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Apple Price - $1000 = Amazon

B

bnugentg5

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 2, 2007
6
0
Colorado
My apologies if this has already been spoken of but...

I just pre-ordered a brand new 8-core 3.0Ghz Harpertown Mac Pro from Amazon.com for $1000 less then Apple has it priced for on their website. :eek:

A couple things...

- I know I have to wait a little while for it, but for $1000, no big deal. :cool:

- How Amazon can do this, I do not know. It is sold through them, and not an an online retailer.

What do you guys think? Good choice?

E-mail with questions! bmrbob@comcast.net
 
I never understood why or how third party companies like Amazon, MacMall, etc sell Apples for LESS than Apple. I find it boggling that Apple would let other companies take their business. Unless there's something "behind the scenes". Usually, prices are best when the product comes directly from the producers...
 
bnugentg5 said:
My apologies if this has already been spoken of but...

I just pre-ordered a brand new 8-core 3.0Ghz Harpertown Mac Pro from Amazon.com for $1000 less then Apple has it priced for on their website. :eek:

A couple things...

- I know I have to wait a little while for it, but for $1000, no big deal. :cool:

- How Amazon can do this, I do not know. It is sold through them, and not an an online retailer.

What do you guys think? Good choice?

E-mail with questions! bmrbob@comcast.net
Click to expand...

When I worked retail selling computers, I, of course, could check on the price the store paid for any item. The store only received a 10% profit over its cost! I find it hard to figure out how anyone can do these discounts!
 
Hankster said:
I never understood why or how third party companies like Amazon, MacMall, etc sell Apples for LESS than Apple. I find it boggling that Apple would let other companies take their business. Unless there's something "behind the scenes". Usually, prices are best when the product comes directly from the producers...
Click to expand...
While that is normally true for Apple, it is certainly not my experience in general. For example, you can almost always buy a computer or monitor or tv or audio receiver from Best Buy for less than from the manufacturer (sometimes much less). Try ordering a Sony laptop from SonyStyle and then check that same laptop's price at Amazon or BB or some other store.
 
bnugentg5 said:
My apologies if this has already been spoken of but...

I just pre-ordered a brand new 8-core 3.0Ghz Harpertown Mac Pro from Amazon.com for $1000 less then Apple has it priced for on their website. :eek:

A couple things...

- I know I have to wait a little while for it, but for $1000, no big deal. :cool:

- How Amazon can do this, I do not know. It is sold through them, and not an an online retailer.

What do you guys think? Good choice?

E-mail with questions! bmrbob@comcast.net
Click to expand...

If it's this one: Two 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, 1.33 GHz per processor bus.
Then it's last year model because the new has a 1600Mhz front side bus.
Or it's been wrongly priced by Amazon which happens alot by them and will be canceled the day before the shipment.
There is no way that they can sell it for $1000.00 less, not to mention that Apple controls the prices and dictates what you can sell them for as a authorized vendor.
That's why you don't see many stores offering more than a couple % off or maybe something free like ram or such.
 
spiffy05 said:
Maybe bulk purchase discounts?
Click to expand...

That's part of it. Also, a company like Amazon can afford to shrink their sales margins a little. They are big enough and sell enough to make up the loss through increased volume, decreased overhead, free advertising, etc.

Still, $1000 is a big savings. I would consider it too, were I in the market for an MP.
 
danny_w said:
While that is normally true for Apple, it is certainly not my experience in general. For example, you can almost always buy a computer or monitor or tv or audio receiver from Best Buy for less than from the manufacturer (sometimes much less). Try ordering a Sony laptop from SonyStyle and then check that same laptop's price at Amazon or BB or some other store.
Click to expand...

I agree, which is what I don't understand. Most computer companies that sell their own computers via their site have prices higher than third party sellers. I would think they would have the lowest price so they get more of the customers...why in the world would Apple or Sony up their prices and allow Amazon sell the same products for $100 to $200 less! There's obviously profit loss.

A perfect example would be my brother and I. We both bought our MacBooks from Amazon because after researching prices I saw Amazon had a better price for the same laptop. If Apple.com had the better price I would have purchased it from them.
 
Might be an older model

You know
My friend bought a Macbook Pro for $500 less than on apple. We later found out that it was a older model, not that old though. I guess they were just clearing their inventory.

That might be the same case with you. Its an awesome way you to save some cash.
 
At first, that's what I thought too, so I went to amazon & apple and checked it out. Op is right - these seem like the new 8 core 3.0Ghz Mac Pros and according to amazon, they were first available on 1/8/2008. Actually, as op said, they're only available for preorder right now. Seems like a hot deal if you're in the market for a mac pro. On top of that, you don't have to pay tax, which saves you a few hundred.

Man, how I wish I had the cash to buy a mac pro. This is a HOT deal.

The one thing that I can think about pricing is that processor upgrades are a bit overprice (just a hunch, I'm not an expert) because $800 seems like a lot to go from a two 2.8Ghz Quad cores to two 3.0Ghz Quad cores. The funny thing at amazon is that the 2.8Ghz Mac Pro is only $50 less than the 3.0Ghz and if you factor in the rebates ($150 for the 2.8 & $200 for the 3.0) the price is the same! Dunno, does that say something about maybe how much the processors really cost & what apple is marking them up at?

20080222-t21jutu7413tnmtktubg6c6jrg.jpg


tuxtpenguin said:
It does sound like they are clearing older inventory.
Click to expand...
 
turtlebud said:
At first, that's what I thought too, so I went to amazon & apple and checked it out. Op is right - these seem like the new 8 core 3.0Ghz Mac Pros and according to amazon, they were first available on 1/8/2008. Actually, as op said, they're only available for preorder right now. Seems like a hot deal if you're in the market for a mac pro. On top of that, you don't have to pay tax, which saves you a few hundred.

Man, how I wish I had the cash to buy a mac pro. This is a HOT deal.
Click to expand...
Did you notice Amazon's model number? Z0EM1? That is not a regular Apple model number (MA...). Plus the tech details claim "1.33 GHz per processor bus" and Apple's is "1600MHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside buses". Something funky here.
 
There was a post very recently about someone who'd had an order, gone to change it (add a printer) and the price had gone up. I think it's a recent price hike by Apple. Mmm, can you say rebate?
 
dejo said:
Did you notice Amazon's model number? Z0EM1? That is not a regular Apple model number (MA...). Plus the tech details claim "1.33 GHz per processor bus" and Apple's is "1600MHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside buses". Something funky here.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I saw the model number, but that's because the only standard configuration for the Mac Pros is the 2.8Ghz model. All the other models are built to configure, so they don't have model numbers. If you check the specs at the apple support site, only the 2.8Ghz has a MA model number, the second column just has the config options. I think they give all their configured computers Z model numbers. My powermac g5 had a Z0CB model number cause I upgraded the graphics card and a couple of other things.

In terms of the tech details, yeah, I actually noticed that after I had posted and saw the bus speed (1.33Ghz) which aligns with the specs for the older 3.0, but the weird thing is that the graphics card is the same as the newer 3.0 model. There's even a discussion on it at amazon where people have emailed CS and they got conflicting information. The first guy said the CS rep said they were the dual core models (which is totally wrong - the should be at least the older 3.0 quad core models) and the second guy said that they were the new quad core models.

Anyways, I agree, there's something funky going on here - why this model is the only one on preorder while the 2.8 & 3.2Ghz models are ready to ship.
 
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DesignerOnMac said:
When I worked retail selling computers, I, of course, could check on the price the store paid for any item. The store only received a 10% profit over its cost! I find it hard to figure out how anyone can do these discounts!
Click to expand...

Yea I used to work at Circuit City and most of the time laptops and whatnot were only marked up by a small percent, usually less than 3%, sometimes UNDER cost. The way they make that back is through accessories. ;)
 
soms said:
Yea I used to work at Circuit City and most of the time laptops and whatnot were only marked up by a small percent, usually less than 3%, sometimes UNDER cost. The way they make that back is through accessories. ;)
Click to expand...
How then do they sell them routinely for from $100 to $300 or more off the retail price? CC and BB are constantly having sales like this.
 
Okay, I'll throw this WAG out there and hope I'm wrong. What IF Apple is planning on releasing an update to the MacPro's in April. But if they were updating in April, maybe it's a Blue-Ray update. Its very odd that Apple would describe the MacPro's as "Early 2008" model.
 
OOS Now

Congrats on all of you who got in on the deal - it's out of stock now. I'm hoping that it is in fact the newest revision, not the old model. Please post updates one you receive your Mac Pro. (i'm jealous) :)
 
I expect the orders will get canceled but I'm hoping with the rest of you as I ordered one too.
 
Here is the skinny...

I got one of the cancellation/error e-mails...

They claimed a pricing error...

I got them to call me using their online contact us info, and worked out a compromise. I got the 8-core 2.8Ghz for $2199.

I still consider this a smokin' deal, $600 below Apple's price.

The thing I have to say about Amazon is that they stepped up and worked out a fair compromise. A lot of bigger companies would have told me go jump in a lake. I will now be an amazon customer FOREVER.

I think I'll buy all my macs from them. As much as I hate to say this, I cannot see Apple ever being that accommodating.

Good luck to all that ordered! :)
 
The other day I looked and the MacBook Air was over $100 more expensive through Amazon than it was from the Apple store. Maybe this is the only model where this is true?
 
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