Best Buy and Amazon Offer Special Pricing on MacBook Pro Models

[KPOM]

Originally Posted by thejadedmonkey

Seeing as this went out in an email, Apple approved of this. That tells me that they're incredibly responsive to their quarterly earning reports where sales fell 22%, and are trying to see how much they need to discount the next generation model to get product sales where they want it.

Exactly. The 13" rMBP was the only "new" MacBook available for the holidays, and my guess is that while they knew it wouldn't be a volume seller, they were hoping for higher sales than what they got. I think $1499 for the base 13" and $1699 for the 256GB version would be "sweet spots," though that would break with Apple's typical price differential for NAND (their margins are as high as the manufacturer's, or even higher). I think we'll see a significant change to the rMBP price structure with the 2013 models, perhaps similar to what we saw for the late-2010 MacBook Air.

[Soulweaponry]

Originally Posted by Thunderhawks

Take it back to apple and rebuy

Can't. I paid with a debit card. If I take it back to apple, I'd have to wait a few days for it to be credit back and then re buy at best buy hoping its the same price. What if I return it, wait a few days and best buy ups the price again anyway? Either way, I don't think I could let go of this thing for even a few days. No. Nu uh

[e-coli]

Quite possibly the worst product shot of all time. I'm shocked Apple allows it.

[Rodster]

Fellas i'm about to place my order but can't decide between the non-R 13.3 or 15.4" arrrrrgh !

I have $400 in Amazon credits plus I have 12 month 0% financing from Amazon. How heavy is the 15.4"? I like mobility but i'm concerned by the screen size of the 13.3" and the 15.4" has the nvidia 650m.

My payments are $107/mo 15.4 or $71 for the 13.3. HELP !!!!!!!

[PinoyAko]

Originally Posted by Soulweaponry

Son of a bitch...I JUST bought a retail priced retina MacBook at the apple store because best buy had it for the same price yesterday. Now a day later it's $200 cheaper? Not cool. I could've saved $200 by waiting a day :-( nobody told me!

It happened to me. I was so pissed off that I wanted to return the iPad that I bought and just buy the cheaper one. I just felt guilty about it though so I didn't pursue.

[grundoon]

Originally Posted by Soulweaponry

Son of a bitch...I JUST bought a retail priced retina MacBook at the apple store because best buy had it for the same price yesterday. Now a day later it's $200 cheaper? Not cool. I could've saved $200 by waiting a day :-( nobody told me!

Originally Posted by PinoyAko

It happened to me. I was so pissed off that I wanted to return the iPad that I bought and just buy the cheaper one. I just felt guilty about it though so I didn't pursue.

Has nobody heard of Apple Certified Refurbished Products?

[mmcc]

Originally Posted by JoeRito

Every little bit helps, but honestly, the price needs to come down some in this economy.

Agreed, plus the lack of expandability for future needs makes me hesitate. I tend to prefer buying the middle of a line and then installing additional drive space and RAM as needed in the future, typically for far less money than buying it from Apple.

I already have 720 GB of SSD in my 17" Pro, but I'd love to have the option of a retina display plus the lighter weight of the current 15" -- but not at $2600 (and that's only 512 GB).

[eric/]

Poor BestBuy, trying to compete with Amazon on price.

[Spink10]

Originally Posted by eric/

Poor BestBuy, trying to compete with Amazon on price.

sort of - Amazon price matched BB

[twoodcc]

i know that rmbp would be nice, but maybe i'll get it on the next go-around

[KRB77]

but interestingly, since the 17" MBP is no longer offered it doesn't even matter. I also love how there are some who constantly b*tch about how expensive MBPs are. Well a simple answer to that complaint is go purchase a ******* windowz machine and indulge in the cheap plastic crap. What is so hard to understand and articulate the fact that OS X IS A FULLY INTEGRATED PLATFORM?! NO other vendor offers the hardware and software from the same company with the exception of Apple - that's where that extra cost is going. What PC hardware does anyone else build with their software? Not many, hardly any at all point-of-fact.

[burnout8488]

I could have picked up a 13" rMBP for around $1250 after tax yesterday at my local best buy, open box. Worth checking their open box link for your local store to see what's in stock.

I went in to check it out, and it was absolutely mint with only a few fingerprints on the keyboard.

If I didn't just get my 13" Air for $999 from them a few days ago, I would have jumped on board. Don't really want to be such an early adopter of the 13" Retina screen though, in case there are screen issues down the road. That, and the fact that 90% of the internet is still very low res and looks blurry on the Retina panel.

[mabhatter]

Originally Posted by canman4PM

I know I'm gonna sound like a rube asking this but doesn't Apple forbid discounting of their current line up? Don't they cut off any re-seller caught doing it?

MacMall always runs $50 low... Personally, it's Tax time and that means counting inventory. Macs are really expensive, that means they can turn over some quick cash even if they lose some money. I think this is more about Best Buy's cash position... Amazon sellers shouldn't try to copy them as Best Buy is not doing well now.

[KS13]

Is this still available? Checked BestBuy and the prices are higher now.

Also how come so many are waiting for the new MacBooks? The apple rep told me they go not come out until September??

Anyone have a rumored date of release?


Thanks.

[Bigcase]

Its still available on Amazon's website, just have best buy price match Amazon, the price is $1515.00. This is the only way I would feel comfortable buying the 13" retina, to me this is a closer to fair price. I had already purchased last week, printed off the amazon price, took it in, they price matched it, no problem. I'm really liking best buy price matching Amazon. Also picked up a Canon T4i camera for 649.00. Excellent deal.

[F1 Fan]

Originally Posted by KS13

Also how come so many are waiting for the new MacBooks? The apple rep told me they go not come out until September??

Anyone have a rumored date of release?

No one actually knows when they will be out because Apple are so secretive, it's all just best guess and working from past experience. Some people don't like to buy the first generation of a new product in the hope that any issues with it will be sorted at the second generation. Also, Apple seem to update Macbooks at least once a year.

Then there's individual criteria such as "What do I have now?", "How much longer will it last?", "How much do I have to spend?", "When will I have enough to buy what I want?", "What do I need / want?", etc...

In this particular case, there's the fact that Intel's next generation of processors (Haswell) are currently expected to be out in June. It's a pretty safe bet that the next Macbooks will use Haswell so they won't be out until at least June. It'll probably be a couple of months beyond that...

[Davemreed]

In my experience, sales on Mac computers found on best buy and amazon usually precede the release of new models.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, however these bargain distributors don't exactly advertise this. One negative example of this practice is the flurry of sales that Appeared just before the release of the Thunderbolt port. True, not everyone stands to gain from this new tech, but every buyer should have the ability to make an informed choice on the matter.

So, buyer, please be vigilant: ask yourself if the $200 you are about to save is worth the advancements being introduced in the new models!

Check out MacRumors excellent buying guide