Recently, there has been an influx of articles and blog posts about Best Buy's "Mac optimization" services. For $40, a Geek Squad employee will enhance the performance of your brand new computer. Sounds great, right? For PCs that come with lots of trial software, maybe. But a brand new out-of-the-box Mac is already just about as good as it's going to get without hardware upgrades. On top of this $40 charge, a $300 2-year warranty is also pushed for purchase. This might be a wise purchase if it didn't run concurrently with Apple’s one year warranty. In the end, consumers can only benefit from half the value of the Best Buy warranty. You're much better off paying for Apple's AppleCare. For the same price (or more often, less) than the cost of Best Buy's warranty, you get extended phone support and repair services, and your machine can be brought to any Apple repair shop (like ours!).

But getting back to the optimization... just what are we talking about, here? After reviewing multiple sites and Mac/Best Buy forums, it seems that the optimization includes:

• Entering the user's name
• Checking the network connection (not of much use if the computer isn't on the user's primary network at the time)
• Scanning drives (what is there to scan on a new, unused computer?)
• Run software updates (this would be much more useful if the user was shown how to regularly check for updates on their own)

Thanks to Despair for the original image, and GadgetSteria for the edit.

As a whole, this isn't a bad service to offer to those buying a new Mac, especially if they are a first-time customer. But the services should be offered as a "startup" package, since these really don't optimize the system. Additionally, users that are new to Mac should be taught how to run frequent software updates. The current Best Buy "optimization" process is done behind the scenes, so it sets the user up to come back to Best Buy or call the Geek Squad any time updates should be made. It's a great moneymaking strategy for Best Buy, but it ultimately hurts Apple's brand, which touts itself as having a user-friendly interface and is usable right out of the box. So instead of using this as a great opportunity to build a working relationship with customers, the Best Buy "Mac optimization" policy seems to operate on fear: fear that the computer will not run as intended, and fear that it will spontaneously combust when the manufacturer's warranty expires.

Macs are incredibly user-friendly. So let's be friendly with our users! Encourage them to learn the basic functions, and ensure that you’ll be there to help them if they need any assistance. The key here is "help," not "quickly do it all."

So no, your Mac doesn’t need to be "optimized" in order to work. If you have a new Mac, plug in and you’re good to go. Oh, and you get to watch a really cool Welcome video. And if you need help getting started, our techies are always here for you.