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Apple's European Black Friday Sales Go Live with Discounted Prices, Not Gift Cards

I'm blown away by the savings that can be made. It might even pay for lunch out and the petrol to the Apple store!
 
I want to buy a base model 21.5" iMac. My question is, how important is it that i get one with a 1TB fusion drive? It adds $200 to the cost. Is it worth it?

I do nothing too intensive, occasionally some photo editing. I'm in the US.

I'm looking at the $1,099 (-$200) bestbuy deal.
VS.
The apple store $1,199 (-$100?) + $200 fusion drive = $1,399
 
One thing that is slightly annoying, is that they are giving 7-10% off iPad Air's barely a month since they were released. Sure gonna piss-off quite a few who may have literally just received there's.

BTW, the discount percentages on the Wifi-only models (~8 upto ~10%) are HIGHER than on the more expensive Cellular models (~6 upto ~8%). So they must be trying to shift MORE of the Wifi-only ones than the Cellular ones, plus trying to get people to get Air's rather than the limited supply rMini's. Minorly clever ploy.

The fixed £81 on all MBP/rMBP's is not that good though (very low percentage, under ~5%) as per normal every year.
Whereas the cheaper MBA's get the SAME amount, so you get a better percentage off (all depending on the 'extras' you add, of course!).

And most of the Apple accessories/smaller items can be gotten elsewhere for cheaper anytime.

...but then who expected anything better, really. It's all "Apple trying to be a part of Black Friday" smoke and mirrors marketing nonsense, and we all know it.
 
I just love the fact that 9to5Mac was wrong. Just like with the retina iPad mini launch. I hope Apple screws with the rumor sites more often. :D
 
osaga said:
I want to buy a base model 21.5" iMac. My question is, how important is it that i get one with a 1TB fusion drive? It adds $200 to the cost. Is it worth it?

I do nothing too intensive, occasionally some photo editing. I'm in the US.

I'm looking at the $1,099 (-$200) bestbuy deal.
VS.
The apple store $1,199 (-$100?) + $200 fusion drive = $1,399
Click to expand...

I'd personally go for the Flash storage and do my other storage via an external Thunderbolt device (low LATENCY compared to USB 3, makes it snappier!). As it'll give you the fastest SYSTEM access possible (and boot times), while STORAGE is not needed to be fast, hence can be dealt with separately, and you can expand it much easier dealing with it separately by simply upgrading the storage device in future as and when needed (hence Apple's thinking, as the main reason large in-built storage is not a part of the new upcoming Mac Pro's design, given we have even faster Thunderbolt 2 which can handle most things externally).
 
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I wonder if local law comes into play. Perhaps there are more regulations on gift cards in the EU that Apple doesn't want to deal with that aren't issues in Australia, New Zealand, or the US.
 
jimthing said:
I'd personally go for the Flash storage and do my other storage via an external Thunderbolt device (low LATENCY compared to USB 3, makes it snappier!). As it'll give you the fastest SYSTEM access possible (and boot times), while STORAGE is not needed to be fast, hence can be dealt with separately, and you can expand it much easier dealing with it separately by simply upgrading the storage device in future as and when needed (hence Apple's thinking, as the main reason large in-built storage is not a part of the new upcoming Mac Pro's design, given we have even faster Thunderbolt 2 which can handle most things externally).
Click to expand...

Thanks! I hadn't thought of that. The 256GB flash storage option for the iMac is no additional cost. However the external HD w/ thunderbolt is $199 for 1TB. I have about 300GB of stuff currently and I doubt I'll need more than 1TB in the next 4 years, so the expandability isn't a huge concern.

I really want to save that $300 tomorrow, but the fusion/ssd speed looks glorious.
 
carl0sian said:
Just give me a discount, tax free sale and I'm sold:apple:
Click to expand...

MacMall? (Except they don't seem to much beyond the wi-fi models in stock.) Or any of the other retailers doing something?

I wonder why MR thinks the US will have gift-card promotions despite both gift cards and regular discounts floating around in the wild now (though honestly, I think they'll use the gift cards too, since it probably works out better for them in the end).

On a related note, looking at Target's website, I originally thought the gift card offer was also valid online (for the models that are actually sold online, which seems to just be the cellular ones). I still think this is true, but it doesn't seem to matter since they are all "currently unavailable" (and the wifi ones are only sold in store). EDIT: I think this is right. Some are still in stock online (minis). Maybe I was just too late.
 
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Interesting that in store pickup is gone for at least the rMini in the US store right now.

Also, retina mini's don't get any discounts it seems.
 
osaga said:
Thanks! I hadn't thought of that. The 256GB flash storage option for the iMac is no additional cost. However the external HD w/ thunderbolt is $199 for 1TB. I have about 300GB of stuff currently and I doubt I'll need more than 1TB in the next 4 years, so the expandability isn't a huge concern.

I really want to save that $300 tomorrow, but the fusion/ssd speed looks glorious.
Click to expand...

...fair enough, don't forget though, you may want to spend the saving on an external drive for backups though. And if you have 1 TB in main storage, best practice if using Time Machine's incremental backups is to aim for a 1:3 ratio, hence you'd probably need a 3 TB external drive.

e.g. the Lacie 3TB Tbolt/USB3 model (includes both Tbolt & USB3 cables!) is also discounted here in the UK (16.8%), so possibly will be in US ($300 to $250):
UK: http://store.apple.com/uk/product/HB313ZM/A/lacie-3tb-d2-usb-30-thunderbolt-series-hard-drive / US: http://store.apple.com/us/product/HB313ZM/A/lacie-3tb-d2-usb-30-thunderbolt-series-hard-drive
 
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Darkashnet said:
Less hassle than the giftcard I suppose.

Still better deals elsewhere :)

But £81 off the £2199 Macbook Pro makes me laugh.
Click to expand...

I would guess the switch is due to poor sales. Money left in your pocket is better than a gift card.
 
Biolizard said:
Not Japan by the looks of it. Don't Apple normally do the 'goody bag' event that's popular in Japan, where you pay so much and get a bag of mystery gifts that is often of a higher cash value? (the tradeoff being you don't know what you're getting until you've paid for it and opened it)
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the goody bag is somewhere in beginning of January
 
Speaking of discounts, I saw some 4K TVs selling for $6000 at best buy being discounted to $4999.96! Got me wondering, people willing to pay that much for a 4K TV aren't that price sensitive, so why bother discounting it? And why even try to make it look cheaper with the 99 price trick? At those prices, the 99 price trick just cheapens the product IMO.

I can see apple discounting some things like an iPad 2 or even the first gen iPad mini, iPods, entry model MBPs, but it doesn't make sense IMO to bother discounting the higher end configurations. People who buy thunderbolt displays, mac pros, ultimate config laptops, ultimate storage iPads aren't really price sensitive. So why discount those things at all?
 
Laco said:
The thing I am curious about the most is whether you can get the student discount in addition to the gift card in the US.
Click to expand...

Historically Apple has a policy of only one discount per purchase. They don't allow compounding discounts. Then again, most retailers have this policy.

----------
Darkashnet said:
Less hassle than the giftcard I suppose.

Still better deals elsewhere :)

But £81 off the £2199 Macbook Pro makes me laugh.
Click to expand...

Same here. The discount IMO is not worth dealing with the crowds at the store on that day.
 
Fingers crossed for the gift cards! Higher value--and I'm buying a Mac Pro so it would be like cash to me.

CFreymarc said:
Same here. The discount IMO is not worth dealing with the crowds at the store on that day.
Click to expand...

You can get Apple's discounts at apple.com--no need to shop in person.

I have tended to doubt there would be official black Friday deals on the retina Mini, just because then 100% of them would then qualify for price protection. It's an odd situation, releasing a new product just a couple weeks before black Friday.

But Australia gave me hope!
 
Canada's as well. Quite nervous as I think what'll finally get me to decide which iPad will be the prices revealed. Canada doesn't seem to have a lot of deals for it so the Apple store may be it for me.
 
OMG, I can't believe they're only giving 100 euro discounts, that barely pays couple cups of coffee!

OMG, I can't believe they are raising prices 100 euros! That's a huge money - it could pay my parents hospital bills for 10 years and my children's education.

OMG, it's internet! Nothing makes sense unless it's in context.
 
Not huge discounts, but I picked up a 4G iPad for my father, should keep him occupied this Christmas!
 
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