This is perhaps the worst recommendation here.
In theory, it works. In practice, it's a terrible idea, unless your aim is to walk out with a Mac.
I'm going to examine Best Buy, but the strategy is typical, and other large retailers, such as J&R and B&H, operate similarly.
1. If Best Buy hasn't sold its old stock yet, they put it out on the floor. If you want newer stock that _isn't_ on the floor, you have to ask for it -- but it's packed up, and you don't get to play with it.
2. Cheap laptops sell well. So Best Buy management says, "Let's put out more cheap laptops!" Then there isn't enough room for high-end laptops on the floor. That's okay, because high-end laptops don't sell well. Soon, high-end laptop sales drop even more, and management thinks that has something to do with demand.
3. Higher-end laptops that are on the floor are built with poor specs, and they're from low-class brands. Again, i imagine that this is to keep the price down.
Scenario: Bob walks into a Best Buy to look at their highest-end Windows-based laptops. They're lousy. They're made by Sony or Toshiba, and they're falling apart on the shelf. But he sees low-end Lenovos with the cheapest, lousiest screen options next to them. He looks up the model and sees that many of them are from last year. Then he looks at their Mac selection. It's current (because Apple requires it), and the screens are decent. The hardware isn't rock-bottom. He walks out of Best Buy thinking that if he wants a computer that doesn't suck, he has to get a Mac.
In reference to another reply:
You want to know who's killing Best Buy? Best Buy is.