new mac shop opening

eevyhayes

Hey guys....just letting you know that there is a new apple shop opening on grafton street tomorrow (Saturday 17th). Check it out if your thinking of buying a new mac laptop!! its called Compub.

eevyhayes

sorry forgot to add...its opening at 11 am. Their website is www.compub.ie

sham09

<<mod edit>> blatant advertising removed <<mod edit>>

Dr.Sanchez

<<mod edit>> Removed quote of Sham09's blatant advertising <<mod edit>>

sham09

I must mention that I am in no way affiliated with CompuB, nor am I an employee. I am just a loyal customer, and would like to share my great experience to date with fellow Boardies!

Thanks

banquo

Lies make baby Jesus cry.

swingking

was there today and I have to say it's best form of 'Apple' shop Dubin has seen since Compustore went. They have the devices, accessories and software.

banquo

iPads?

I've mine preordered from Band&Olufson on the Dublin Quays. Great service there.

Sad Professor

I need a new keyboard, so might pop in there on Monday.

eth0_

I'll allow this thread to stay as it is good that people know CompuB have opened on Grafton Street - the rumour was that it'd be a proper Apple Store.

Sham09 - please be careful what you post in future, I could have given you a ban for that post but I will give you the benefit of the doubt in this instance..

punkindrublic

Thought this was going to be about MAC makeup, damnit!

When are ipads released over here anyway?

banquo

End of May, it looks like.

akadesign

Don't bother going if you want a new i5 or i7 laptop, they don't have any in stock. Although you can have a little play with the display models.

J-blk

banquo wrote: »

End of May, it looks like.

Not sure on that one but sure hope so . Apple was defining "international" launch as UK, Germany, France, etc only for the end of April so I'm assuming that's what they still mean for the end of May... No real official word on "rest of Europe" AFAIK :mad:.

Sad Professor

Does anyone know if CompuB give the student discount?

banquo

J-blk wrote: »

Not sure on that one but sure hope so . Apple was defining "international" launch as UK, Germany, France, etc only for the end of April so I'm assuming that's what they still mean for the end of May... No real official word on "rest of Europe" AFAIK :mad:.

UK (generally) is shorthand for ''UK and Ireland"

projectmayhem

Sad Professor wrote: »

Does anyone know if CompuB give the student discount?

They do... but I wouldn't expect extra discount on the weekend deals tbh

banquo wrote: »

UK (generally) is shorthand for ''UK and Ireland"

Not in Apple-land. They tier the world and Ireland is not in that second tier of major EU nations sadly...

docentore

I went today to the shop, nice and clean and all good. So many friendly staff I wonder if it will stay this way. It will be hard to keep all those people there.

Rubyroof

akadesign wrote: »

Don't bother going if you want a new i5 or i7 laptop, they don't have any in stock. Although you can have a little play with the display models.

the little apple shop in pcworld in liffey valley are preselling them.

DominoDub

Called in today nice setup , I picked up a bits like a"Tapstick" for my ipod shuffle and a copy of Snow Leopard which is now installed and working on my Macbook Pro !

Rubyroof

mmmm whats a tap stick, i want some accessories for my mbpro and iphone any (I have the VGA adapter, time cap and airport express anything else i missed out on)?

DominoDub

A "Tapstick" adds controls to the iPod Shuffle so you can use any make of headphones , I now can use it with my Sennheiser IE7's for a great tiny headfi system !

Rubyroof

that looks frickin amazeing! its on the list, bank account is getting a serious bashing this month especially if ipads magically become availabel

ShayMurphy459

Any update on the much-awaited official Apple Store in Dublin?

Sad Professor

ShayMurphy459 wrote: »

Any update on the much-awaited official Apple Store in Dublin?

Nope, except that with CompuB having gone in on Grafton Street, it is looking less likely for the time being. I mean we haven't even got the iTunes Movie Store yet, so I think Apple just see us as too small to be worth their while right now. Maybe if CompuB does well...

babypink

So I took a trip into CompuB today.

I have mixed feelings:

1) Loads of Apple product....and it's glorious to behold all of it!!;
2) Loads of accessories....straight from the online store....stuff you can't get anywhere else! Awesome!;
3) Some staff were great;
4) Attempted emulation of a bona fide Apple Store.

However......I do have gripes that, if I were Apple Ireland, I wouldn't be happy about:

1) Attempted emulation of a bona fide Apple Store.

...let me elaborate: If you're going to do it, pay attention to the details and do it right. There are lovely big wide exhibition ads pinned up on the walls showing off product, slogans etc.... very Apple. But, they're very poorly executed --- the canvas hasn't been properly stretched over the frame or stapled down at the bottom. The downstairs and upstairs ones are equally guilty of this. It just looks poor.

The tills are located waaay at the back around a corner, almost hidden away. Too far away. Though not a whole lot that can be done about it given the narrow shape of the unit.

It's suffering from "new shop that's been put together in a hurry" syndrome. Some of the fixtures and fittings aren't finished consistently. The accessories racks are some bare, some full, some partially full. They should be full of product at all times.

2) Some staff were great;

....again elaboration: I was approached by a few staff members and independently engaged others. For the most part....great....but the very first staff member to approach me kind of mumbled unintelligibly at me. (bug bear of mine!)

3) Product on display that I couldn't buy;

....iPhones, on display and being shown off by staff but unavailable to purchase. When asked when they would be available to purchase was met with "we don't know yet, we're working on it." Fair enough.

With flagship product like that, if you have it on display people will assume that they can say "I'll have one of those please."



Ok, I'm being nitty for the CompuB's benefit. If someone from CompuB is reading, please don't take offense at the criticism - I mean it constructively. I think the store looks great, staff have the right attitude (personable, chatty and do actually look at you when speaking to you) and once it has bedded down it'll be great!!



bp

projectmayhem

I can fess up and say I work for CompuB for the time being. But anything I say doesn't reflect the opinion of the company, yada yada... I'll be the tech so chances are if you're talking to me something's wrong with your Mac anyway

babypink wrote: »

...let me elaborate: If you're going to do it, pay attention to the details and do it right. There are lovely big wide exhibition ads pinned up on the walls showing off product, slogans etc.... very Apple. But, they're very poorly executed --- the canvas hasn't been properly stretched over the frame or stapled down at the bottom. The downstairs and upstairs ones are equally guilty of this. It just looks poor.

This is not the actual case. The store was put together very quickly (I'll explain in a moment) given the circumstances. The store does look fantastic but you're right, small details are missing. Those canvases are not official. They were printed last second because the real ones were no longer able to fly in from London. We're still waiting on when we can get them. The ones we have were printed in Dublin as fast as possible so the edges are a little ragged because of the adhesive... we can't staple them on because we're getting real ones soon.

babypink wrote: »

The tills are located waaay at the back around a corner, almost hidden away. Too far away. Though not a whole lot that can be done about it given the narrow shape of the unit.

This issue is hard to fix given the layout of the building unfortunately. The store, despite not being an "official Apple store" was actually designed by Apple (down to the paint on the walls) and all the fixtures and fittings came directly through their own shop fitting people in Germany.

babypink wrote: »

It's suffering from "new shop that's been put together in a hurry" syndrome. Some of the fixtures and fittings aren't finished consistently. The accessories racks are some bare, some full, some partially full. They should be full of product at all times.

In fairness that's difficult after a huge blowout opening weekend with loads of discounts and no aircraft to bring in new product. Even Apple themselves would have trouble with that.

babypink wrote: »

2) Some staff were great;

....again elaboration: I was approached by a few staff members and independently engaged others. For the most part....great....but the very first staff member to approach me kind of mumbled unintelligibly at me. (bug bear of mine!)

All staff are trained by Apple but some are still new to the game. That won't be a feature of this store. I can promise that...

babypink wrote: »

3) Product on display that I couldn't buy;

....iPhones, on display and being shown off by staff but unavailable to purchase. When asked when they would be available to purchase was met with "we don't know yet, we're working on it." Fair enough.

With flagship product like that, if you have it on display people will assume that they can say "I'll have one of those please."

This isn't an issue with the store or company, we're being throttled by Vodafone and O2. O2 can't sell through us because Voda want exclusivity and they've yet to send us a system that we can sell their chips with yet, so we're stuffed. Even with iPhone stock, we can't sell them.

babypink wrote: »

Ok, I'm being nitty for the CompuB's benefit. If someone from CompuB is reading, please don't take offense at the criticism - I mean it constructively. I think the store looks great, staff have the right attitude (personable, chatty and do actually look at you when speaking to you) and once it has bedded down it'll be great!!

None taken. Look, as much as you see this stuff - so do we. We know there are some issues but to be honest, I think it looks ace. Once the service section ("genius bar" but without the copyright name stealing) gets going we'll be an all-in-one place for Mac in Dublin.

babypink

thanks for the response mayhem!

Just observations, and I'm very heartened by your response. Reassuring to know that you see the same things I did.

And just to repeat myself

I think the store looks great, staff have the right attitude (personable, chatty and do actually look at you when speaking to you) and once it has bedded down it'll be great!!

Good luck with getting it the way you guys want it!

pwwillia

was in the store over the weekend and it looks great and i can see it getting better. good luck with it.

any discounts for boardies

Sad Professor

I didn't get a chance today, but hope to go in during the week and have a gander. Looking forward to it.

Once the service section ("genius bar" but without the copyright name stealing) gets going we'll be an all-in-one place for Mac in Dublin.

Sounds good to me.

projectmayhem

babypink wrote: »

thanks for the response mayhem!

No worries

babypink wrote: »

Just observations, and I'm very heartened by your response. Reassuring to know that you see the same things I did.

Good luck with getting it the way you guys want it!

Yeah things are moving at a mad pace at the minute. The next bit to get done is the tech area so we can give people full service support (warranty, applecare and out-of-warranty stuff) to the good people of Dublin. I'm fully certified and we're in the process of getting someone else certified too - which is difficult again because we can't get anyone to London in an easy manner!

Sad Professor wrote: »

I didn't get a chance today, but hope to go in during the week and have a gander. Looking forward to it.


Sounds good to me.

If anyone's around I'm usually upstairs. Say hello. You can't miss me, I look like a tosser and have a namebadge with "Kevin" written on it

pwwillia wrote: »

any discounts for boardies

God no. We add 10% to the cost if you're a boardsie

pwwillia

good luck with the place kevin, look forward to shopping in it:)

Dr_Teeth

I had a quick look around at lunch time today, it looks good.. I didn't realise there was an upstairs though. I saw the stairs obviously, but there wasn't a sign or anything so I figured it was a staff/storage area. I'll have to be more inquisitive next time.

VERYinterested

I was in it just about half an hour ago, same deal with upstairs, it doesn't look like you're allowed up there, plus there's a security guard standing there. Might be an idea to put a little sign saying what's upstairs so people won't be afraid to venture up

projectmayhem

VERYinterested wrote: »

I was in it just about half an hour ago, same deal with upstairs, it doesn't look like you're allowed up there, plus there's a security guard standing there. Might be an idea to put a little sign saying what's upstairs so people won't be afraid to venture up

Fear not, a load of official signage came in today so we've to sort through them and stick them around the store. You wouldn't believe how finicky they are

VERYinterested

I'm intrigued now to see what's upstairs! I'll be back soon, place looks well, will have more time to nose around next time. It was good to see the place busy too, hopefully it will continue to go well for you guys.

lee_baby_simms

projectmayhem wrote: »

Fear not, a load of official signage came in today so we've to sort through them and stick them around the store. You wouldn't believe how finicky they are

Do you know when you'll be starting repairs?

projectmayhem

VERYinterested wrote: »

I'm intrigued now to see what's upstairs! I'll be back soon, place looks well, will have more time to nose around next time. It was good to see the place busy too, hopefully it will continue to go well for you guys.

Yeah it's going well thus far. We're very happy. I was the lucky one, stranded in the UK last week. Most of the guys did mad hours to put that shop together for the opening. They did stellar work.

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

Do you know when you'll be starting repairs?

I'll have to get back to you on that. It's likely to be 2 weeks or so. The area where repairs is to be done is a building site right now. Today they plastered and painted walls and cleared it out of rubbish. We've to buy fixtures and get it going before anything can happen. I'm certified by Apple to do the work but we'll need more techies (get yer cvs in!) because, judging by a few short days of opening, we're going to be mad busy in there.

~Marky~

Do they sell the cable to hook up the MacBook Pro up to the TV? would love one of them

projectmayhem

~Marky~ wrote: »

Do they sell the cable to hook up the MacBook Pro up to the TV? would love one of them

All the bits and bobs are available. All at the same price as Apple.ie too

Sad Professor

I meant to say, I finally went into the store last week. I was rushing for a bus so didn't have a chance to really look around, just got what I needed and ran, but I was very impressed. Staff were friendly, and it's great that all the accessories are available. Very small as already said though. But hopefully it will do well and it won't be long before something bigger can happen.

spannerotoole

projectmayhem wrote: »

Not in Apple-land. They tier the world and Ireland is not in that second tier of major EU nations sadly...

So is Ireland in EMEA or not. Or are Apple creating their own standards?

whiterebel

spannerotoole wrote: »

So is Ireland in EMEA or not. Or are Apple creating their own standards?

Yes like 40+ others they are in EMEA. Like the others we wait until the major markets are opened in UK, France, Germany. Always have, always will. EMEA also includes the Middle East and Africa, so they'll never be able to open up all that region in one go.

lee_baby_simms

Any update on repairs? Thanks.

projectmayhem

Repairs are up & running now...