Windows 7 gives lift to area computer sales

It wasn’t exactly Black Friday, but a number of local PC users scooped up Microsoft Windows 7 computers and software after the new operating system’s Thursday launch.

Francisco Austria, a graduate student at California State University, Sacramento, eyed a Windows 7-loaded Lenovo laptop computer Thursday morning at Best Buy on Arden Way.

“I’m in the market for a new laptop, and I’d heard about the Windows 7 (launch). It’s a big day, so I’m here,” Austria said.

“Customers have been anticipating this for a while,” said Tone Lutz, an associate at Staples on Truxel Road in Natomas. “Computer sales definitely went up today,” Lutz said.

Los Angeles-based retail analyst Mike Kraus of StoreTouch anticipates that advance praise for the new system after the problems that plagued the Vista operating system will boost sales through the holidays

– Darrell Smith