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Apple store or Bestbuy?

Best Buy will offer longer term no-interest financing than Apple, if you need/want it.

Otherwise you can save a little money going the educational route from Apple.
 
Best Buy. Reward Zone points are sweet. The Apple Store in my city is a PITA to go to. I waited for an hour with my name on their stupid list before I just left. Maybe other stores aren't so busy but the store near me has been a madhouse everytime I've gone to it.
 
FibreSteve said:
Well I have decided to buy my iMac at Bestbuy verses the Apple store. I will be paying cash and will not have to pay tax since I am buying it in Oregon (no sales tax there). I am not a student so I can't get that discount. From what I can tell from the Bestbuy coupons, I can get the 500 GB external hard drive OR the $130 gift card, Not both and it looks like the iMac does qualify for the gift card. Just has to be over $1000. Not hard to do with most Apple products! Now I need to decide. 27" iMac or 21.5"? I like the fact that the 27" comes with a 1 TB hard drive and a dedicated graphics card, but do I really need all that real estate? I don't do any gaming and the most graphic intense thing I would be doing is editing photos in iPhoto and maybe some video editing. Decisions...decisions.
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Well the $1499 iMac comes with the same graphics as on the 27" and the same 1TB drive. You're paying $200 for the screen size and resolution. I personally go for the 27. Even if you'd just be watching movies and browsing the web, that's alot of screen real estate.
 
I'm hoping that Amazon will have a Black Friday sale and I'll order one from there. They're already better than the Education Discount for some people since you don't have to pay sales tax and they qualify for free shipping.
 
FibreSteve said:
Thanks for all the quick replies!

This is actually MY first Mac but I did buy my Wife a Macbook Pro a couple of weeks ago so I have already had the Apple store experience. Guess I should have clarified that it my initial post. After buying the Macbook Pro I thought the whole Apple store thing was OK but nothing too special since I had been in there a few times before I bought it and had already picked the Genius's brains. I think I will try Bestbuy this time. It's just too hard to pass up a free 500 GB hard drive and or the $130 gift card right now. I also am thinking of purchasing Apple care from Amazon. It is quite a bit cheaper there then with Apple. Another thing I want to buy is the Apple remote. I didn't see it on Bestbuy's website. Anyone know if they sell the remote there?
Click to expand...

If your going to purchase AppleCare. but it for LA Computing, they have the cheapest costs. Cheaper than Amazon.
 
If it matters for anyone else reading this thread later-on-down-the-road, one thing that Apple Stores offer that Best Buy doesn't is the One-To-One program for $99. That program includes moving data from your Windows PC over to your Mac, a "Meet your Mac" intro class, and then you get the ability to book as many private, one-hour training sessions as you want for the next year (for both technical stuff and doing creative stuff).

Probably not a big deal to most of the Mac-saavy forum members here, but something to remember if you run into someone switching for the first time that might be not as comfortable.
 
FibreSteve said:
Tomorrow I am buying my first Mac. I know it will most likely be the 27 inch iMac. I was planning on buying it at the Apple store but Bestbuy just came out with a deal when you buy an iMac you get a 500 GB Iomega Go hard drive for free. I am also a Platinum member at Best buy and could rack up a few extra points buying it there. Is there any advantage to purchasing my iMac at the Apple store or Bestbuy? Thanks in advance for the help.
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I think for every grand you spend they give you a giftcard for like $130. I got the same magazine that you got i think but it is at home. check it out.
 
I was told at my Best Buy that they would honor any education discount Apple offers as long as I showed my Student ID.

Where did you see the promotions/coupons for the gift card or hard drive? I plan on buying an iMac tomorrow.
 
I ended up buying the 27" iMac from Best Buy. When I first looked at the 21.5" model I thought the screen was plenty big and the 27" was outragous. For only $200 more I just couldn't say no to that beautiful 27" screen! The whole buying experience at BB was fine and I did get the 500 GB USB/Firewire external hard drive for free with my Reward Zone coupon I received in the mail. I did not get the $130 gift card because it excluded all computer puchases. Still got a good deal though. Very happy with my purchase. I am having one problem sighing up to Mobile Me with the family pa k I purchased with my Wifes MacBook Pro last month. When I put my code in it says that it has already been used.
 
One thing Best Buy has going for it if you are going to buy an extended warranty is that their PSPs are renewable. I got a refund check for the full purchase price of a laptop 5 years after I bought it and the logic board died when I was out of the country. I simply called them up, told them the repair shop said the logic board needed replaced, they said that repair exceeded their "reasonable repair cost" limit and said they would just cut me a check for the purchase price of the laptop. Had it been something cheaper they said they would have cut me a check for whatever the repair cost was. They didn't even ask for proof though I bet they are supposed to and I just got lucky. So I got a 1600dollar check 5 years after I bought the thing for about a 400-500 dollar total cost in warranty plan at the time. (I think it was about 200 dollars per 3 years at that time can't recall exactly)
 
what deals does best buy have on Mac Mini's?
from their web site I don't see any incentives.

Do I get a free external hard drive or something?

Apple store is giving a mail in rebate for a $100 printer but I don't need a printer and I stink at rebates and never seem to get the checks...

Could use an external 4 sure.

I'm also going to use an educational discount on a new mini or buy a refurbished one from apple store depending on what deals I can find.

Figured I should at least wait for Black friday.
 
I'm done with Best Buy. Most of the people I've dealt with there are nice and they do a good job.

However, Best Buy is structured like 5 separate companies as a c/s rep told me
this week. I was trying to return a preorder on a BR, get credit and buy an
Apple magic mouse they had in stock. Well, he couldn't refund the preorder
because I did it online. And I did that because their online prices are so much lower than in store. And even if he could have done it, I might have to wait an hour before the refund showed back up on my BB gift card(which they use for credits).

Too much hassle. Not orientated to customer service at all. Ridiculous
structure. Buy from an Apple store or Amazon in my book.
 
PeterQVenkman said:
Best Buy will offer longer term no-interest financing than Apple, if you need/want it.

Otherwise you can save a little money going the educational route from Apple.
Click to expand...

Do you have to be a BB member or card holder for that to work? I'm hazy on BB since I have never been to one.
 
bmstrong said:
Do you have to be a BB member or card holder for that to work? I'm hazy on BB since I have never been to one.
Click to expand...
Yeah, their extended interest-free financing is with their in-house credit card. If you don't have one, you can apply while you're in the store.
 
I don't know which is worse, the sloppy looking, smarmy hipster doofuses at the Apple store, or the teenage boygeek retards at Best Buy.

Apple has free shipping, just order online and save yourself the hassle.

solchitlins said:
and I stink at rebates and never seem to get the checks...
Click to expand...
Has nothing to do with your personal odor, all "mail in rebates" are a scam. Period. They count on people to be apathetic and lazy and simply accept their merit-less rejections.

That's why they do mail-in rebates instead of instant rebates. Instant rebates at the cash register means 100% of the people get the rebate savings. Mail-in rebates means 40% of the buyers won't even bother to mail them in (or they forget). Of the ones that do send them in, they reject 3/4 of those for no reason at all, just because, knowing that most people won't argue it since it's now weeks after the initial purchase and they've likely forgotten about it. The end result is that they only pay out on a very small fraction of purchasers for those mail-in rebates, which equals bigger profits for them.

It's a scam to take your money. Plain and simple. I don't buy anything that says "mail in rebate" because it's more hassle than it's worth, and in the end, I likely won't receive it anyways.
 
Wotan31 said:
Has nothing to do with your personal odor, all "mail in rebates" are a scam. Period. They count on people to be apathetic and lazy and simply accept their merit-less rejections.

That's why they do mail-in rebates instead of instant rebates. Instant rebates at the cash register means 100% of the people get the rebate savings. Mail-in rebates means 40% of the buyers won't even bother to mail them in (or they forget). Of the ones that do send them in, they reject 3/4 of those for no reason at all, just because, knowing that most people won't argue it since it's now weeks after the initial purchase and they've likely forgotten about it. The end result is that they only pay out on a very small fraction of purchasers for those mail-in rebates, which equals bigger profits for them.

It's a scam to take your money. Plain and simple. I don't buy anything that says "mail in rebate" because it's more hassle than it's worth, and in the end, I likely won't receive it anyways.
Click to expand...

Not sure which rebates you are referencing. But most manufacturer rebates are flakey and have a lot of fine print which give you all the NECESSARY info that MUST be provided. However, Apple rebates are extremely simple and easy to apply for and come like clockwork in a month.

Now for our differences. Why deride people who work at Apple or BB?
 
skye12 said:
Not sure which rebates you are referencing. But most manufacturer rebates are flakey and have a lot of fine print which give you all the NECESSARY info
that MUST be provided.
Click to expand...
Has nothing to do with necessary info and what must be provided. You said it yourself, most manufacturer rebates are flaky. They're designed to be flaky, to maximize profits and minimize payouts. I've done a few myself where I read all the fine print, mail in ALL the required materials, and still they reject them. It takes hours on the phone to argue with them that yes, I did indeed include the UPC code, and no, I cannot mail it in again because THEY have it in their possession, and the rebate instructions said it had to be the original and not a copy, so how could I possibly submit my claim again?? It's a scam. Period. Companies that handle their own rebate claims (like Apple) are better about it than most, who outsource their rebate handling.
 
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