Anyone soon-to-be grads buying Macs/MBP now because student discount expires soon?

[MrMan112]

I'm graduating at the end of May, and I won't be in school ever again, so my student discount expires. I have been waiting for a while for the MBP to be updated, and now it looks like the earliest that will happen will be in June.

That means that I will have to buy the current MBP now for $2538 (w/AppleCare) or the updated version later for probably around $300 more.

I will be in a dental residency program that is associated with a University, but technically I won't be enrolled in classes or at that school so it won;t count.

Anyone else that has been waiting in a similar situation?

 

[saikyan]

Honestly, I think Apple's educational discount is pretty weak. It basically takes care of tax, and that's all. I only ever found it useful for custom building Power/Pro Mac's because you can't do that anywhere else. Otherwise, you can save a lot more money by buying from Amazon. No tax, no shipping, and usually theres even a rebate. And oh yeah, it doesn't expire.

 

[RBMaraman]

I'm graduating at the end of May, and I won't be in school ever again, so my student discount expires. I have been waiting for a while for the MBP to be updated, and now it looks like the earliest that will happen will be in June.

That means that I will have to buy the current MBP now for $2538 (w/AppleCare) or the updated version later for probably around $300 more.

I will be in a dental residency program that is associated with a University, but technically I won't be enrolled in classes or at that school so it won;t count.

Anyone else that has been waiting in a similar situation?

Apple's really cool about the discount. You can still use it, up to 6 months after your graduation. An Apple employee called it their "graduation gift."

 

[ukmaestro]

I'm due to graduate at the end of June so I'm going to buy a Macbook to replace my little ibook for when I move over to Japan. For the UK it seems, educational discount is great because its really the only different price you can get. The prices everywhere just seem to be the same no matter where you goto amazonuk or wherever! amazon-us always seem to have a rebate for apple products - i don't really get it. And anyway, Apple seem to make a lot more money as it is out of us brits! For the $1299.99 macbook (after amazon rebate) it works out at about £610 which is an absolute steal! Even if I get my student discount I'll be lucky to get my macbook for about £780-£800. Ahh well, when I worked at PC World I managed to get a 17" G5 iMac for £180 and a 17" iMac Core Duo for £470 - so I'm still pretty chuffed with those per-chases!

 

[chriscorbin]

I am buying a shiny new MBP the day after my graduation, using my dads teacher discount, that way i dont have to have a letter of enrollment

 

[NightFlight]

Apple's really cool about the discount. You can still use it, up to 6 months after your graduation. An Apple employee called it their "graduation gift."

Well that's good to hear! I might be doing just that so thanks for the information

Hopefully they will introduce a 15" MB. I am praying. haha

 

[jng]

I just signed up for ADC, which lasts one year. I asked before I bought it if it was alright if I was going to graduate within weeks and they said it was fine, as long as I was "currently" a student.

That gives me about 1 year to figure out what machine I want. And it also buys me time to figure out what machine I need based on which job I take....I might even need a PC...in which case I can save up and buy a nice power mac or MBP even next year and take advantage of a discount

 

[MrMan112]

My last reason for potentially buying now is that my school offers alot of software through its Software Library. I would not have to buy Photoshop or Microsoft Office as it wuld be free to me.

 

[jng]

My last reason for potentially buying now is that my school offers alot of software through its Software Library. I would not have to buy Photoshop or Microsoft Office as it wuld be free to me.

I think that's technically illegal maybe. Some schools give the software to their students but I think the fine print says you're only supposed to have it unti you graduate - not sure though. At my school they don't give it out, but it's on every machine in the lab.

Photoshop is indeed expensive (I get it through work). But Office is not bad at all for students, only $150 - totally worth it. You can get it for less at sales etc, too.

But don't buy to get software, that doesn't make sense. If your current machine works, keep it.