Fry's vs. Mac Store

I see that Fry's has 21.5" iMac on sale for $799 while the Mac store gets $1,299. The Mac store has 2.7 GHZ vs. 2.5, 8 GB ram vs. 4 GB, and 1 TB HD vs. 500 GB. There must be something else to allow the one third lower price. Is Fry's selling obsolete product?

poppi

Double check the actual model number of the cheaper machine. 21.5" iMac were first released way back in 2009. They could not be selling the same iMac $500 cheaper than Apple. Profit margins are simply not that big. A genuine Mac Reseller sale usually sees 10% offered, never 40% or so.

harryb2448 said:

Double check the actual model number of the cheaper machine. 21.5" iMac were first released way back in 2009. They could not be selling the same iMac $500 cheaper than Apple. Profit margins are simply not that big. A genuine Mac Reseller sale usually sees 10% offered, never 40% or so.

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Well, Harry is right - this is an older model w/ the built-in 'Super Drive' and OS X Snow Leopard installed (check HERE) - I was a little shocked by that low price having bought a new iMac locally in April 2013 - Apple lists the current iMac w/ the slower CPU @ $1299 - in my order, I had them install to 16 GB RAM & bought the fusion drive which added about $400 to my purchase.

Last year I visited my son in Indianapolis (Indiana as you might guess, USA) and he is an IT professional, we decided to spend a couple of hours in their local Fry's store - BOY! What a place - think that I left w/ $200+ in 'do-dahs', including some portable BT speakers, a new cover for my iPad, & a 3.0 USB thumb drive! SO, a great store but it is so important to check the model information - still sounds like a good deal if one can increase the RAM and upgrade to a newer OS X, if desired. Dave

We have three large Fry's stores here in the Dallas - Fort Worth area and they are indeed large super stores with just about every kind of electronic gadget imaginable. Back to the thread... Fry's regularly will put older model Macs (and PCs) on special sale. They're brand new - not refurbished. It's really great if you're looking for an older model (one with a disk drive for example) and want to save $$. However, be careful about their return policy on specials. I believe it's like 5 or 7 days on items which are on special. And some items like cameras can not be returned at all.

poppi said:

I see that Fry's has 21.5" iMac on sale for $799 while the Mac store gets $1,299. The Mac store has 2.7 GHZ vs. 2.5, 8 GB ram vs. 4 GB, and 1 TB HD vs. 500 GB. There must be something else to allow the one third lower price. Is Fry's selling obsolete product?

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It's almost definitely an older model iMac. No way Apple would allow another store to sell a brand new current model iMac for $799.

If this is an older model iMac…this is not necessarily a bad thing. If it's a relatively recent model…it's still going to be plenty quick…and you would be getting it for a very good price. We would need to know exactly what the specs are on it…in order to say how old it is…and if $799 is a fair price.

Also double check to see if it is a NEW computer…or if it is refurbished, used, open-box, demo unit, etc.

- Nick

chscag said:

We have three large Fry's stores here in the Dallas - Fort Worth area and they are indeed large super stores with just about every kind of electronic gadget imaginable. Back to the thread... Fry's regularly will put older model Macs (and PCs) on special sale. They're brand new - not refurbished. It's really great if you're looking for an older model (one with a disk drive for example) and want to save $$. However, be careful about their return policy on specials. I believe it's like 5 or 7 days on items which are on special. And some items like cameras can not be returned at all.

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Just to update, I called the Fry's store and she could not answer my questions re the low price but did say that they were sold out and would not be getting more. I do suspect it was older models on clearance

poppi