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Best place to buy a mac?

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Hey,
I am currently a windows guy but I am in the market for a macbook, with no prior experience of buying macs I was wondering where the best place to buy a mac is so far I can only find them on amazon,apple stores, pc world and a few independant stores.

Cheers,
David
 
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well you got a good start there. check out what spec you want and see if any of them have it. Plus some may have an offer on or a freebie thrown in for good measure. Best check them out and see.
 
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Refurbished Apple Store. Huge discounts, exact same product as new.
 
OP
L
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Apple refurb store, so are the products any good on there, I have always been sceptical about second hand computors, what process do they go through before bieng resold?
 
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Apple refurb store, so are the products any good on there, I have always been sceptical about second hand computors, what process do they go through before bieng resold?

Everything is changed or fixed. Same 1 year limited warranty. Got my macbook refurb and I love, no way I would have known it was refurb if they didnt tell.

Most importantly, it was 1050 marked down from 1500.
 
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If you're a student, you can get an educational discount.
 
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Educational discount is usually only about a 100 bucks and it doesnt work with refurbs
 
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Educational discount is usually only about a 100 bucks and it doesnt work with refurbs

I wasn't talking about refurbished computers. If he wanted to get a new one, I'm just throwing another idea out there. Saving $100 is better than saving $0.

Also, you can get a free iPod nano in the process, if the offer is going on.
 
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I wasn't talking about refurbished computers. If he wanted to get a new one, I'm just throwing another idea out there. Saving $100 is better than saving $0.

Also, you can get a free iPod nano in the process, if the offer is going on.

The nano is nice.
 
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unless buying used i would only purchase via the apple store, either online or at a store. there is really not that much money to be saved by buying elsewhere.

apple store can also get you 100 bucks off a printer...i think thats what the deal is

-chris
 
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unless buying used i would only purchase via the apple store, either online or at a store. there is really not that much money to be saved by buying elsewhere.

apple store can also get you 100 bucks off a printer...i think thats what the deal is

-chris
I second this.
Skip any middlemen and buy it directly from Apple.
 
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Back in January I got my MBP from Macmall and received a $150 rebate. I also ended up getting rebates for Paralells with purchase and it ended up costing me something like $10. They might be worth a look... especially if you already have a printer or don't need one.
 
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Personally, I would avoid PC world like the plague. As convenient as they are they are not helpful with after sales (and most of the staff don't have a clue what they are talking about).
I used to live in Leeds and can't remember if they have an apple store or not, if they do - go in there (also - if they do Private message me and let me know where it is, i'm buying one soon).

Failing that, buy from apple direct. If you buy it from a third party store the chances are IF something major does go wrong with it they will only refer you to apple anyway.

Oh, also check out www.jigsaw24.com - they do sell macs and I have ordered from there before (software) and they have been ok.
 

dtravis7


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I 3rd Coach and DB. Go straight to Apple, either an Apple Store or Apple OnLine. If something does go wrong you will get better support.

I have heard a LOT of very bad things about Mac Mall and some other places like it.
 
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if you're buying a mac book, i would avoid a refurb, but that's just my opinion. apple's prices tend to be pretty even across the board, but local stores tend to have deals like someone mentioned.

a year or two ago, if you bought an ibook/mac book, you got a free ipod, this year it was a printer....i'm not sure if it's the same promotion across the country, but it was the same within orange county, ca.

with apple, the price equates quality so don't think it's a waste of money if you can't find a deal. if you can wait until mac world (i think in januar) you can probabl get a decent deal as the company will try and liquidate older products with massive price breaks or you can pick up something cooler at mac world.

macmall.com has a few deals, but if you're ansy to get it, and refurbs bother you, get a new one from the apple store or online, the transaction is smooth, shipping is fast, pick up the warranty and you wont have to worry about a computer for the next 3-4 years unless you NEED to upgrade.

and that's my two cents :D
 
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John Lewis sell Macs as well.
If you are a student you can get a bigger discount by going to the edicational part of the website from your uni network. I think the 20inch iMac would cost £930 from the Education site accessed at home and £890 from your uni (normal price £999)
 

bobtomay

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I do a lot of reasearch and ask a lot of questions prior to the purchase of any type of electronics (just took me 2 months to decide which external hardrive and enclosure to buy).

My Mac experience only began in December. So far have purchased a MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook and an iPod. Have bought all of them from one of the local Apple stores. Go find one and compare their help and staff to any traditional electronics reseller. Think you may find saving 5-10% max somewhere else, is probably not worth it either.
 
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I only plan on ever buying them directly from Apple. It's the only place you can customize them, and other companies make you pay more in order to earn a profit.
 
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I've bought from CompUSA a couple times, the Apple Store and now from Amazon. Amazon can get you electronic rebates for about the same amount as the Apple education discount even if you wouldn't have qualified for the Education discount. I vote Amazon (well known for customer service) or Small Dog Electronics (who discounted the Applecare on my Macbook to only $196!!).
 
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We have available to use discounts for the following categories:

homeschool
college
employee purchase program

At the moment, the college discount looks the best.

A coworker also has the educational discount as his wife is a member of the school board in our town. And that beats our company discount program.

The free Nano and 10% off on the college program sound the best right now. I'll check with the college to see if they have a better deal if we buy it from the college.

One other minor detail is that we don't have sales tax in our state but his college does have sales tax so that might be an issue.
 

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