Built to order at physical store?

Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
98
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
New York City
Your Mac's Specs
13" MacBook (White), 1GB RAM, 80GB HD | iPod Video 30GB| iPod Nano 1GB
I need a laptop for school in the fall, so I have decided to buy a MacBook. I want to get the base 1.83ghz model and upgrade it to 1GB of ram and an 80GB harddrive. The problem is, I really prefer to buy the computer at the physical Apple store (rather than online). I heard from a friend that they do in-store upgrades for you, but my brother told me today that they will not. Has anyone had any experience with this?
I tried searching for this (as I was sure that someone has asked before), but didn't find a reference.
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
10,345
Reaction score
597
Points
113
Location
Margaritaville
Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K
AFAIK they will not. Why not call or go to the closest one and ask?
 
Joined
May 27, 2005
Messages
975
Reaction score
61
Points
28
Location
Oklahoma City, OK
Your Mac's Specs
17" MacBook Pro, 8GB iPhone
My local Apple store will only upgrade the RAM in the store, no hard drives. I would still call your Apple store and ask, you never know what you might find out.
 
OP
A
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
98
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
New York City
Your Mac's Specs
13" MacBook (White), 1GB RAM, 80GB HD | iPod Video 30GB| iPod Nano 1GB
baggss said:
Why not call or go to the closest one and ask?
The one near my place is always very busy, and not only is there a long wait to speak to someone, they also ALWAYS try to convince you to order online (this has been my experience with my first two Apple purchases, both iPods).
 
OP
A
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
98
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
New York City
Your Mac's Specs
13" MacBook (White), 1GB RAM, 80GB HD | iPod Video 30GB| iPod Nano 1GB
Thanks, all, for the fairly quick responses. I have to be downtown in that area to visit my Daddy next week, so I'll ask physically where they can't turn me away/push me to buy online.
 
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I was in the same position when buying my macbook earlier this week. I found out they carry certain upgraded models. For instance, one of my local stores carried the white 2ghz macbook with 1gbram and 80 gb harddrive. Apparently this was a common upgrade setup they have because they had several. Just call and ask what upgraded models they are carrying
 
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Messages
3,231
Reaction score
112
Points
63
Location
On the road
Your Mac's Specs
2011 MBP, i7, 16GB RAM, MBP 2.16Ghz Core Duo, 2GB ram, Dual 867Mhz MDD, 1.75GB ram, ATI 9800 Pro vid
I know, in the past, that third party stores offered build-to-order Macs allowing you to pick it up at the store. You would have to pay some percentage up front though. I would expect Apple to offer this service too. When you ask, please let us know.
 
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
314
Reaction score
11
Points
18
Location
NYC
Your Mac's Specs
Late 2015 27" iMac, 3.3ghz, M395 gpu, 2tb Fusion, 8gb
My Apple store experience was that they would rather not be bothered with doing anything that didn't involve hanging out and looking good. But this was SOHO in NYC where everyone just hangs out and looks good.
 
OP
A
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
98
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
New York City
Your Mac's Specs
13" MacBook (White), 1GB RAM, 80GB HD | iPod Video 30GB| iPod Nano 1GB
xstep said:
I would expect Apple to offer this service too. When you ask, please let us know.

Okay, here's what happened. I planned on calling the store and visiting the store (this is the one on 5th Ave. New York City) to see if I'd get the same or different responses. When I called, the guy on the other end said if I wanted that configuration, I'd have to order the notebook online. He said, quote, "We do RAM upgrades in-store, but not hard drive upgrades."

I went to the store two days later, and a blond, cute sales guy said that they have certain BTO configurations already in stock, and I just have to come at the time of purchase to see which ones they have in stock. I told him that the guy on the phone told me I'd have to order online, and he furrowed his brow, and said, well, he might have been thinking of our prior situation...now we have certain BTO configurations shipped to us.

Whatever! Anyways, I'm glad that I won't have to order online. It's enough I have to wait til August, waiting for shipping would kill me.
 
OP
A
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
98
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
New York City
Your Mac's Specs
13" MacBook (White), 1GB RAM, 80GB HD | iPod Video 30GB| iPod Nano 1GB
zacster said:
But this was SOHO in NYC where everyone just hangs out and looks good.
Ain't that the truth. I hate the SOHO store employees. They are lazy and look bored. My experience at 5th Ave. was better, but after a while, they may become jaded as well and be less helpful...
 
K

Katie

Guest
okay, totally off topic... but the 5th Avenue store is the one that looks like a giant glass box, correct?
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
1,611
Reaction score
72
Points
48
Location
Southern California
Your Mac's Specs
Unibody MBP 2.4 GHz C2D/27" Core i7 iMac
Katie said:
okay, totally off topic... but the 5th Avenue store is the one that looks like a giant glass box, correct?

That's just the street level part, but yes. :)
 
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
314
Reaction score
11
Points
18
Location
NYC
Your Mac's Specs
Late 2015 27" iMac, 3.3ghz, M395 gpu, 2tb Fusion, 8gb
I thought it was going to be huge inside, but it wasn't all that big. I think the multi-level store in SOHO is bigger.
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
1,611
Reaction score
72
Points
48
Location
Southern California
Your Mac's Specs
Unibody MBP 2.4 GHz C2D/27" Core i7 iMac
Katie said:
ahh.. where's the rest of it? haha... anyway, I saw a picture of that on apple.com. beautiful!


You have to go underground for the rest. :black:
 
OP
A
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
98
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
New York City
Your Mac's Specs
13" MacBook (White), 1GB RAM, 80GB HD | iPod Video 30GB| iPod Nano 1GB
zacster said:
I thought it was going to be huge inside, but it wasn't all that big. I think the multi-level store in SOHO is bigger.
The SOHO store is bigger, and the 5th Ave. store is quite small, not just relatively, but for most chain retailers. It's bad because it's a tourist spot. You can't turn around without bumping into some one.
 
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
471
Reaction score
18
Points
18
Location
Saint Louis, MO
Your Mac's Specs
15" Unibody MBP 2.4 Ghz C2D, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, 320 GB Time Machine HDD, 1 TB Ext Media Drive
For anyone who's interested, I bought the base model 1.83 GHz MacBook at the Apple Store. I then went to Newegg.com, bought 2 sticks of 1 GB Corsair memory for $79 each, and a 120 GB SATA HDD for $149. Installed all of it in my MacBook in less than 10 minutes, following the instructions from Apple.com. Newegg offers very quick shipping...I didn't wait but 2 days. The longest part of all was re-installing OS X from the recovery DVDs...that took about an hour. Not to mention, I did all of this for like $200 less than Apple charges on the website.
 
OP
A
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
98
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
New York City
Your Mac's Specs
13" MacBook (White), 1GB RAM, 80GB HD | iPod Video 30GB| iPod Nano 1GB
snoslicer8 said:
Not to mention, I did all of this for like $200 less than Apple charges on the website.
Price is not an issue for me. Nor do I want to ruin my nails. :)
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top