Culver City (CA) - For the next few days, the local electronics store may not be the greatest place to buy a new computer. Big stores like Best Buy and Circuit City have removed most of their laptops and desktops in anticipation of next Tuesday's launch of Microsoft's Vista operating system. At several Southern California stores, we saw rows of empty laptop docking stations and we even snapped this picture inside the local Best Buy to prove it.

At that Best Buy store, an Apple MacBook was the only laptop on display, probably to the delight of Apple. According to Geek Squad employees, the store is no longer receiving any Windows XP laptops and have to wait until Tuesday to display Vista laptops.

Empty laptop locking station. The camera we used was accidentally set to black and white.

In slight contrast, the store did have some desktop computers on display, but it appears they are being sold at steep discounts. One employee told us that Best Buy is trying to dump those computers. So if you are looking for a decent deal on a desktop computer, head down to the local store and bargain.