Just need a little help for the switch

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Well I'm going to take the plunge into the mac world in a few weeks. I'm only 17 so don't have too much money to blow on it so I'll be getting the 17" 2.0 Ghz model. I'll be adding an extra gig of ram with 2x 1Gb sticks, as I've heard matching sticks are always better. Would this give me a good amount of power to play with if I'm running Garageband, iTunes, Firefox, and a few other programs going simultaneously?

I plan on buying from best buy since the closest apple store is a good hour away, and I just have a quick question about that. On their website, Future Shop, has a deal to get a free printer with the purchase of an iMac. If I went to Best Buy what are the chances of me mooching a free printer off them too? Anyone ever do this? Having any good old bargaining tips for me?

Thanks for any help, I'm sure I'll be on here quite often in about a month or so with a bunch more stupid questions. Again thanks for any help.:D
 
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Best Buy is the spawn of Satan and will never give stuff for free without a catch. Plus they will try to upsell you like there was no tomorrow. Buy through Apple directly and use the student discount. But, you must be a college student so if you have an older sibling or cousin just use his/her school. And watch out for online scams. Many shopping.com, bizrate.com, etc. stores are fake and are indentity theives, they will advertise a really low price for a product have you order it, and steal your credit card number, name, address, etc.
 
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Black Macbook C2D 2GHz 3GB RAM 250GB HD iPhone 4 iPad 3G
I would definitely recommend buying online or at the Apple store as you can get a much better deal than at Best Buy because of the student discount. This is especially important when you're on a much more limited budget.

As for upgrading your RAM, it's well known that the more RAM you have the better. However, since 2GB can be a bit costly, give your 1GB a run before upgrading. If you feel as though it's not enough, then go ahead and upgrade. This way you won't waste money when you were only browsing the web and listening to music.
 
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Student discount FTW. Buy direct from apple.

Yes, there is student discount the link is on the right hand side towards the bottom of the store page of Apple.com. The discount will give you anywhere from $20-$200 off but does not apply to iPods but to everything else on the site.
 
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That sucks, they used to have the education discount for iPods....:eek:neye:
 
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Hav eyou also considered getting a refurbished model direct from the Apple site? Many people have bought these and been happy, and some even come with extra RAM (although you do not know until you get it.) :D
 
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Alright thanks for the quick replies guys. Maybe I will head on over to the closest apple store then. I don't mind buying it non-refurbed because I only need about $300 more. I'm still in high school, so can I still get the student discount? Also I live in Canada so does the student discount stuff still apply here on location in an apple store?
 
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Well I guess you don't get a discount if you're in high school, according to the apple website.:( If I'm not looking for a printer is there really a difference from buying at the apple store or best buy/future shop?
 
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If you can't get a student discount and aren't interested in a printer, then no, there's really no difference in terms of price. Only real difference I could see is the stock and availability of specific models.
 
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Alright well it looks like I'm buying at Best Buy because I don't think I"ll be able to drive for an hour while knowing I have my iMac in the trunk. A five minute drive will be much better.:) Thanks for all the help guys.
 

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