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Apple Launches 2016 Back to School Promotion, Offers Free Beats With Mac, iPhone, or iPad Pro Purchase
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Yes. I pointed that out in a different here. BUT that one anomaly is not inconsistent with my wording that says this is the time of year when Apple "traditionally" announces this promotion. Almost every other year Apple has done this promotion it has been sometime in late May or June. So sorry, your post is the one that is misleading.
What do you mean? That was four years ago. Every product was okay at the current time before the successor was released. The thing has a FireWire and Thunderbolt 1 port, a 5400 rpm hard drive, and a four year old processor. A MBA is a better machine. It's just a shame that they're trying to bait people into buying a machine that should no longer be sold.
forget the jack, Wireless man.Sure - they're going to have to refresh the line anyway if they change the headset jack on the new iPhone
Back to School sales already? Didn't North American schools just start the summer break?
I guess Apple is the corporate equivalent of that one oddball kid who actually enjoys going to summer school.
In most places yes, and Apple has started this promo for years around the same time after memorial day. when i worked there over 10 years ago same thing. same complainers too.
I know! even if it was like 100$ off or something a pair of headphones it'd be nice too, could use a mini as a spare
LOL. Sad, but true hopefully there will be a Mac Mini refresh this year. I think gift card would be a nicer carrot (yes the very same thing I complained about,
) but good to see there still is a back to school promotion.
Abnormally early? Look at when the Back to School promo started in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Also, how is "traditionally starts sometime around Memorial Day" not true? Of the past 10 Back to School promos, 7 of them started within about 2 weeks of Memorial Day and 5 of them were within about 1 week of Memorial Day.
Previous Memorial Day and Apple Back to School promo start dates:
May 29, 2006 . . . . June 5, 2006
May 28, 2007 . . . . June 5, 2007
May 26, 2008 . . . . June 3, 2008
May 25, 2009 . . . . May 27, 2009
May 31, 2010 . . . . May 25, 2010
May 30, 2011 . . . . June 16, 2011
May 28, 2012 . . . . June 11, 2012
May 27, 2013 . . . . July 2, 2013
May 26, 2014 . . . . July 1, 2014
May 25, 2015 . . . . July 23, 2015
May 30, 2016 . . . . June 2, 2016
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Correct. Their product line is now locked in until the promotion ends.
Expect zero hardware releases at WWDC.
Cheaper to buy one of those, and replace it with an aftermarket 1TB SSD, and more ram, than pay apples tax on a new rMBP. I'm sure I'm in a minority, but I think they were the last decent MBP's available.
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
OK then, just about any NEW comparably-priced Windows computer will have Skylake and likely have software more compatible with whatever University the students will be attending. So if we can so fault one "outdated" screen technology or maybe several "outdated" technologies in this offering, we might as well do the same for ALL of Apple's Mac offerings and point all such students to Wintel.
I get what you are saying but I was responding to OP referencing "the joke" in buying a "non-retina screen" like no one in the right mind would dare do such a thing... vs. just a few years ago, ALL of us were apparently out of our minds to do just that, and gush about the greatness of it in every way.
You are bringing other variables into the equation. However, if value for the money is the dominant factor, just about all of us should be buying Wintel... until Apple catches up with the current generation platforms & specs available in those machines... instead of saying, "not THIS (outdated platform) Mac but that (outdated platform) Mac."
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They are not forcing you. You can decline to take them. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Then forget:
- the quality of sound,
- synched audio when watching video at times,
- listening to anything because you forgot to charge the buds
- listening to some things because they don't have a public wireless connect option (or Bluetooth at all)
I am assuming they are trying to get rid of Beats stock with 3.5 mm headphone jack before the new iPhone launch in September. If they did the back to school promo in August like they typically do this 'fire sale' would be more apparent bc there will be more talk of the new iPhone starts ramping up around that time of year. Also there is a good chance the new MacBook Pros won't have audio out either which I think would be a real shame. Either way, I think Apple is trying to be a little sneaky here by getting rid of as much stock with 3.5 mm jacks while people are still interested. Apple doesn't see it as the way forward and will let people upgrade to wireless but still will profit a little off of those who pay the $100 to upgrade. It's a win-win for them.
did a quick search. the back to school promos in the past 3 years were:
2015: July 23
2014: July 1
2013: July 2
So this is 1 month early for them
You're right that Apple isn't really publicly branding this as a "Back to School" promotion, but it undoubtedly is.
The only proof I have is the PDF file name for the Canadian terms and conditions ("BTS"):
Hurry up kids! We gotta clear out this inventory you won't be able to use with the new iPhone you're about to buy!
Apple started 2013, 2014, and 2015 BTS promo later than before and now people are saying it's too early.... SMH
Previous Memorial Day and Apple Back to School promo start dates:
May 29, 2006 . . . . June 5, 2006
May 28, 2007 . . . . June 5, 2007
May 26, 2008 . . . . June 3, 2008
May 25, 2009 . . . . May 27, 2009
May 31, 2010 . . . . May 25, 2010
May 30, 2011 . . . . June 16, 2011
May 28, 2012 . . . . June 11, 2012
May 27, 2013 . . . . July 2, 2013
May 26, 2014 . . . . July 1, 2014
May 25, 2015 . . . . July 23, 2015
May 30, 2016 . . . . June 2, 2016
People were bitching last year when the promo started late and/or they didn't think Apple was going to offer a promo, now they are bitching that it is starting too early. Go figure.
Thats why they have dual adapters so you don't need to always charge them and they can work with anything.
The newer BT technology allows some good data streams and haven't heard much loss in audio quality.
As someone pointed out to me, that's untrue - new MBPs have previously been released during the promotion:
Article about the 2014 update on July 29, 2014:
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/07/29/updated-retina-macbook-pro-faster-haswell-more-ram/
Article about the back-to-school promotion on July 1, 2014:
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/07/01/apple-2014-back-to-school-promotion/
So their product lines aren't locked in, and new hardware is certainly a possibility at WWDC.
I don't see that as a problem just go back to the apple store with your receipt and they should be able to give you the free beats headphones.
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they bought the company they have to do something with them
EDIT: looks like Sw1tcher beat me to this by a few min., so h/t to him or her.
You guys are hilarious -- no, no, and no this is NOT early for Apple, it resumes their traditional timing. If you don't have an almost institutional memory of this promotion then why do you even try risking your cred trying to prove others wrong? 3 years out of an 11 year history does not make a trend by any stretch of the creative mind.
OK here is the start dates since 2006:
2006 - June 5
2007 - June 5
2008 - June 3
2009 - May 27
2010 - May 25
2011 - June 6
2012 - June 11
2013 - July 2
2014 - July 1
2015 - July 23
2016 - June 2
So for 8 years out of 11 Apple has started the promotion in early May - June as I original stated -- again qualifying the start date with "traditionally." 2013-2105 were anomalies, esp now that 2016 has resumed the early June timing.
Also, just for the "naysayers" who think this is a desperate move by Apple -- 2006 to 2012 were Apple's golden halo years when it could to no almost no wrong -- poor handling of the iPhone 4 controversy comes to mind.
HERE is a complete review of the promotion over the years including what was offered if anyone is that interested.