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Best Buy open box deals and steals

M

martinm0

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 27, 2010
568
25
I've been getting pretty lucky with Best Buy's open box deals lately. In the last two months they ran promotions to take an additional 10% the open box price (which is typically 10% already). A few months ago I nabbed an iPad 4 64GB wifi for $587 + tax along with a non-open box EOL WD MyBook Duo 4TB Thunderbolt ($250).

I recently noticed I could track open box and clearance inventory online:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcat17301&type=page

So, last week I went into my local Best Buy and saw a 15" rMBP, 16GB and 512GB SSD for $2420 open box plus 10% = $2178. I talked to the floor manager and asked if he'd take $2k for it. He said no, already a steal, but if its around at the end of the week to talk to him then. Went back in and found one in the cage of returned products today, asked if he'd take $2k...and he agreed!!:D

Machine looks perfect (box is a bit beat up from the wire lock they had around it, but doesn't bother me in the slightest). Screen is a Sammy as well, so looks like a good score.

Happy haggling!
 
T

ToomeyND

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2011
563
378
Thanks so much for posting that link. I had no idea how people were finding their open box deals. Being able to look at them online is amazing! I was planning on getting my next mac from amazon (I can get gift cards with my credit card points to either Amazon or Best Buy), but now I'm definitely going to go the Best Buy route.

I also didn't realize that Best Buy would have so many build configurations. More pluses for Best Buy!
 
M

martinm0

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 27, 2010
568
25
ToomeyND said:
Thanks so much for posting that link. I had no idea how people were finding their open box deals. Being able to look at them online is amazing! I was planning on getting my next mac from amazon (I can get gift cards with my credit card points to either Amazon or Best Buy), but now I'm definitely going to go the Best Buy route.

I also didn't realize that Best Buy would have so many build configurations. More pluses for Best Buy!
Click to expand...

You are welcome. Best Buy doesn't always have the best deals, but there are gems if you know when to look. I'd also recommend joining their Reward Zone program as you earn points towards credits at Best Buy, and at a certain spending limit you're put into a Premier category which offers (among other things) a 60 day return policy.

While I do love me some Amazon most of the time, Best Buy is turning into a fair mistress.
 
Last edited:
KylePowers

KylePowers

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2011
1,688
197
Anywhere to check to see if they have the additional 10% off open-box promotions? Or did you just see it in an ad in the mail or something?

If I can score a $1263 open-box 13" rMBP for $1136 (or lower), just may have to do it :p
 
M

martinm0

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 27, 2010
568
25
KylePowers said:
Anywhere to check to see if they have the additional 10% off open-box promotions? Or did you just see it in an ad in the mail or something?

If I can score a $1263 open-box 13" rMBP for $1136 (or lower), just may have to do it :p
Click to expand...

Not that I know of. I think I only knew about it since they had a sign up in the store during the last sale. I think the 10% wrapped up yesterday but you could pop in and check. Either way, if they have a machine you want go in and see if they'll offer the extra 10% and see if they'll haggle a bit.
 
K

Kyles3399

macrumors newbie
Jul 1, 2010
23
2
Another awesome deal

Hi all

Just thought I'd chime in. I just picked up a rMBP 15" 2.7i7/16/512 from best buy for $1899 open box in great condition. The advertised the price online 1899. But when I got to the store it was marked 2200+ they gladly priced matched the online price.

They said this was the old model. But I think it is the newer speed bump that just came out.

Just as a personal note I know best buy wants to sell there warranty plans but the salesman gave me a bunch of wrong info about apple care. He said that you have to buy apple care within the first month which isn't true, you have a year. I think there just misinformed.
 
M

martinm0

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 27, 2010
568
25
Kyles3399 said:
Hi all

Just thought I'd chime in. I just picked up a rMBP 15" 2.7i7/16/512 from best buy for $1899 open box in great condition. The advertised the price online 1899. But when I got to the store it was marked 2200+ they gladly priced matched the online price.
Click to expand...

Holy crap! Which store did you purchase at? All the New England stores have it listed at the $2420 open box price.

Well done, sir! Well done!
 
K

Kyles3399

macrumors newbie
Jul 1, 2010
23
2
martinm0 said:
Holy crap! Which store did you purchase at? All the New England stores have it listed at the $2420 open box price.

Well done, sir! Well done!
Click to expand...

Thanks!! I was smirking all the way out the door.
It was purchased in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I'm from Albuquerque so it took me an hour to drive out there, luckily they still had it.

Time to sell my MBA the rMBP is freaking awesome!!
 
S

spacepower7

macrumors 68000
May 6, 2004
1,509
1
Kyles3399 said:
Hi all

Just thought I'd chime in. I just picked up a rMBP 15" 2.7i7/16/512 from best buy for $1899 open box in great condition. The advertised the price online 1899. But when I got to the store it was marked 2200+ they gladly priced matched the online price.

They said this was the old model. But I think it is the newer speed bump that just came out.

Just as a personal note I know best buy wants to sell there warranty plans but the salesman gave me a bunch of wrong info about apple care. He said that you have to buy apple care within the first month which isn't true, you have a year. I think there just misinformed.
Click to expand...

As far as pure CPU processing goes, the older 2.7 GHZ has a 8 MB level 3 cache vs the newer 2.7 GHZ rMBP 6 MB level 3 cache. This makes the CPU of the older one faster in pure CPU metrics.

Either way, you got a great deal.
 
M

martinm0

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 27, 2010
568
25
spacepower7 said:
As far as pure CPU processing goes, the older 2.7 GHZ has a 8 MB level 3 cache vs the newer 2.7 GHZ rMBP 6 MB level 3 cache. This makes the CPU of the older one faster in pure CPU metrics.

Either way, you got a great deal.
Click to expand...

Very true, and I had forgotten about that little difference in cache. Though, what was the cost of that upgrade to the 2.7 in those initial models? I can't recall, but that probably took it up close to $3k or higher.

Still quite happy with the machine I picked up. I'm a little nervous with all the issues on the retina models (this is actually replacing my 2012 27" i7, 680MX iMac as I just keep having tons of issues with IR and Target Display Mode not enabling the backlight on the iMac).
 
K

kensic

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2013
362
28
yea best buy open boxes are great. i myself score a cMBP 12 for 40% off of retail price. now im trying to hunt for something to replace my old dell desktop.

i want to completely convert to apple OSX.

-mac mini is too weak for gaming
-imac 27" (maybe, but i would like to use my 27" dell monitor, its easier switching between different inputs)
-mac pro - too expensive for what i would be doing
 
M

martinm0

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 27, 2010
568
25
kensic said:
yea best buy open boxes are great. i myself score a cMBP 12 for 40% off of retail price. now im trying to hunt for something to replace my old dell desktop.

i want to completely convert to apple OSX.

-mac mini is too weak for gaming
-imac 27" (maybe, but i would like to use my 27" dell monitor, its easier switching between different inputs)
-mac pro - too expensive for what i would be doing
Click to expand...

Considered a hackintosh at all...? Not the best long term solution, but inexpensive and powerful in the short term.
 
A

adamjb22

macrumors newbie
Feb 18, 2013
9
0
Kyles3399 said:
Thanks!! I was smirking all the way out the door.
It was purchased in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I'm from Albuquerque so it took me an hour to drive out there, luckily they still had it.

Time to sell my MBA the rMBP is freaking awesome!!
Click to expand...

Wow it's a small world I drove out to santa fe from abq two weeks ago to look at a 13" rMBP. But the guy didn't want to work with me. Ended up getting a super deal for 1122 on the east side of town the next day!
 
S

spacepower7

macrumors 68000
May 6, 2004
1,509
1
martinm0 said:
Very true, and I had forgotten about that little difference in cache. Though, what was the cost of that upgrade to the 2.7 in those initial models? I can't recall, but that probably took it up close to $3k or higher.

Still quite happy with the machine I picked up. I'm a little nervous with all the issues on the retina models (this is actually replacing my 2012 27" i7, 680MX iMac as I just keep having tons of issues with IR and Target Display Mode not enabling the backlight on the iMac).
Click to expand...

A wise man once said, if you look for a problem, you'll find a problem.

Actually every wise man said the obvious same thing for over 2000 years.

Anyway, people who have real or perceive problems, complain louder than anyone else.

Don't over analyze things, just enjoy your new computer.
 
A

amoda

macrumors 6502a
Aug 9, 2006
660
8
That's a pretty great deal!

BestBuy open box deals is probably the best thing BestBuy has to offer. All my best deals were from them, including a mint 17" MBP for ~$1550 inc. taxes & fees.

You throw the dice with Apple warranty status though, as sometimes they'll honour the date from the date you purchased it used, and other times they'll stick to the original date of purchase.

And now that software CDs aren't included you have to go through hoops in order to get them to un-link the iLife apps from the original purchaser's iTunes account and link them to yours. A pain, but a good enough deal makes it worth it.
 
D

dan5.5

macrumors 6502
Oct 26, 2008
296
2
I got a 64gb ipad 4 wifi + cellular for $575
Missing the box, but still a great deal
 
F

Frost17

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2011
149
22
I work at BB and the deals for Open Box products are awesome. I only buy my Apple products from the deals that go on, which are frequent. It's only supposed to be a MAX of 10 percent off Apple products, ask a manager, most likely they'll budge on the price. Good luck!
 
J

johnnyyt

macrumors member
Feb 22, 2013
67
0
martinm0 said:
I've been getting pretty lucky with Best Buy's open box deals lately. In the last two months they ran promotions to take an additional 10% the open box price (which is typically 10% already). A few months ago I nabbed an iPad 4 64GB wifi for $587 + tax along with a non-open box EOL WD MyBook Duo 4TB Thunderbolt ($250).

I recently noticed I could track open box and clearance inventory online:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcat17301&type=page

So, last week I went into my local Best Buy and saw a 15" rMBP, 16GB and 512GB SSD for $2420 open box plus 10% = $2178. I talked to the floor manager and asked if he'd take $2k for it. He said no, already a steal, but if its around at the end of the week to talk to him then. Went back in and found one in the cage of returned products today, asked if he'd take $2k...and he agreed!!:D

Machine looks perfect (box is a bit beat up from the wire lock they had around it, but doesn't bother me in the slightest). Screen is a Sammy as well, so looks like a good score.

Happy haggling!
Click to expand...

is there a link like that for best buy canada? this would be awesome if i could find one
 
C

cheezeit

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2010
493
55
Dallas, TX
Scored a base 27"iMac 2012 for $1449. Now I await in hopes of a open box coupon or maybe a good deal one with the better gpu (675m) but not sure if I'm going to upgrade since I seem to have snagged an awesome deal =D
 
T

ToomeyND

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2011
563
378
johnnyyt said:
is there a link like that for best buy canada? this would be awesome if i could find one
Click to expand...

On the US website, you simply move the mouse over the "Shops and Deals" tab on the homepage and the third one down is "In-Store Clearance and Open Box."
 
G

GD0X

Guest
Mar 20, 2011
97
0
can i ask what exactly an open box is and how you go about getting the discount?

is this the same as a floor model you can walk away with? being used by potential customers?
 
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