I had come to the conclusion that the local CompUSA store was the last place I’d go for customer service. I can’t count the number of times I’ve left the store with computer questions unanswered. But today, while on a mission to research notebook computers, I discovered the secret. It’s all in the timing …

It was approximately 10:00 am in the morning when I strolled through the doors. With the exception of employees, the store was nearly deserted. I headed to the notebook computer section and surveyed the offerings: Compaq, HP, Sony, Gateway, Toshiba, Apple, and some brand I’ve never heard of before in my life. (I was hoping that they would have Fujitsu notebooks but, alas, they did not. Come to think of it, I can’t ever remember seeing a Fujitsu computer in any retail store. I guess if I did see one, it must not have made much of an impression.)

With little time to spare, I set about my low-tech notebook computer comparison shopping. This trip wasn’t about comparing the processors, hard drive size and speed, the amount of RAM, or the video card. Nope. This one was all about touch … the touch of the keyboard.

As someone who makes his living (meager as it might be) from pounding the keys, the keyboard is all important to me. The greatest laptop computer in the world is a piece of junk to me if the keyboard fails to provide proper feedback.

The guitarist has his ax. The geek writer has his keyboard. If I lived three hundred years ago, I would have been obsessing over a new quill.

So there I was, jumping from one notebook computer to the next. The flimsy Compaq keyboards were among the worst. I found them to have a feel far inferior to the HP units. I thought that to be curious, as hey, they’re supposed to be the same company these days, right? The Sony felt okay, but just a little too, I dunno … toy-like? The Apple keyboards didn’t seem that bad (but I know that some folks just can’t stand them). The Gateway felt surprisingly good.

If I had the ability to raise just one eyebrow, like Spock, I would have raised it.

But it was the Toshiba that felt the most like a desktop unit. This was indeed a chin-scratcher, as I had never considered a Toshiba notebook computer. I’ve long been a fan of their televisions, but never attached the same cache to their laptops.

(Please, before you bombard me with irate emails about this keyboard or that keyboard, let me just say that this is personal preference stuff, to be sure.) :)

Rest assured, I didn’t pull out the wallet this morning. But something really funny happened.

Sales reps actually came over to ask if they could help answer any questions. That’s sales reps with an “s” … plural, even. Seeing that the store was empty, they were there en masse, happy to help. The manager came over. A specialist came out of the back. I was floored.

This was such a far cry from almost all of my previous experiences, where I could have set myself on fire in the store and not gotten so much as a dixie cup half full of water worth of help.

It quickly dawned on me.

I generally don’t frequent the store that early in the day. I usually trek over during lunch or after the work day … when the store is bustling with customers and all the sales reps are already busy with someone else.

Well, duh.