Is Buying a Mac from Amazon a good idea?

[Fishrrman]

RE: buying from amazon vs. apple

RE:
"I don't live in California. I live in Ohio and soon to be Florida, when I add the Mac to my cart on Apple's website it adds tax for both zipcodes. That was the reason I was going with Amazon, was to avoid the sales tax."

Apple will charge you sales tax in all 50 states, I believe.

If you absolutely, positively MUST have the numeric keypad, I would be wary of ordering from amazon. Not because amazon isn't a good place to buy a Mac (it's one of the best, IMHO), but I'd reckon that amazon is going to ship the "generic" packages as they would come from Apple. By that, I mean "NO build-to-order" and you just get the regular (abbreviated) keyboard.

It's possible that amazon (and some of the other big online retailers) may start placing orders from Apple that specifically DO contain the full numeric keypad, but unless their product pages actually STATE this, I would assume the "short" keyboard will be in the box.

"I plan to get the memory from Crutchfield, it was less than $60 to 4gb of memory, so I think that is a pretty good deal, especially considering how much Apple has the upgrades at"

For RAM, I have had very good experiences with Data Memory Systems up in New Hampshire at datamem.com. They have configuration pages set up specifically for the Mac side of things. Disclaimer: no financial interest other than a satisfied paying customer.

- John

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

Depends what you want to buy.

Amazon offers a great service, but when you spend big money it is always good to be able to walk into the store and get your money back should you need to do so.

If this is your first MAC think about the one-on-one deal they have. It really is very good.

 

[i-Want-Apples]

doesnt matter where you buy it from... just make sure its original and packed...

Thanks. I will either get it from Amazon or Apple directly, so I should be okay.

It is true for you unfortunately. You must buy it straight from Apple due to Florida law.

That's what I thought. I'm just glad I seen it on Amazon's site or else I would not have realized that. I'm pretty sure they don't have it listed on the AppleCare for iPod page, but I may have just overlooked it.

RE:
"I don't live in California. I live in Ohio and soon to be Florida, when I add the Mac to my cart on Apple's website it adds tax for both zipcodes. That was the reason I was going with Amazon, was to avoid the sales tax."

Apple will charge you sales tax in all 50 states, I believe.

That's what I thought.

If you absolutely, positively MUST have the numeric keypad, I would be wary of ordering from amazon. Not because amazon isn't a good place to buy a Mac (it's one of the best, IMHO), but I'd reckon that amazon is going to ship the "generic" packages as they would come from Apple. By that, I mean "NO build-to-order" and you just get the regular (abbreviated) keyboard.

It's possible that amazon (and some of the other big online retailers) may start placing orders from Apple that specifically DO contain the full numeric keypad, but unless their product pages actually STATE this, I would assume the "short" keyboard will be in the box.

I definitely have to have a numeric keypad. I use the numeric keypad more than the regular keys for work, so I really do have to have it. I basically decided that the keyboard doesn't matter because I'm going to replace it with a wireless one anyway. I need to have a wireless keyboard because of where I'm putting it, so I can't use Apple's keyboards anyway.

"I plan to get the memory from Crutchfield, it was less than $60 to 4gb of memory, so I think that is a pretty good deal, especially considering how much Apple has the upgrades at"

For RAM, I have had very good experiences with Data Memory Systems up in New Hampshire at datamem.com. They have configuration pages set up specifically for the Mac side of things. Disclaimer: no financial interest other than a satisfied paying customer.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check them out. I meant to say Crucial, but I will definitely check them out.

- John

Depends what you want to buy.

Amazon offers a great service, but when you spend big money it is always good to be able to walk into the store and get your money back should you need to do so.

If this is your first MAC think about the one-on-one deal they have. It really is very good.

Yeah, that is kind of what I was thinking as well. It seems everyone has had pretty good luck with Amazon and I definitely want to have a Mac, so as long as Apple can take care of any problems I think I will be okay.

I've not really looked into one-on-one that much. I had a Mac a few years ago and didn't have problems doing what I needed on it and I don't really plan to do any extensive work on it, so I'm thinking it isn't really something I would need. I think, for the most part, any problems I would have could easily be fixed by doing a quick search.

 

[Galley]

I got my 24" iMac with no tax and a $100 rebate from Amazon, so the total savings was $208. Since I'm a Prime member, I had it the next day for an additional $4.00.