Switch to Apple aborted

I was in need of a new laptop a while back and was on the verge of buying a steeply discounted Thinkpad on a back to school promotion when it suddenly occurred to me to consider getting a Powerbook instead. I have had my mind on switching to a Mac for some time, mainly to get my hands on Final Cut Pro but the cost of Apple hardware has always seemed excessive. I contacted my university’s Mac user group to ask if they knew of any educational discount and they put me in touch with a sales rep at a dealer who serves the university.

I asked the guy about the prices of the 17” Powerbook and the new 1.25 ghz 15” and he was like "oh! you're lucky you called me...we're coming out with a back to school promotion next week and offering big savings…keep an eye on the user group webpage". So I thanked him...but the next week there was no sign of any promotion. Well the following week, still no promotion. Another week, still no promotion. Now we're into October...a little late for "back to school." Meanwhile, I missed out on IBM’s Thinkpad deal and Apple’s own ipod deal, but at this point I was feeling psyched about switching, I got in touch with the guy and he assured me that the promotion would be launched any day. I mindlessly clicked “reload” on the Mac user group webpage for the better part of a month, waiting for more details.

So the other day, they finally launched the long overdue promotion but when I saw it, I was astonished to find that only modest discounts on iBooks and the combo drive 12” and 15” Powerbooks were featured. Needless to say, I was quite irked about being led to wait all this time to find that only the lowest-end laptops were offered (and I had specifically enquired only about the highest-end ones). I voiced my displeasure on the university’s user forum, and the salesman responded “I’m sorry, but the promotion had to be negotiated with Apple and I had no idea until the last minute which models would be included”. Well he certainly never mentioned that he had “no idea” when he encouraged me to wait and wait and wait. So I replied with some righteous remarks about sales ethics and how the long-awaited promotion was really quite weak and the next thing I knew, all these miscellaneous Mac users were jumping to this guy’s defense…saying that the forum was for supporting the Mac community and not for some so and so to criticize this guy who has lent so much support to the Mac community...how we should instead express our appreciation for his efforts in organizing the promotion, and for his past efforts in putting together presentations on campus. From the way they were talking, you’d think it was about Mother Teresa or Jane Goodall and not a sales person who’s
*job* is to organize promotions and presentations.

So I had to leave the forum with my tail between my legs…and when I look at the pbotos they have of their various user group meetings and the upbeat-looking people posing for photos with an iMac, I can’t believe I ever thought I could be one of them. I bought into the Apple platform, but I don’t care for this ridiculous “Apple can do no wrong” and “please no dissent” culture. Just look at this business with OS X upgrades…when will Panther ship? “Maybe soon, maybe next year” Will current buyers get discounted upgrades? “Maybe, maybe not” Can we expect a 2-button mouse? “No…maybe” Screw it! I don’t care for the whole shroud of mystery thing. I think I’ll buy an Acer Travelmate.

Sorry, I was a bit worked up before. I’m not loaded and a high-end Powerbook + FCP is out of my range without a significant discount. This is what I was led to expect over the course of a month and it led me to pass on a very substantial thinkpad discount through my school. I’m just taken aback that the salesman would start claiming he had no idea and no control over the promotion instead of just admitting “I shouldn’t have encouraged you to wait, but I can’t/won’t do anything about it” and that most of these MUG people would deride me for voicing a grievance on their forum (after all it was the MUG that led me to have dealings with him in the first place).

Some other comments he made also irritated me, like “I poured my heart out over this promotion” and “I spent a lot of time after work trying to get this promotion together” (as if it’s not a part of his work-day to sell to us). Many regional vendors offered excellent back to school promotions, yet this guy can show up a month late with modest offers on bottom of the line models and people will fawn over his efforts like he’s been doing volunteer work. I have never seen anything like this before and from what I read, this type of unquestioning support seems pervasive in Mac culture and to some extent fostered by Apple itself.

With the panther upgrade for example, we know that it’s due “later this year” so that could be from 0-3 months. Will I get any discount if I buy a new machine now? I don’t believe that Apple is obligated to offer anything, but I would like to know what their intent is so that I can make an informed decision. Why does it have to be a big secret? Things like this really bug me and cause me to wonder if it’s wise to go with an all-under-one-roof company like Apple.