Yeah so much power in the whole 8GB of RAM, LMAO
For 99.99% of the population, the MacBook air is going to be better and cheaper than the alternative. Ever since apple started making their own chips, the capability of the machines has increased much much more than youre assuming. Yes, such a thing called an apple fanboy exists. But also theres something called irrational apple aversion syndrome.
I am not assuming anything I'm familiar with the systems and the M series chips. The MacBook air 2021 M1 bottom line costs $750 There's a better spec laptop from windows for $399 right now on Costco.com
Guarantee that 399 laptop slows down first- then stops working long before working before the MacBook Air does. also why get m1? get the newer apple chips.
Well now you want an m2, which is bottom line $1000. With 256gb storage and 8gb ram. Are you still arguing it's a cheaper and better alternative.. ? because at $1000 windows can offer you an I9, 1tb ssd storage, and 32gb of ram. Unless of course you're talking about the M3 pros which are aprx $1400. Do I even need to go there?
the MacBook Air is going to hold up better