Biz discount on 2008 Mac Pros

guavadude said:

fyi, I just picked up a 2.8ghz Octo for $1899 after setting up a no tax business account. That's $900 off retail of $2799. You can get a 3.2ghz Octo for $1100 off...so $3599.
You have to go into the apple stores and see what they have in stock or get them to see what other stores have in stock.

thanks to all the guys on this forum for all the discussion and tests. I was waiting for the new Mac Pros to hit to decide, but I can't beat that price and the upgrade from my Dual 2.3ghz G5 is plenty for me for now.

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And what sort of business do you have to have to get this discount? I just called and for normal individuals they are still $2499 for the 2.8ghz octo.

What did you have to do to get a the business discount exactly? Do you have a business? The person on the phone said you have to be qualified from their business division and have multiple macs running your business to get the business discount. Didn't sound like something you could just walk into the store and claim you had a business to get the discount. It sounded like there was more work involved to get this business discount.

I don't have a business, so I wouldn't qualify. Most people here probably won't qualify.

Wait so the stores are selling them for $2499 regularly?

She told me the price for the 2.8ghz octo was $2499.

tobyg said:

She told me the price for the 2.8ghz octo was $2499.

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Could you still get a student discount with those?? So it'll be $2489 tax included after student discount?

jjahshik32 said:

Could you still get a student discount with those?? So it'll be $2489 tax included after student discount?

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Likely, your best bet is to call up and ask. I'm not interested it in for that price. $1899 and maybe I would think about it.

Yea for that price I'd rather just pay a bit more and get the nehalem or rather just jump up to the 2.66GHz model (which I really want).

Just purchased 2.8octo for 1899

I am in Ca and went to my local Apple store at lunch time at purchased a new 2.8octo for $1899 and got the educational discount on the extended warranty for 199. You can be your own business. i.e., bobs computer consulting. The store had both 2.8 for 1899 and I thought the 3.2octo were $3499 but I could be wrong and they may have been $3599. Even though it is last years model it was too much to resist. I could not justify getting a 2.26 for $2999 (educational price) even with the better video and more memory.
You don't need a resale license but then you do pay sales tax like I did.

What kind of business license is required? Sole proprietorship? Did you need to show any documents to prove you run your own business? What are the terms of signing up for this account? For example, do you need to purchase a certain amount of products annually?

I did not need any documents

Morriss said:

What kind of business license is required? Sole proprietorship? Did you need to show any documents to prove you run your own business? What are the terms of signing up for this account? For example, do you need to purchase a certain amount of products annually?

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I did not show anything.

Does this only apply if the specific store location has them in stock? I called the two near me and they were totally clueless about this. Just kept saying "check apple.com in the refurbished section". Even though these are new units.

jjahshik32 said:

Could you still get a student discount with those?? So it'll be $2489 tax included after student discount?

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The 2x2.8 Ghz which originally was $2799 is now $2299 with the student discount. I just got one at this price. I also saw the binder with the sheet at the apple store that shows this so it wasn't a mix up. If you purchased your 2008 within the last 2 weeks you can go in and get the new price. If you bought it originally with a student discount ($2799-200) you will get another $300 back ($2299 total). If you are not a student and bought it at $2799 you still get $300 back and hence the $2499 price tag. Either way to get this you either need to be within 14 days of your purchase, or get one of the 2008 end of life cycle pricing.

Well, I returned my Mac Mini.

I went in and explained that while I didn't have my own business I do use my machines for my work. They were able to give me the $1899 price.

Actually they did one better. They threw in Procare as my Procare had just expired. They actually changed the price to $1799 for the Mac Pro and charged me $99 for the Procare. So basically it was a wash.

Now I will need to sell my 2x2.66 Quad Mac Pro.

And now I can definitely use the 4870, I don't have to worry about rom hacking or that it may or may not work in my Mac Pro.

I'm very happy.

guavadude, thanks for the info!

Just acquired a new 2008 base 2.8 from my local Apple Store. With business acct got it for $1899. Sweeeet.

Ordered 3 1TB internal drives from Newegg. Also ordered a ATI Radeon Pro
HD 3870, 16GB RAM, and an eSATA extender cable adapter from OWC. Entire system was $2860 or so. Will be very happy with this coming from a dual 2.5 G5.

Will think about upgrading to a Nehalem octo when prices come down (if they do).

Is it possible to get a business discount on the 2009 Mac Pros?

That would be a "guaranteed" sale for me if there was any discount.

AdamTro said:

Just acquired a new 2008 base 2.8 from my local Apple Store. With business acct got it for $1899. Sweeeet.

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What kind of business do you run and did you need to show any proof (business cards, etc.) to them? Also, are only old stock items available for discounts or can you get the latest MP's, as well?

At the Apple Store, I informed them that I am a business owner (sole prop) and they set me up with one of their business specialists. He had me just enter my contact details into some kind of database via a widget in the store and didn't ask for any verification like bus. lic. #.

As a business customer, they quoted me a 5% discount off the 2008 MP and the 2009 MP. I bought the 2009 and the discount was applied to the whole order including the AppleCare plan.

As a business, you still have to pay sales tax- even if you are a non-profit. The only typical exception to that is when you purchase items for to resell, but that shouldn't apply to anyone here.

It is difficult to tell from these posts, but I am curious what % discount are people getting on their business purchases?

Funny, because none of the Apple retail stores in my area (Phoenix) have any of the 2008 Mac Pros in stock anymore. Perhaps their remaining stock was already raided...

Heck, none of them even have the new 2009 models on display. The store closest to me has only a 3.2GHz model on display and the whole store goes under remodel next week for the remainder of the month. And they all told me to visit the Apple web store instead. Apple only lists a 3.2GHz refurb with options I don't want. Go figure. I should had grabbed an old model when I had the chance.

Will think about upgrading to a Nehalem octo when prices come down (if they do).

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I don't think I've ever seen prices actually go down on Apple machines. The 2008 models remained at the same base prices for the whole time they were current (which was about a year and a half).

There are 2 Apple stores near where I live and the first one are out of the 2.8GHz 8 core and the 2nd Apple store has actually more than a few available.

So I called and made an appointment for a business purchase (use my permit) and the easy part is getting it for the business purchase price where even the employee told me nothings really necessary and just declare it as buying for a business but if you want tax exempt you would have to have some tax exempt permit.

Anyway I was well prepared with all that stuff and went down to the Apple store. I met with the guy talked to him about the mac pro where I pretended I didnt know what 3.0ghz or 2.8ghz was and just nodded to whatever he was trying to explain to me, just not trying to be rude.

Anyway after all that, just before I was about to fill in the paperwork I decided not to go through with it. I figured that even with paying $1899 (which is an amazing crazy deal) the first thing I would do is buy 16GB of RAM from transintl.com for $550. Then I would HAVE to buy an ATI 4870 since I already own a 24" LED ACD for the mini displayport (cost $349.99) and it will all end up being around $2980 close to $3000 after tax.

I know the 2.26GHz is $3299 but with student adc discount I could get it for $2639 + tax would be around $2856, so basically its just total of $216 difference and I can use my 24" LED ACD with it out of the box + I can buy 12GB of RAM for $200 from transintl.com (knowing from barefeats.com that 12 (6x2GB) had the fastest results).

Anyway the difference overall wasnt too big for me to buy the last gen, especially if I bto from the apple store online I can add the ati 4870 card for $160.

Also I still havnt seen a full benchmark differences from the new nehalem models as to the older ones. I figured that 40% less latency, 2x faster memory speeds, quick path interconnect would be worth the extra few hundred dollars

Morriss said:

What kind of business do you run and did you need to show any proof (business cards, etc.) to them? Also, are only old stock items available for discounts or can you get the latest MP's, as well?

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I have a video production company. I was in the same Apple store over the summer and bought a 30" cinema display. At that time I talked to the business person at the store and let him know about our company, etc. That was on file.

I did not have to show anything to them, no biz cards, nothing. He took my word for it.

I believe it's only the "legacy" machines that are available for the discount. They didn't have a machine in the store but found one and are having it sent over in a couple days. I didn't even go into the store this time, just called and left a message for the biz associate and he called me back.

Thanks, AdamTro. I'll inquire about this further with my local Apple store. The discounts seem to vary from store to store, based on the posts in this thread.

AdamTro said:

I believe it's only the "legacy" machines that are available for the discount.

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I just got the discount a new machine and applecare. I got the impression the discount applies to anything they'll sell me. I'll ask my rep next time I talk with him.