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13" rMBP for $1,565 on Amazon

To be honest, that's not really worth it.

I paid $1.8k for a 15" Ivy Bridge Quad-i7, with 8GB of ram and a killer GPU (Nvidia GeForce 650M w/ 1gb VRAM).
 
Not a good deal. BH Photo has the same item for $1575 but the major difference is no tax. Amazon charges tax (at least in major states like CA). Both offer free shipping. BH has this promotion for a free copy of Parallels Desktop 8, the newest version. It's retail box and it's instant savings too (meaning no rebate forms and such).

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/897201-REG/Apple_md212ll_a_13_3_MacBook_Pro_Notebook.html

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xShane said:
To be honest, that's not really worth it.

I paid $1.8k for a 15" Ivy Bridge Quad-i7, with 8GB of ram and a killer GPU (Nvidia GeForce 650M w/ 1gb VRAM).
Click to expand...

That is a different matter entirely. But I agree, I'd rather get a 15" retina or not.
 
xShane said:
To be honest, that's not really worth it.

I paid $1.8k for a 15" Ivy Bridge Quad-i7, with 8GB of ram and a killer GPU (Nvidia GeForce 650M w/ 1gb VRAM).
Click to expand...

Depends on if mobility > performance for the buyer. Each person values these traits differently. I bought a 15", but I can see the drive for the 13" - some days I wish I had the 13 over the 15, I might even switch next generation.

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SnowLeopard2008 said:
Not a good deal. BH Photo has the same item for $1575 but the major difference is no tax. Amazon charges tax (at least in major states like CA).
Click to expand...

Only for a few states - some not exactly major:
  • California
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • New York
  • North Dakota
  • Pennsylvania
  • Texas
  • Washington
 
bogatyr said:
Depends on if mobility > performance for the buyer. Each person values these traits differently. I bought a 15", but I can see the drive for the 13" - some days I wish I had the 13 over the 15, I might even switch next generation.

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Only for a few states - some not exactly major:
  • California
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • New York
  • North Dakota
  • Pennsylvania
  • Texas
  • Washington
Click to expand...

California is a major state. So is Texas. And Penn. And New York. And Washington.

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T5BRICK said:
Frys has the same model for $1549.

http://www.frys.com/product/7378544?site=sa:adpages page:P4_FRI date:010413
Click to expand...

Tax still applies. BH Photo offers a very similar price but no tax AND a free copy of Parallels Desktop 8, which you can sell or use.
 
SnowLeopard2008 said:
Tax still applies. BH Photo offers a very similar price but no tax AND a free copy of Parallels Desktop 8, which you can sell or use.
Click to expand...

Do they charge tax in states that they don't operate? I don't pay a sales tax in Oregon, so I'm not familiar with how the system works.
 
Nice! Probably going to go into Best Buy and price match while they're still matching online retailers. Was about to go in and get them to match B&H, but if this'll save me a few bucks, why not?

Sure, I'd end up having to pay sales tax, but I have a few random gift cards for Best Buy, and also I'd rather have Best Buy's return/exchange policy to fall back on in case there's any issues. Just easier for me to be able to handle returns at the Best Buy by my house instead of shipping it back to B&H or Amazon.

Can't wait to get my 13" rMBP! The portability is just perfect to me and it's powerful enough for what I need to do on a laptop. All the heavy lifting will still be left to my desktop.
 
To be honest, BestBuy is on the verge of going out of business. These next 12 months will be a deciding factor for them. Do you really want to buy a product from a company, when it might not be serviceable through them in 2-3 years?
 
xShane said:
To be honest, BestBuy is on the verge of going out of business. These next 12 months will be a deciding factor for them. Do you really want to buy a product from a company, when it might not be serviceable through them in 2-3 years?
Click to expand...

Why take your Mac in for service at Best Buy?
 
T5BRICK said:
Do they charge tax in states that they don't operate? I don't pay a sales tax in Oregon, so I'm not familiar with how the system works.
Click to expand...

If their company has any kind of brick and mortar presence in the state, they charge sales tax. Otherwise they aren't registered to collect it in that state, in which case the responsibility technically resides with the buyer to pay it in the form of use tax if applicable in their state.
 
You're right. If they have AppleCare, they should be fine, even if BestBuy was out of business. I probably should have mentioned/added that if they were to buy insurance/warranty from BestBuy (such as Geek Squad services).
 
T5BRICK said:
Do they charge tax in states that they don't operate? I don't pay a sales tax in Oregon, so I'm not familiar with how the system works.
Click to expand...

Amazon charges sales tax, if applicable. Before, they didn't charge sales tax regardless. BH Photo doesn't charge sales tax unless you buy/ship to New York, where they apparently have a megastore. I live in California where sales tax was just raised 0.5% starting 2013 and is/was already one of highest sales tax states, I'd rather buy from BH. Since you live in Oregon, you don't need to worry about this stuff at all since you don't have a sales tax at all. In that case, you'd look for the lowest price and ignore sales tax.

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Guitar geek said:
Nice! Probably going to go into Best Buy and price match while they're still matching online retailers. Was about to go in and get them to match B&H, but if this'll save me a few bucks, why not?

Sure, I'd end up having to pay sales tax, but I have a few random gift cards for Best Buy, and also I'd rather have Best Buy's return/exchange policy to fall back on in case there's any issues. Just easier for me to be able to handle returns at the Best Buy by my house instead of shipping it back to B&H or Amazon.

Can't wait to get my 13" rMBP! The portability is just perfect to me and it's powerful enough for what I need to do on a laptop. All the heavy lifting will still be left to my desktop.
Click to expand...

Since BB is basically going to go bankrupt soon, I'd say use up your gift cards ASAP! :D

thekev said:
If their company has any kind of brick and mortar presence in the state, they charge sales tax. Otherwise they aren't registered to collect it in that state, in which case the responsibility technically resides with the buyer to pay it in the form of use tax if applicable in their state.
Click to expand...

It used to be just physical direct store but California has since passed a new law that includes subsidiaries and suppliers too. This closes the loophole that Amazon has been using for quite some time.
 
T5BRICK said:
Do they charge tax in states that they don't operate? I don't pay a sales tax in Oregon, so I'm not familiar with how the system works.
Click to expand...

The sale takes place in the state where you are located, so no online retailer should charge you tax.

Technically people owe sales or use tax (based on the sales tax in their residences) on products purchased in other states, but retailers are obligated to collect sales tax only on sales to customers in states where they have operations. Some states like Illinois, New York, and California (who generally are having major budget issues right now) are pressuring online retailers to collect taxes and we'll see more and more retailers charge tax on interstate sales.
 
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