PowerBook Edu Discounts

[arn]

Several readers have noted a special education discount on current Titanium PowerBooks. Readers received the following in an email:

"And for a limited time, you can save up to $380* off the retail price of a PowerBook G4 -- this includes up to an additional $150 savings on top of the regular Apple Store for Education Individuals discount. Act now, this special back-to-school offer expires September 25, 2002."


Several readers have suggested that this may hint towards upcoming revisions, however, there is no further indication that the PowerBook G4 will be updated this soon. In fact, the only evidence is to the contrary... with PowerBook rumors for January (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2002/08/20020812205425.shtml).

[gaomay]

I should be getting a new powerbook soon (next 1-2 weeks) and I don't know whether to wait for the next revision - any advice? I guess there's always gonna be something greater round the corner but I'd be pretty annoyed if I bought one and a revision came out two weeks later.

[Beej]

No such luck here in Australia :(

[Who]

I'm also waiting to purchase a G4 powerbook, probably next month before fall term starts up, but maybe I'll wait until after MacWorld SF.

I remember getting the G3 Wallstreet just a month before Apple upgraded the product line. Not going to make that mistake again.

[arn]

If you need the powerbook now, I'd say go ahead... there's no indication of new Powerbooks real soon...

Jan is 5 months away

arn

[Nonosse]

In the last months, Apple was pushing to sell Quiksilver G4, with special offers (like, taking your old PowerMac for $200 to $400 discount, etc...). The offers stopped around end of July.

The new G4, finally providing more power than the iMac, were released soon afterwards.

Couldn't we expect the same to happen with PBooks, especially when you realize that they are now much less powerful than the new G4 ?
Apple has always been proud to offer laptop computers which can be as good as the desktop computers, and that's not like it anymore - talking about chip performances, the current PBooks are not much better than the iBooks and iMacs.

My conclusion: i would tend to believe new machines are "around the corner", and Apple wants to get rid of the stock.
Maybe they just got afraid by how hard it was to get rid of the former G4, which certainly helped in postponing the release of the new G4 this month, and they start special offers earlier ?

[topicolo]

Hmmm... looks like I might just get a new powerbook sooner than I thought...


Hey! it's my 400th post! woohoo. 100 more to go!

[Postal]

Even if the rumour about MWSF isn't true, the last update to the PowerBooks was done in late April; if you go with the "6 months rule" (where Apple always updates a system in those intervals) you're looking at October as the earliest update opportunity. If you'd rather have your PowerBook for the start of the fall term, get it now!

[drastik]

This discounts are good, but they sond like am edu push to me. Apple was moving pretty heavily into grade and high schools a few months ago with the Book pushes, so now they are going for undergrad. College can be about image, so a TiBook couldn't hurt.

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by drastik
This discounts are good, but they sond like am edu push to me. Apple was moving pretty heavily into grade and high schools a few months ago with the Book pushes, so now they are going for undergrad. College can be about image, so a TiBook couldn't hurt.

true. but it's the end of the rebate that puzzles me... i mean, sept 25 or whatever is pretty late. most schools start well before then. either end of august or early september. some start that late, but it just seems like if they wanted to push it, they'd have pushed it from like july-mid august or something...

[Dave K]

i mean, sept 25 or whatever is pretty late. most schools start well before then. either end of august or early september. some start that late, but it just seems like if they wanted to push it, they'd have pushed it from like july-mid august or something...

Consider the following: How many undergrads get access to their student loans in July or early August?

[Nonosse]

Originally posted by Dave K


Consider the following: How many undergrads get access to their student loans in July or early August?

Yep. And you also have to let the "inner advertising" work: "wow, your laptop is great / is nice / works great / whatever", for all the students who basically didn't plan to buy something new.

It would be worse (for Apple's sells) to have somebody thinking "Jeez, my mate's laptop is nice, i wish i had bought one also, but i was still in holidays by this time... :(".

A.

[medea]

I might have to get myself a powerbook now

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by Dave K


Consider the following: How many undergrads get access to their student loans in July or early August?

ha. not sure if you're supporting my theory or refuting it....

[makkystyle]

you've got a little over a month till these rebates end. If after the first week in January there haven' t any leaks or some kind of substantiated claims, other than the end of the rebate I think it's pretty safe to bet there won' tbe any updates. I mean by the beginning of august, we knew there would be some kind of update to the PM, we just didn't know what kind. My suggestion is wait till about the second week of September then decide on buying. it's only about three weeks to wait and could save you from being really pissed off five weeks from now.

[Dave K]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule


ha. not sure if you're supporting my theory or refuting it....

Well, just from my experience in Canada at least, Students can't get access to their loan paperwork until about a week before school starts...

Then they've gotta run it through the bank, which takes 2-3. business days...

Finally, all through the lead-up weeks, you've got the banks set up in the lobbies of every school handing out credit cards like chocolate bars to anyone who can spell their own name...

Which means that offering an educational discount on an item in july-august when your average student most likely won't have the cash to buy until late Aug/early Sept. would be kinda counter productive...

[jelloshotsrule]

i see your point..

but there's also high school students and such. who aren't really going on school loans usually.

but i guess that makes sense... either way, it's a decent time to buy educational laptops. just wish i had the cash/need.... word

[onemoof]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
i see your point..

but there's also high school students and such. who aren't really going on school loans usually.



Only college students can buy education discounted Macs. K-12 are out of luck unless they're faculty or institutional purchases.

[FelixDerKater]

Once again it seems that Apple is going to screw over student buyers. Sell out the last of the stock of TiBooks to students buying for college computer requirement and then release an update that they would have loved to have, but couldn't wait for. Apple has no mercy. Same happened to me last year when I had to buy a computer by late August and the a few weeks later Apple releases a TiBook with a reasonable video card and faster overall performance.

Many Thanks Apple! :mad:

[Rocketman]

Originally posted by gaomay
I should be getting a new powerbook soon (next 1-2 weeks) and I don't know whether to wait for the next revision - any advice? I guess there's always gonna be something greater round the corner but I'd be pretty annoyed if I bought one and a revision came out two weeks later.

I use a Ti-400 and it is plenty fast for everything so the increased speed of any speed bump you might see over 667-800 will be of minimal benefit. Even the bus increase from 100-133 did not help my 800 toting friends very much.

My machine needs more drive space however.

The Ti is a full fledged desktop replacement unless your job requires PCI cards.

Looking forward to 802.11g Airport cards.

One thing I like about the older Ti vs new is the VGA connector. Compatible with everything.

If they would addon a serial port all those old peripherals might even hook-up under classic.

I have not bought a dock device but it might make sense if you have alot of hookups.

Apple! Airport is cool, now make one for the power cord :)

Rocketman

[ddtlm]

FelixDerKater:

Uh, yeah perhaps you'd be happier if Apple never reduced prices and never updated their products?


Anyway, I sure hope Apple gets a faster PBook out because their current one's are (essentially) nothing more than iMacs in a different shape and costing 150%-200% as much. Actually slower video hardware than the widescreen iMac too.

[Rocketman]

Originally posted by FelixDerKater
Once again it seems that Apple is going to screw over student buyers. Sell out the last of the stock of TiBooks to students buying for college computer requirement and then release an update that they would have loved to have, but couldn't wait for. Apple has no mercy. Same happened to me last year when I had to buy a computer by late August and the a few weeks later Apple releases a TiBook with a reasonable video card and faster overall performance.

Many Thanks Apple! :mad:

Students, as a group, buy on price.

Professionals as a greoup buy on performance and perceived lifespan.

It makes sense except for those few students who simply buy the best, fastest computer on the planet. They will need the upcoming Dualie Powerbooks anyway.

Rocketman

:)

[Blackcat]

Apple tends to update models every 5 or 6 months, even if it's only to stimulate sales. January is a long long way from April, and doesn't fit with the pattern unless no new Titanium is being introduced at all.

There have been quite a few signs of an update, not least Apple removing the powerbook image from the hardware page. Other clues include the current auto adapter promotion, and the recent ADC request for feedback on powerbooks (which can only be for marketing, not new designs).

I think we'll see new 1Ghz models on September 24th.

[Gaz]

Hi,

This is only a thought but I would have to agree with the idea that Apple is just taking advantage of people heading back to school/college/whatever. From my experience most people don't actually buy their computers till they arrive and realise that having one would be pretty useful (if only for playing tunes on) hence the extended deadline.

I'm no expert but surely if there was going to be an upgrade to the line then the discount would be for everyone and not just the education sec?

Personally I just see it as Apple continuing its war with Dell over the educational sector and just using its brain.

In regards to people wanting 2 processor powerbooks; yeah the power would be nice but I think I'd prefer a machine that I could actually touch cause it wasn't too hot and that I could use as a portable because the processors didn't eat all the battery life.

The most useful additions to a Powerbook would easily have to be a higher resoultion screen (but not to the point that everything becomes too small to read) and probably blue tooth.

Anyway cheers

Gaz

[Yosh]

I just bought a new Powerbook about 4 weeks ago. I was initially going to buy a new tower, but decided to go with the powerbook b/c I was tired of the fan noise and wanted something small and portable. A dual GHz Cube would have been perfect, or even a headless iMac would have been cool. Instead, I spent about $6K for an 800 MHz Powerbook and Cinema Display.

I think the current Powerbooks have hit a very nice sweet spot in terms of performance and options vs. price. These TiBooks have matured and many of the past problems have been remedied - they run cooler thanks to the new version of the G4 processor, built in CD-RW/DVD rom that has a much better slot loading mechanism so disks do not get stuck, they are practically on par in terms of performance w/ desktop machines b/c they use the same processor w/ the 1MB L3 cache, they include a Radeon 7500 video card w/ 4x AGP, they support pretty much any type of display you want to connect to it from composite all the way up to DVI and ADC (w/ adapter).

I am very picky when it comes to things I purchase and am usually never satisfied. However, I am completely happy with my current Powerbook 800 + Cinema Display set up. It has EASILY replaced my desktop tower and I use the Powerbook for everything now. As a person who has never owned a laptop, the flexibility I've gained w/o giving up the performance of a desktop and having a VERY quiet machine is awesome! The ONLY thing I wish it had was a DVD-R drive.

With respect to the issue of having 2 processors, the vast majority of stuff one would do on a laptop requires only 1 processor and performance is not significantly improved with 2 processors. As others have mentioned, 2 processors will also adversely affect battery life and run reduce the usefulness of buying a portable machine in the first place.

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by Gaz
I'm no expert but surely if there was going to be an upgrade to the line then the discount would be for everyone and not just the education sec?

Exactly what I was thinking. :D The funny thing is, the ibook is more geared to college students, not the tibook. The tibook is for pros. And yet there is no discounts for the ibook...maybe they can't drop the price any lower.


In regards to people wanting 2 processor powerbooks; yeah the power would be nice but I think I'd prefer a machine that I could actually touch cause it wasn't too hot and that I could use as a portable because the processors didn't eat all the battery life.

Well, if I wanted a frying pan, I'll buy it. ;) If you truly want dual processors, buy a stinkin' powermac. No way in h*** that dual processors will become portable. :D


The most useful additions to a Powerbook would easily have to be a higher resoultion screen (but not to the point that everything becomes too small to read) and probably blue tooth.


Don't forget about TRUE DDR. Oh yeah, and the superdrive if it ever gets that slim. I would like a higher resolution screen, but too many complain its too small. A better graphics card, is always a nice upgrade. A new processor...we'll see what happens.

Oh yeah, and fix the damn paint.

One more thing...welcome to MacRumors Gaz! :D

[Gaz]

I'm wondering would DDR RAM in a PowerBook suffer the same bus issues as the PowerMacs and thus not really give us much more speed?

Also won't DDR RAM send the price through the roof? DDR RAM is typically more expensive than SDRAM and laptop memory is expensive enough already as it is. I would have thought that the majority of the buying public and pros wouldn't want to pay the high price associated with this memory (I mean imagine how much 2GB of DDR RAM for a laptop would cost ), especailly as most people on this forums seem to be buying each new generation of machines (lucky bas*****).

Gaz

[macman21]

I think the main problem with a dual processor laptop would be the heat dissipation. Having two processors would not be a very large drain on the battery because 1. The processor requires little power compared to other components such as the display and harddrive AND 2. I don't think it would be very difficult to disable one of the processors while running on battery, much like the way we can throddle down the processor while on battery if we want to.

[ddtlm]

Gaz:

Of course DDR in PBook would "suffer the same bus issues" as in the towers and Xserve. Why do people always expect Apple to design a new chipset and Moto to design a new version of the G4? I fully expect that the PBook will get DDR exactly like what is found in the tower and Xserve. I do not forsee any possibility of a DDR-FSB G4 until after Xmas, and even then Moto may not do it because their other customers apparently don't care and because IBM's "G5" is probably going to show up in 2003.

Remember that both Apple and Moto want to get a good long run out of anything they design... Moto will not want to make a G4 that only is useful to Apple for 6 months.

The next thing I'm looking for from Moto is a 130nm version of the G4. They are going to do it eventually because such chips are cheaper to make, run faster, and run cooler. AMD, Intel and IBM are already making 130nm chips in volume... c'mon Moto. Intel is talking about 90nm mid 2003, and they don't joke about that.

[Over Achiever]

I may be really dense here, but if the regular price if the "faster" powerbook is 3199, the corresponding edu. price is 2888, and there is a promotional savings of 128, then wouldn't we save $439? What does apple mean when it says "save up to 380...including the promotional savings". If you do this for the ultimate model, you can save up to $522!:eek:

Maybe I'm just going to an awesome university (university of minnesota btw) that has awesome discounts.

The savings (including back to school promotion)
(educational savings) + (promotional savings) = total savings
Fast -- $243 + $100 = $343 :)
Faster -- $311 + $128 = $439 :D
Ultimate -- $370 + $152 = $522 :eek: :eek: :D

So either apple "acceidentally" underestimated the savings, or I'm going to a great school. I'm wondering which?:confused:

[odenshaw]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule


true. but it's the end of the rebate that puzzles me... i mean, sept 25 or whatever is pretty late. most schools start well before then. either end of august or early september. some start that late, but it just seems like if they wanted to push it, they'd have pushed it from like july-mid august or something...




schools that are on the quarter system always start around the 25th of september.

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by Gaz
I'm wondering would DDR RAM in a PowerBook suffer the same bus issues as the PowerMacs and thus not really give us much more speed?
For now it will. It doesn't seem like apple is going to release any fast FSB anytime soon. I'm disappointed :( but hey, it'll come someday :). All that really matters is when.


Also won't DDR RAM send the price through the roof? DDR RAM is typically more expensive than SDRAM and laptop memory is expensive enough already as it is. I would have thought that the majority of the buying public and pros wouldn't want to pay the high price associated with this memory (I mean imagine how much 2GB of DDR RAM for a laptop would cost ), especailly as most people on this forums seem to be buying each new generation of machines (lucky bas*****).

Prices on DDR isn't so bad. The best DDR (in my limited knowledge), the ones running at 333 MHz, sell for $149 (512 MB) in a store by my house. Thats very similar to PC133 SODIMMs, considering I found high quality ram (the kind recommended by Apple) for $180, and cheap brands are $120.

For those that will load up with 1 GB sticks, I found DDR2100 (266 MHz) sell for $400 per GB. Thats only if some need 2 GB, which not all of us do. So the prices are fairly good IMO.

side note-even though the powermacs support DDR (even if its a hack), the max you can put in each slot is 512 MB. Why?

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by odenshaw
schools that are on the quarter system always start around the 25th of september.

Wow! There are schools still on the quarter system! :D

But hey, when the University of Minnesota was on the quarter system, I still think we started in the beginning September...i'll check to make sure...

I think apple was just trying to cover all the start dates of the schools...some schools start end of august, most beginning of september, and some end of september. I don't see anything wrong with it ;)

The only thing that sucks is all-year schools...but even they "start" sometime in september...

Oh yeah, welcome to MacRumors odenshaw

---
Am I becoming the welcomer of newbies? When I grow old, I should work at WalMart:D

[ShawnJoyce]

Wait.

I will purchase a PowerBook WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK!

1) The AppleStore EDU prices have not changed.
2) I did not receive any such email. Can I still get the additional EDU savings?
3) How?

THANKS!:)

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by ShawnJoyce
Wait.

I will purchase a PowerBook WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK!

1) The AppleStore EDU prices have not changed.
2) I did not receive any such email. Can I still get the additional EDU savings?
3) How?

THANKS!:)

You can still save without the email. Its automatically deducted at checkout.

Which school are you going to? Ok, there are two ways to see the promotion. First, on the front page, the right hand side should show "Recommended Systems", "Jaguar", "Go Pro..." and stuff like that. There should be a box that says "Save up to $150 on a Powerbook G4". That should give you the details.
The other way to see it, when you pick the powerbook page, you should see it the three models...fast, faster, and ultimate. Look near the bottom of the spec list, and you should see in red the savings...when you configure your computer, you should see the promotional savings.

It ends 9/25/2002! Hope this helped.

Oh yeah, welcome to MacRumors ShawnJoyce :D

[Over Achiever]

Hey, if you want the e-mail, I can forward mine to ya. The reason some of us get the e-mail is that we register to get news from apple...

[ShawnJoyce]

King's College in northeastern PA!

Thanks for the welcome. I frequent AppleInsider a lot and finally registered for MacRumors when I needed to know more about the current EDU discount.

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by ShawnJoyce
King's College in northeastern PA! BRB... dinner.

ok...here's your link for your school

http://store.apple.com/1-800-780-5009/WebObjects/EducationIndividual.woa/214/wo/Gl3S21dcShao3gFrfm/4.3.7

looks like your school qualifies.

hmm...looks like we students here at the university of minnesota really do save more then the rest of ya'll...i like where i'm going :D

[solvs]

Originally posted by Over Achiever
Exactly what I was thinking. :D The funny thing is, the ibook is more geared to college students, not the tibook. The tibook is for pros. And yet there is no discounts for the ibook...maybe they can't drop the price any lower.


Actually there's a new 14" 700 MHz iBook listed with a CDRom model for $1649 ($1604 Edu) now. Was that there before? I thought it was a price reduction when I first saw it. We'll see.

Plus the eMac has the superdrive now (with a new 800 MHz G4), and the combo drive (with 700 MHz) is now cheaper, but there's no more CD-R/W model unless you're in the Education Store ($50 more seems pretty good for a modem and a 12x combo drive anyway. $999 CD-R/W vs. $1049 Combo + Modem).

The FP iMacs are all back to their old prices (finally).

Don't forget, there were larger price reductions and discounts for awhile in Edu way before the new Towers were released. I don't remember the exact amount, but the Higher-End Towers were discounted an extra hundred or 2 over the regular discount, plus they were eligible for the monitor discounts. I seem to recall the old 800 MHz model said something like -$125 at the bottom or at check out, or both. Someone back me up, it's getting late.

Time to go to bed.

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by solvs
Don't forget, there were larger price reductions and discounts for awhile in Edu way before the new Towers were released. I don't remember the exact amount, but the Higher-End Towers were discounted an extra hundred or 2 over the regular discount, plus they were eligible for the monitor discounts. I seem to recall the old 800 MHz model said something like -$125 at the bottom or at check out, or both. Someone back me up, it's getting late.
Good morning.

I think the new powermac models qualify for a new crystal clear savings promotion...just checked. Only for education...wow! :D

http://www.apple.com/education/hed/promos/dualoffer/hed_indiv.html

I'm going to see if I can report this to arn;)

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by Over Achiever

Good morning.

I think the new powermac models qualify for a new crystal clear savings promotion...just checked. Only for education...wow! :D

http://www.apple.com/education/hed/promos/dualoffer/hed_indiv.html

I'm going to see if I can report this to arn;)

Ok, i'm a complete idiot. The savings apply to everybody

just thought I should correct myself ;)

[robguz]

By october, it will have been 6 months since the last update, which was relatively minor. How long can they charge $2500 for a 667 Mhz machine than the iBook can beat in some tasks? It wouldn't surprise me at all to see 800 and 1Ghz and maybe a new video card or version with more VRAM, possibly even a Superdrive.

19 months after it's intro we've only gone from 500 to 800, a speed increase in real world useage of about 40%, not the 100% you'd expect from Moore's law.

If they wait until January, you can bet PowerBook sales will be virtually nonexistant at the end of the year without a massive price cut.

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by robguz
By october, it will have been 6 months since the last update, which was relatively minor.

Minor updates depend on the eye of the beholder. Some will say that adding a DVI port, speed bump to 800 MHz, increased screen resolution, and upgraded graphics card to be a minor upgrade, so will not. It does seem likely that there will be a "big" or shall i say "non-minor" update coming in January...it'll be stupidity if apple updated their computers a mere three months before, IMO.

I wouldn't mind if they updated though...'cept that i'm seduced by the savings now, and the fact I'll have a computer for fall semester...tough decisions...tough decisions...:rolleyes:

[ShawnJoyce]

I'm waiting for the campus computer guy to email me back concerning my PowerBook purchase. It might be cheaper to buy through the bookstore, but I won't know until I receive his response. I'm incredibly anxious to behold that shining technological masterpiece. Ah. Love at first byte.