10-08-2007, 10:20 AM

Hi guys!
Me and my hubby are saving up money to make the switch in the first half of November (or whenever the major retailers will have a bit of a sale on Apple comps). We are thinking of getting a 20" iMac.
Now, my questions are: are there any discounts for educational purposes? government employees, university employees, or teachers? I know they have them in the US, but what about here?
Secondly, since the iMac we are getting has only 1Gb of RAM, we want to make an upgrade. What is a good place to buy RAM? I'll be going to the US in December. Is it worth waiting till I go there to get it?
Thanks a lot in advance.

10-08-2007, 10:27 AM

Welcome to Mac-Forums, Ariel.

For one thing, and this is worldwide, Macs are never on sale. The only thing resembling a sale for Macs is looking at the Apple Store online, the refurbished section.

For the Great White North edu discounts, you have to go straight to an Apple Store (online or retail) or in a student/Uni/College computer store.

More info here.

10-08-2007, 10:56 AM

Hi!
Thanks for a warm welcome. I think I'm here to stay.
Actually, they were on sale at Future Shop last week. MacBooks (base models) $100 off, and iMacs were $40 off. you could have gone to Best Buy and get a 10% off that as Lowest Price Guarantee. We almost got one, but then I read forum a bit, and decided to wait till the ones with Leopard come out.
Thanks a lot for info on discounts.

10-08-2007, 11:07 AM

More questions.
I don't get something about Apple Care.
On the forum I read that you can wait till the end of one year complimentary plan to get it, and that will give you 3 more years. But, I just read the apple website, and it looks like you get 3 years altogether.... which info should I trust?

10-08-2007, 11:10 AM

Frankly? I wouldn't buy a Mac from Future Shop. For the difference in price, you get much better service and suggestions from either the Apple Store (if you have one close by) or a Mac reseller.

I have been to Future Shop on a few occasions and was appalled by the stuff the sales reps were saying to people wishing to buy Macs. I'd usually ended up butting in and trying to answer questions from the potential buyers. And I'd suggest them they buy elsewhere.


Edited to add:

Apple Care is tied in with the date you purchase your Mac. And you don't need to buy Apple Care right off the bat: you have one year after the purchase to buy the plan if you want to. And Apple Care is a two year plan i.e. f you buy Apple Care when you purchase your Mac, it gets you a three year warranty in total.

Go to Apple.com and search for Apple Care: you will get further info.

10-08-2007, 11:23 AM

Thanks a lot for your info!
I'm very excited. Actually, the iMac for uni employees is only $40 off, not that great of a sale, but Apple Care costs only $129. YAHOOOO!
Ok, I get it, so, I'll just get Apple Care right away and be done with it.
I'm not happy with Future Shop. People there are really rude:-(And yes, they do tell you not to get Macs. the guy there asked me why I wanted to get a pain in the neck.....

10-08-2007, 11:26 AM

Exactly. And not only that but after sales service absolutely stinks, I've heard. Which doesn't surprise me anyway: the guy that sells you a computer today works in home appliances tomorrow. Now how can these guys be specialists, I ask you?

10-08-2007, 01:00 PM

Hi Ariel,
I got a 20" 2.16 with 1gb of RAM. I COULD HAVE bought from Future Shop or Best Buy, bu decided I'd be better off getting it straight from the Apple Store, which I did.

What I DID buy from Future Shop, however, was an extra gig of RAM. They seem to have Kingston on sale there every other week, it seems. I got my 1 gb for $69.99 plus I picked up a Flash Drive (also on sale) to move files from my PC to my Mac (I think there's an easier way, but I don't know it).

I don't know about that one year 'complimentary' plan from Apple. If you look on their website, they have a big bar graph explaining the difference between their 'complimentary' service and the APP. You get customer service and service for 30 days, and only customer service for the following 11 months (or something like that). I also thought you had to buy the APP at the same time as your computer.

And, I'm totally against Future Shop's shoddy warranty. Plus, the techs there know nothing about what they're doing. I asked a simple question "do you guy's sell ANY Mac games?" Easy enough question. She said she wasn't sure and to check every single box and see if it was compatible. So I checked on online and the answer was an easy "No." Don't ask those guys for Mac advice.

Anyway, that's what I did.

10-08-2007, 03:29 PM

Thanks a bunch for your info. I'll look into getting that extra RAM. BTW, what is the exact name of that item?

Guys, I don't know what to do. A guy is selling this for $477. I think it's an increadible deal. It got me thinking.

This nearly new Intel Core Duo Black MacBook has been minimally used and is already registered with Global Applecare.

Black Macbook Laptop
2GHZ
1GB
80 GB 5400.2 Seagate (basically ultra fast)

2YR Applecare

**Apple sent me a newer battery so it lasts 5hrs**

Also comes with:
All original package items plus
Parallels with legit XP
iWorks 08
Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Entourage, Excel
iWeb 08
iMovie 08
iDVD 08
iGarage 08
OS X 10.4.10

10-08-2007, 04:29 PM

hmm. The first thing I think is "stolen MacBook," because if he bought it you'd think he'd want to sell it for more than that. I'm almost sure the 80GB HD isn't original, and you'd want to upgrade it and the RAM. The processor probably isn't an Intel...anyone? The price is tempting for that package, if all is as it seems.

10-08-2007, 04:33 PM

Well, the guy says the processor is Intel Core Duo....
I contacted him anyways. We'll see. A student of mine wants one.
My husband said an absolute no:-( He says he wants an iMac with it's nice screen and all bells and whistles

10-08-2007, 04:37 PM

The iMac has a lot more power so if portability is not essential, go for the iMac, I say.

And to me as well, that price ($477) is definitely fishy.

10-08-2007, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by MacHeadCase

The iMac has a lot more power so if portability is not essential, go for the iMac, I say.

no, portability is not an issue at all. And iMac is just sooo beautiful.

10-08-2007, 07:08 PM

Ok, guys, the issue is solved.
those guys are in China. So, that answers a lot of questions.
But the offer was on our local Kijiji site.

10-08-2007, 07:59 PM

I see you work for as a Uni staff... if you buy from the apple store or apple.ca you should be able to save $50-100 off (20"/24" iMac) from post secondary institution discount.

I am a collage student in AB and I just bought a macbook about a month ago and let me tell you, you will never want to use a PC again! (well for work wise anyway... I still need my PC for gaming).

The 20" iMac is amazing... but if money isn't an issue, I would suggest the 24" iMac. The 24" is just incrediable! My coworker just got his and he said he can have word and excel full size right beside each other and 1/2 size of Safari open, then another 4 msn chat windows on the bottom half of the screen!!

If you are a teacher and uses slides in your lectures... the Keynotes in iWork is just amazing. With the remote you get, it makes you look much more professional when you do your lectures. Off course, then you will need a macbook for it.

As far as RAM, you can check your local computer stores and see if they carry any mac RAMs. I bought 2x 1GB ram for my macbook for $60 each in a local computer store (not FutureShop or Best Buy).