Did I miss the boat with amazon???

[teacherrob9]

Is the $150 off the 20 inch imac the best deal I'm going to get? I can get 100 off from apple being a teacher, and now the rebate from amazon is 100 off too. Is (was) the $150 off the best I'm going to see for the next 4 to 5 months?

[bah-bah'd]

Is the $150 off the 20 inch imac the best deal I'm going to get? I can get 100 off from apple being a teacher, and now the rebate from amazon is 100 off too. Is (was) the $150 off the best I'm going to see for the next 4 to 5 months?

Sometime 4-10-who-knows-if-ever months in the future you may find the edu discount is $200, but when you take the time value of money into account... buy now.

[Demon Hunter]

Is the $150 off the 20 inch imac the best deal I'm going to get? I can get 100 off from apple being a teacher, and now the rebate from amazon is 100 off too. Is (was) the $150 off the best I'm going to see for the next 4 to 5 months?

Is it really worth the trouble of filing for the "rebate" and waiting for a check? It's worth it to buy from Apple.

[timswim78]

The refurbished ones, which sell for $250 less than retail, beat any discounts that you may or may not have missed.

Personally, I like refurbished electronics, because the items' weak spots have generally been fixed. For example, if a certain part keeps blowing up on a motherboard, it is likely that the manufacturers replaced the part with a 'beefier' part.

[teacherrob9]

but the 80 bucks in tax negates the deal compared to amazon... However I live near DE, can I go into a apple store and buy a refurbished imac that is on apple.com? would i have to pay the tax in a no tax state?
The refurbished ones, which sell for $250 less than retail, beat any discounts that you may or may not have missed.

Personally, I like refurbished electronics, because the items' weak spots have generally been fixed. For example, if a certain part keeps blowing up on a motherboard, it is likely that the manufacturers replaced the part with a 'beefier' part.

[theBB]

Is it really worth the trouble of filing for the "rebate" and waiting for a check? It's worth it to buy from Apple.
Filing for Amazon's rebate was a breeze. I just entered my confirmation number on a website; no filling and mailing forms, no cutting parts of boxes etc. However, it still took them almost 8 weeks to mail me the check after I applied for it. It took me two weeks after the delivery to make sure the system was in good condition before filing, so Amazon sat on my $150 for 10 weeks.

[w8ing4intelmacs]

Is it really worth the trouble of filing for the "rebate" and waiting for a check? It's worth it to buy from Apple.

Minuses for Apple:
Tax

Pluses for Amazon:
Rebate
A9 discount (http://www.amazon.com/gp/xs/sharethepi.html/104-5056161-3663965)
3% back in Amazon Rewards

I saved over $300 buying my MBP from Amazon over Apple-Direct.

[timswim78]

can I go into a apple store and buy a refurbished imac that is on apple.com?

I don't know. I have had three Apple computers and have never set foot in an Apple store. Maybe someone else knows.

[BlueT]

but when you take the time value of money into account... buy now.

Time value of money is negligible. I could swear that most people here are on Apple's payroll by the way that they'll try to sell anything made by Apple to anyone.

Amazon's the better deal, but make sure to follow up on the rebates. I recently filled out 6 different rebates for a total of $190 dollars and only got back $140. Now I have to waste time trying to recover the other 50 bucks.

[wPod]

can I go into a apple store and buy a refurbished imac that is on apple.com?

i am pretty sure you cannot get refurbs in the apple store. although i do recommend ordering a refurb off of apples web site. you cant beat the price, and it still comes with a full warrantee.

the apple stores only cary the latest and greatest equipment. about the only time you can find a good deal is right after apple makes an upgrade to a computer. then you can usually get a couple hundred off the price PLUS the educational discount. but that means you have to wait for an upgrade, and that might be a while for the iMacs.

[windsurfer.nyc]

I can't quite figure out what is going on with the Amazon rebates. When you use the macintouch link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BNNGUC/macintoucwebsite/002-8177763-9568059), you'll see "Mail-In Rebates: $100.00" on the right side, but follow that link to the main page and mention of that rebate disappears. Plus, if you click on "Rebate forms for recent purchases", it only lists rebates for systems purchased by 4/11/2006, the latest.

MacMall, does have a $100 rebate deal (with downloadable PDF form) going, but I'd rather use Amazon. :(

Is the $150 off the 20 inch imac the best deal I'm going to get? I can get 100 off from apple being a teacher, and now the rebate from amazon is 100 off too. Is (was) the $150 off the best I'm going to see for the next 4 to 5 months?