# CPUsed Renamed Beam Echo



## Mac Fellow (Jul 5, 2001)

Hmmm...

BEAMECHO (formely CPUsed) 
488 Dupont Street
Toronto ON M6G 1Y7
T 416.533.2001
E [email protected]

BEAMECHO is a Toronto-based retailer specializing in computers and digital electronics including audio, video, photo products, accesories and peripherals.

http://www.mediaworks.ca/be/beweb/
http://www.cpused.com/home.php


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

Trying to shake their bad reputation, perhaps?


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

I guess they had 2 ways to make people less likely to remember CPUsed, and the name change was less expensive than nuclear fission.


John Clay said:


> Trying to shake their bad reputation, perhaps?


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I actually had an e-mail exchange with them. They told me that they were getting out of the used equipment market.


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## AppleAuthority (May 21, 2005)

Macfury said:


> I actually had an e-mail exchange with them. They told me that they were getting out of the used equipment market.


They might as well get out completely. I had assumed that the used stuff is what kept them afloat (and where the profit was). I don't think they can make enough on the new stuff to compete with Carbon or the Apple Stores. Perhaps I'm wrong.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

CPUsed was a much better name than Beam Echo... does Beam Echo even make you think of a computer store? I think not.


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## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

Checked the price list... still CPUsury to me.


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## Theseus (Jun 6, 2006)

Their new logo looks a tad Carbon-esque...both the circle, the angle of the beams (though backwards), and the blue colour of that one beam. Probably a coincidence though.


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## Mac Fellow (Jul 5, 2001)

Another Toronto reseller, The DV Shop, had a funny comment in their sales blog - http://dvcanada.blogspot.com/ :

Rumours of DV Shop changing its name to Electric Tangerine to compete are not true


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

Fink-Nottle said:


> Checked the price list... still CPUsury to me.


Like everything else at CPUsed, their migration seems to have been rather half-assed...


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

lol... i love it (the comments)...


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2007)

Lars said:


> CPUsed was a much better name than Beam Echo... does Beam Echo even make you think of a computer store? I think not.


Beam Echo makes me think of a bad Star Trek episode and so does their logo


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Apparently considerable thought has gone ino designing that abominable new logo. 

http://www.wishingline.com/portfolio/project.php?p_id=34


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

mguertin said:


> Beam Echo makes me think of a bad Star Trek episode and so does their logo


LMFAO. That's hilarious. 

In regards to the logo, I concur - it definitely appears as if little to no thought made it into that design.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Fink-Nottle said:


> Checked the price list... still CPUsury to me.


C'mon--they just lowered the price of their original (used) Airport cards to $129.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

Macfury said:


> C'mon--they just lowered the price of their original (used) Airport cards to $129.


I don't get it! Who is their pricing genius?

CPUsed/BeamEcho Secial:

Used Macbook Core Duo 13" 2GHz/512/80GB/Superdrive with 90 day BeamEcho warranty - black $1399 

Apple.ca Special:

MFG Refurb Macbook Core2Duo 13" 2GHz/1GB/120GB/Superdrive with 1 year Apple Warranty and eligible for extended AppleCare - black $1449

Hmmmmm.....I wonder! I can't stand resellers that think they can milk and take advantage of someone that just doesn't know anything.


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

Macfury said:


> Apparently considerable thought has gone ino designing that abominable new logo.
> 
> http://www.wishingline.com/portfolio/project.php?p_id=34


Is it just me, or does their website look like crap? I'm viewing it in FireFox on a PC, and the text renders horribly.



MACinist said:


> I can't stand resellers that think they can milk and take advantage of someone that just doesn't know anything.


Ummm...that's generally any sales environment for you.


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## satchmo (May 26, 2005)

So what's with all the CPUsed bashing? I realize this site is Carbon-based (pun intended), but did you all get screwed royally by CPUsed? 

I've never had a bad experience with them. And although their prices are not cheap (no Mac dealer is, IMHO), having competition and another Mac resource in the GTA is a plus.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

satchmo said:


> So what's with all the CPUsed bashing? I realize this site is Carbon-based (pun intended), but did you all get screwed royally by CPUsed?
> 
> I've never had a bad experience with them. And although their prices are not cheap (no Mac dealer is, IMHO), having competition and another Mac resource in the GTA is a plus.



I've personally had bad experiences with them over the years.

There's a reason that I went all the way to Carbon to purchase/service stuff, even though CPUsed is only a few blocks away.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

If you don't feel like doing a search, scroll down to the "Similar Threads" feature at the bottom of the page.




satchmo said:


> So what's with all the CPUsed bashing? I realize this site is Carbon-based (pun intended), but did you all get screwed royally by CPUsed?
> 
> I've never had a bad experience with them. And although their prices are not cheap (no Mac dealer is, IMHO), having competition and another Mac resource in the GTA is a plus.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I think I've heard someone describing their campfire flatulence as a "Bean Echo."


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

The name change, new logo, etc. seem like they're simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It isn't going to change their reputation IMHO. I'm still going to either Carbon or the Apple Store for my professional and personal Apple needs.

To be fair though, they aren't the first reseller to try to reinvent themselves. So we shouldn't blame them for trying. But I think that given the negative reputation that they seem to have, perhaps addressing that might be a better tatic?


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## Oakbridge (Mar 8, 2005)

What did happen to them? I seem to remember them years ago (10-12) being a pretty decent shop. Great place to get additional RAM, etc. 

I didn't have any dealings with them for a few years and then stopped by one day and I was treated like dirt. Totally ignored, etc. Was there a change in ownership/management?


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Truthfully, I don't find it difficult dealing with them--but their prices on many items, especially used, are unreasonable. The staff isn't allowed to match prices, so I just wind up buying all over the place instead of one-stop-shopping.


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2007)

That's exactly the problem with them, their pricing is still back to 10-12 years ago on used stuff, before there was a big used mac market and competition.

I bought a machine from them several years ago, a Daystar Genesis MP600 (quad processors) for $1000. I was quite happy until I fired it up and realized that it crashed hard randomly when doing heavy ethernet transfers. I tried 3 different operating systems on it (OS9, BeOS, Linux) and they all did the same thing. When I tried to return it to them 5 days later, citing this problem (and even showing them in 2 different OSes) they stated they didn't warranty it for that issue and that it was a "known issue" for that particular model -- which was not the case as I had already contacted Daystar myself and found out it was a motherboard problem and to replace it would cost me $600 USD. That about did it for me.

Also a former client of mine took in some of her older computer gear for trade in with them and one of the pieces she had was a maxed out Laserwriter IINT with 2 spare toner cartridges. They told her it "wasn't really worth anything" and she took that at face value. Having lugged the big printer across town and not wanting to haul it back home she ended up taking what they gave her for it -- a mousepad. Several days later when I visited it was on the floor for sale for $279 and they had listed the toner carts in their "odd and ends" listing at $50 each. That about did it for her.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

guytoronto said:


> Ummm...that's generally any sales environment for you.


That statement is maybe true for a used car dealership. That's the difference between being professional and a con-artist. Needless to say, there are con-artists and thieves in the profession but those usually never make it long at a reputable company. I work for a fortune 50 IT wholesaler, and if I tried to milk my customers, I'd probably be forced to handing in my resume at Beam Echo right now. Margin is quite low in hardware these days, for almost 7 years now (sub 5% at the wholesale level).


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

A friend of mine who was working for Apple Canada at the time took a SE30 in to get rid of it (he had upgraded). This was when they were in their old location east of Bathurst. They had a look at it and said that they wouldn't be able to offer him much for it as the hard drive had bad sectors and the logic board had issues. That's when he pulled out his Apple business card and placed it on the desk. According to him, the face of the guy he was speaking to turned white and all of a sudden the price skyrocketed and everything was okay with the computer. 

I don't know if they still act like that though and perhaps we're being too hard on them, but I do agree with the comment about the prices and the ability (or lack thereof) to price match. 

In terms of ownership, I'm not 100% sure but AFAIK they're still owned by the same people.


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## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

I have always found their service poor but their prices exorbitant. I was considering upgrading the video card on my G5 and found the following:

ATI Radeon X800XT Video Card Mac Edition
CPUsed price: $529
CDW Price: $379

That's a serious markup!


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I phoned about some clearance items on their web site a while ago, but they said that it was impossible to tell me if they had those items available.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Fink-Nottle said:


> ATI Radeon X800XT Video Card Mac Edition
> CPUsed price: $529
> CDW Price: $379
> 
> That's a serious markup!


I'm inclined to believe there's little serious markup. To be honest, most Apple resellers all use the same supplier(s), and it wouldn't surprise me if CPUsed's (sorry, "Beam Echo") _cost_ for that card is CDW's selling price, or just barely under it. Big chain resellers, such as Best Buy, Futureshop, and clearly CDW get products at reduced prices as they purchase many, many of them at a single time, and therefore can afford to sell at less and still make a dime. It's common knowledge (or not).


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

I searched.

Here.

And here.

Why not here.

And here.

There are way more posts on the subject.



HowEver said:


> If you don't feel like doing a search, scroll down to the "Similar Threads" feature at the bottom of the page.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

Lars said:


> I'm inclined to believe there's little serious markup. To be honest, most Apple resellers all use the same supplier(s), and it wouldn't surprise me if CPUsed's (sorry, "Beam Echo") _cost_ for that card is CDW's selling price, or just barely under it. Big chain resellers, such as Best Buy, Futureshop, and clearly CDW get products at reduced prices as they purchase many, many of them at a single time, and therefore can afford to sell at less and still make a dime. It's common knowledge (or not).


CDW's markup is pretty low because they have little overhead costs as they don't have any major warehouses themselves in Canada. They use their supplier's inventory to post as their own on their webstore. As what many webfronts do. The buying power of CDW, is not that big either in comparison to a FutureShop/Best Buy/Staples because CDW is unablle to logistically do major buy-ins that would allow for volume discounts. So, let's say even if CPUsed bought the product at nearly the cost of what CDW sells it for, that is still a 40 pt mark up! That is rediculous. Even in the gravy days, there was no such thing. Mind you, there may be another explanation. CPUsed could of bought the product before a price drop and are now stuck with a product bought at a high cost and they don't want to drop below the cost they bought it. Based on their general lack of competetive pricing - I highly doubt that.


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## CN (Sep 3, 2004)

Pikachu, super beam echo attack now!


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## The Shadow (Oct 28, 2006)

Whatever their name is now, I will always refer to CPUsed as Satan's Mac Dealer. The more things change...


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## Frank E (Mar 17, 2004)

Worst Apple dealer in the known and unknown universe.


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## fuzzyface (Oct 17, 2006)

Fink-Nottle said:


> Checked the price list... still CPUsury to me.


It's not as if carbon computing has stellar prices either:
"G4 15”, 1.67GHz, 1GB, 100GB, SuperDrive, AirPort, Bluetooth, 90 Day Warranty	
$1499.95"
Most people who know mac products know that these computers are OLD revisions...PPC chipsets at less than 2ghz - even in laptops - should go for much less than carbon wants; especially when you can get a refurbished current 15" macbook pro for 1689 WITH a one year warranty!
On another note: I recently purchased a pair of wireless headphones from the beam guys, for a client of mine. They retailed for 225. When i found out they were 3 model years old, I brought them back; got the current mid-priced model from Bay Bloor for 179. 
My other recent experience with CPused: I called them up to find out if they had a FW cable for a 3rd gen ipod. They said they did, and would put it aside for me. I paid full price. I took a browse around their store - just to check the place out. I saw the very same cable - new - in the clearance section. 
I should have just given up on them altogether after the lame response from the salesperson "Oh, it's just in the clearance section to give it exposure. It's not on sale" 
I don't care if they have parking. CPused stinks.


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

Worst. Dealer. EVAH!

So who gets the nod for being the second worst?


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

8127972 said:


> Worst. Dealer. EVAH!
> 
> So who gets the nod for being the second worst?


Also CPUsed/Beamecho.


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

HowEver said:


> Also CPUsed/Beamecho.


So if CPUsed/Beam Echo is the worst and second worst, who's third worst (and don't say CPUsed/Beam Echo)?


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

So BeamEcho is abandoning its nice big free parking lot location on Dupont to relocate in Yorkville. 

I'll admit that quite often I chose to go to CPUsed because it was convenient to park, grab a heavy piece of equipment, place it in the car and drive off. With prices being more or less equal in the Apple universe, that was the deciding factor. 

I know that I would have to be guaranteed to save a LOT of money to go through the hassle of visiting Yorkville for anything.


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

Lars said:


> CPUsed was a much better name than Beam Echo... does Beam Echo even make you think of a computer store? I think not.


Sounds more like a reseller of used vacuum cleaners. 

Apparently there used to be a company called "Beam-echo" back in the 50's that make audio amplifiers. BAL-AMi Beam Echo Amplifiers


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Macfury said:


> So BeamEcho is abandoning its nice big free parking lot location on Dupont to relocate in Yorkville.
> 
> I'll admit that quite often I chose to go to CPUsed because it was convenient to park, grab a heavy piece of equipment, place it in the car and drive off. With prices being more or less equal in the Apple universe, that was the deciding factor.
> 
> *I know that I would have to be guaranteed to save a LOT of money to go through the hassle of visiting Yorkville for anything.*


Saving a lot of money? That's why everyone goes to Yorkville.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I actually happened to be in Yorkville today for other reasons. Apparently nobody knows they have moved.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Well, the CPUsed migration is complete. I did pick over their sale items--more SCSI devices than you could shake a stick at--but didn't buy anything. The new place is as inconveniently located as anything you might imagine. You need to find paid parking and they only give you a voucher if you actually buy something. I understand the policy. They'd otherwise be swamped with Yorkville shoppers parking on their dime. Still, CPUsed was a place I liked to visit and see what was new without necessarily wanting to buy something. The chances of casually visiting the new place are slim to none. Easier to drop in on Carbon on Queen Street now.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

HowEver said:


> Saving a lot of money? That's why everyone goes to Yorkville.


Isn't that where all the Outlet Malls are?


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## prsphoto (Aug 30, 2003)

Wow, there seems to be a lot of bad experiences with Cpused in the past.

I guess I was lucky-good sales and service--I was sorry to see them move, since I just bought a place not too far away.

went to the new location.....seems ok......


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I routinely check the prices of used apple equipment in the Toronto area, but you have to be darned careful.

Today:

*30-inch Apple Monitor*
Store Demo: $1899
Apple Refurb: $1749

*23-inch Apple Monitor*
Store Open Box: $949
Apple Refurb: $879
*
Mac Pro 2.0GHz Quad Core 1GB /SuperDrive*
Store (with 160GB HD and 90-day warranty): $1899
Apple Refurb (with 250 GB HD and full warranty): $1899

*MacBook Pro 2.4GHz 15" 2GB / 160GB / SuperDrive*
Store (Open Box): $2599
Apple Refurb: $2299

*MacBook 2.0GHz 13" 1GB / 80GB / SuperDrive - white *
Store: $1199
Apple Refurb: $999


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

Looks like price gouging to me, but then the consumer is at a disadvantage, especially if they work during the day and can not order items because there is no one home to sign for them. And I don't really understand the cheezy 90 day warranty thing, unless it is for fairly old equipment; or it is as is but really cheap...


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

EvanPitts: I think it's just counting on an ill-informed consumer. I had heard that one can choose to have refurb delivered to an Apple Store, but don't know for sure.

The 90-day warranty holds for all used equipment unless they state otherwise.


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## satchmo (May 26, 2005)

I don't think this is specific to Beam Echo. Most dealerships cannot match Apple's refurbished prices. God this bashing of this one dealership is getting silly. 

15.4in, 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB, 120GB, DL SuperDrive, AirPort, Bluetooth 

Carbon Computing Used
$2399

Apple Refurb
$2,089.00


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

No, it isn't specific to BeamEcho. But if the dealerships know they can't match Apple's refurb prices, are we to assume that they're simply paying too high a price for used equipment they purchase?


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## satchmo (May 26, 2005)

Macfury said:


> No, it isn't specific to BeamEcho. But if the dealerships know they can't match Apple's refurb prices, are we to assume that they're simply paying too high a price for used equipment they purchase?


My point is that this price difference could have simply been noted in a new thread about 'used prices'. 

But instead it was thrown into a Beam Echo thread that made it seem specific to that dealer (and no, I don't have any affiliation with Beam Echo. I just think it's getting carried away).

As far as dealers paying too much? I doubt it. It probably has to do with hoping to make the greatest margin, only to have Apple undercut them.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Since Apple consistently undercuts their prices on used equipment, perhaps the used market is just too tricky for them.

I see your point about singling out Beam Echo. You can find still higher prices elsewhere. Next time I will start a separate thread about used prices.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

satchmo said:


> I don't think this is specific to Beam Echo. Most dealerships cannot match Apple's refurbished prices. God this bashing of this one dealership is getting silly.


No, the store was frighteningly poor for service, prices, everything.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

HowEver said:


> No, the store was frighteningly poor for service, prices, everything.


Well, that's germaine to the thread!


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Macfury said:


> Well, that's germaine to the thread!


That's "germane."

And it was germane to what I quoted, which garnered no such reply as yours.

"Germaine," by the way, is "a female name."


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Post in haste, repent at leisure.


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