Best Buy July Black Friday - rMBP sale worth it or wait?

[jjahshik32]

nah haswell isnt THAT much of a difference, besides, macbooks usually only get an update around wwdc so now would be a perfect time to buy, as the next major update to macbook pros would be next july

I agree. Haswell will give you more battery life but as long as you don't care about the intel GPU, I'd say jump on this deal because its a huge steal. The current specs is nothing to sneeze at either and the difference between the haswell and current mbp will be so small that in real life experience you won't feel a thing except a reminder that you couldn't believe you got the rMBP for $1499.

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

Update

Finally got the e-mail I was waiting for, nearly 9 hours after I placed my order (at 4:33 AM PDT).

Except it wasn't what I was expecting. It was a cancellation notice.

I am livid. Cancel it on my right away? Fine. But after having successfully placed the order - and then told 3 hours ago (when I called at 10:45 AM PDT) that it was still "in process" and "don't worry, everything's fine" - only to have it cancelled anyway?

 

[tgi]

Finally got the e-mail I was waiting for, nearly 9 hours after I placed my order (at 4:33 AM PDT).

Except it wasn't what I was expecting. It was a cancellation notice.

I am livid. Cancel it on my right away? Fine. But after having successfully placed the order - and then told 3 hours ago (when I called at 10:45 AM PDT) that it was still "in process" and "don't worry, everything's fine" - only to have it cancelled anyway?

Deal was too good to be true anyways. I placed the same order and got it cancelled. Oh well.

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

Deal was too good to be true anyways. I placed the same order and got it cancelled. Oh well.

Yes but how much time transpired between your order submittal and your cancellation?

If my store really did run out of inventory yesterday, I think that should've been reflected in an updated inventory before the store had been open for over 2 1/2 hours already.

A Conspiracy Theorist on another site/thread said that a BB employee probably saw that I had purchased the Clearance unit via the deal and had cancelled it themselves so they could take it instead. I don't lean towards Conspiracy Theories but I have to say that getting a cancellation notice over 9 1/2 hours after I placed the order is definitely filed under "Things that make you go 'Hmmn'" ...

EDIT: BTW the following stores are still showing as having it (the unit I ordered) on the BB site:

Available for store pickup at BOYNTON BEACH FL
Available for store pickup at WILLISTON VT
Available for store pickup at SAN ANGELO TX
Available for store pickup at BALDWIN NY
Available for store pickup at KILLEEN TX
Available for store pickup at SAN RAFAEL CA
Available for store pickup at AUGUSTA GA

 

[tgi]

Yes but how much time transpired between your order submittal and your cancellation?

If my store really did run out of inventory yesterday, I think that should've been reflected in an updated inventory before the store had been open for over 2 1/2 hours already.

A Conspiracy Theorist on another site/thread said that a BB employee probably saw that I had purchased the Clearance unit via the deal and had cancelled it themselves so they could take it instead. I don't lean towards Conspiracy Theories but I have to say that getting a cancellation notice over 9 1/2 hours after I placed the order is definitely filed under "Things that make you go 'Hmmn'" ...

EDIT: BTW the following stores are still showing as having it (the unit I ordered) on the BB site:

Available for store pickup at BOYNTON BEACH FL
Available for store pickup at WILLISTON VT
Available for store pickup at SAN ANGELO TX
Available for store pickup at BALDWIN NY
Available for store pickup at KILLEEN TX
Available for store pickup at SAN RAFAEL CA
Available for store pickup at AUGUSTA GA

I received the cancellation notice shortly after placing the order. While I understand it must be more frustrating that you waited so long for the cancellation e-mail, didn't you have a gut feeling that the deal to was too good to be true from the beginning?

Who knows what really happened? Maybe it was just an error on Best Buy's end.

Anyways, the situation sucks and I feel your pain. How were you able to search all those BB stores? Did you go through each on individually?

----------

This is weird. When you search SKU# 5430532. Which is the SKU# listed on all the "clearance" rMBPs, there is none to be found. Leads me to believe this was just a glitch/error on Best Buy's side. Don't know why they're still showing up at some stores though.

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

I received the cancellation notice shortly after placing the order. While I understand it must be more frustrating that you waited so long for the cancellation e-mail, didn't you have a gut feeling that the deal to was too good to be true from the beginning?

Who knows what really happened? Maybe it was just an error on Best Buy's end.

Anyways, the situation sucks and I feel your pain. How were you able to search all those BB stores? Did you go through each on individually?

----------

This is weird. When you search SKU# 5430532. Which is the SKU# listed on all the "clearance" rMBPs, there is none to be found. Leads me to believe this was just a glitch/error on Best Buy's side. Don't know why they're still showing up at some stores though.

No I didn't think it was too good to be true. Best Buy's site talks about Black Friday sales so why would I? Also, in the threads on other sites (FW and SD) they were started yesterday so many people got in on the game before I did - but I still saw it fairly early (Pacific Time) out here so I thought maybe I was seeing the last of the stock before everyone in SoCal woke up

I didn't search stores individually, no. I just left out the store location and got back every Apple product that was an "In-store Clearance" and priced above $1000.

 

[sam2428]

The 2 day best buy rMBP deal sounds really tempting...

Up until now, I had pretty much convinced myself of buying a 13" macbook air mainly due to the 12 hr battery life, portability, and cost. Also, even though I love the retina screen, I just could not get myself to pay $200-300 more just to have a pretty screen. The Air's performance is also more than adequate for all my needs.

Now with $200 off, plus the $100 back to school discount at best buy I'm looking at $1199 + tax = ~$1307. Which is only about $100 more than what the Air would cost me....

I guess my real deciding factor now is 7hrs vs 12 hrs battery life

 

[tgi]

No I didn't think it was too good to be true. Best Buy's site talks about Black Friday sales so why would I? Also, in the threads on other sites (FW and SD) they were started yesterday so many people got in on the game before I did - but I still saw it fairly early (Pacific Time) out here so I thought maybe I was seeing the last of the stock before everyone in SoCal woke up

I didn't search stores individually, no. I just left out the store location and got back every Apple product that was an "In-store Clearance" and priced above $1000.

I see. So what are your plans now? Are you going to take advantage of the July Black Friday sale or perhaps order from another site? Did anyone from the other 2 sites (SD and FW) successfully order one of the clearance rMBPs?

Out of the 7 stores listed earlier, only 5 are left. Maybe they are finally updating the site.

BOYNTON BEACH FL
WILLISTON VT
SAN ANGELO TX
BALDWIN NY
AUGUSTA GA

 

[gentleman00]

I guess my real deciding factor now is 7hrs vs 12 hrs battery life

Well, if you are working in the middle of the desert or jungle without access to an electric outlet, then maybe the MBA is the right choice. But seriously, how many of us are working more than 7 hours a day in workplaces that do no have an electric outlet?

I mean if you are an environmentalist, zoologists, or archeologists who works out in the field, yes by all means go for the MBA.

 

[dmk1974]

The 2 day best buy rMBP deal sounds really tempting...



I guess my real deciding factor now is 7hrs vs 12 hrs battery life

Plus dealing with the screen lag on the retina. Or did they finally resolve it with 10.8.4?

 

[NYY FaN]

I just called the baldwin location and they don't have any in stock.

 

[mlsusa]

Picked up the $1,499 13" and it's as awesome as I thought. Except that according to iStatPro the battery has already had 4 charge cycles. I recently bought an MBA directly from Apple (that I returned to buy this Pro) and it had zero charge cycles the first time I fired it up.

I looked around the different pages on how to check if I have a refurb or new but nothing really helpful there. The MBP itself looks pristine and the packaging seems to look okay so not sure if this is nothing and I shouldn't worry about it or if I should look into it more.

Anyone know if brand new notebooks can already have charge cycles out of the box?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Never mind (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1423688/ ... duh)

 

[sofianito]

Picked up the $1,499 13" and it's as awesome as I thought. Except that according to iStatPro the battery has already had 4 charge cycles. I recently bought an MBA directly from Apple (that I returned to buy this Pro) and it had zero charge cycles the first time I fired it up.

I looked around the different pages on how to check if I have a refurb or new but nothing really helpful there. The MBP itself looks pristine and the packaging seems to look okay so not sure if this is nothing and I shouldn't worry about it or if I should look into it more.

Anyone know if brand new notebooks can already have charge cycles out of the box?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Never mind (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1423688/ ... duh)

You shouldn't worry at all, 4 cycles is insignificant.

 

[mlsusa]

You shouldn't worry at all, 4 cycles is insignificant.

Thanks. I was a little worried that I bought it as new when it was actually a returned item but that didn't jive with my Best Buy experiences, which have pretty much been all positive for purchases big and small. I got tunnel vision and focused my search on how to find out if the machine was a refurb when I should've searched if it was normal to buy new notebooks that already had charge cycles. Which it is based on that link that I found (that's actually another thread in this forum).

 

[sam2428]

Plus dealing with the screen lag on the retina. Or did they finally resolve it with 10.8.4?

Also curious about the same....

Seems like there is screen lag when doing heavy multi-tasking from reviews I have read, but to be honest I havent done a whole lot of research on the rMBP until recently.

For light usage (word processing, emails, web browsing, itunes, etc) would this be a problem on the 2012 rMBP?

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

I see. So what are your plans now? Are you going to take advantage of the July Black Friday sale or perhaps order from another site? Did anyone from the other 2 sites (SD and FW) successfully order one of the clearance rMBPs?

Out of the 7 stores listed earlier, only 5 are left. Maybe they are finally updating the site.

BOYNTON BEACH FL
WILLISTON VT
SAN ANGELO TX
BALDWIN NY
AUGUSTA GA

[EDIT: Now Boynton Beach and San Angelo are no longer showing up. Just 3 left.]

I gave up. What I really want is a Haswell 16 GB Mac mini; this was just one of those "Too good to pass up" deals. I had to try.

I am still really pissed at BB over the 8 1/2+ hour delay between my order and the cancellation, btw. On another site someone posted this verrrrrrrry interesting observation:

"I have been burned with some screaming BB close out deals in the past. They are rare but do happen. Ordered online and when I arrived, they weren't available. Tough luck in short was their response. So the next deal that came up I went into the store to the computer department. It was a $399 laptop marked down from $799. Online it said 2 available. I went into the computer department and gave them the SKU. Their eyes lit up at the savings. She said 2 in stock, but had to check. Came back and sure enough said it was incorrect. None available.

I knew she was hoarding but nothing I could do. The next deal that came up, I went to the camera department. Asked that girl to look up the SKU. She did and said 2 available. She went to the back and brought both available laptops back with no issues. I checked it out in the camera section with no problems at all. I'd suggest to NOT order online, but instead if it says available, go to BB and check the SKU in a different department and go from there. Any department can look up the SKU."

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

When I placed my order AmEx automatically kicked in a fraud check block because of all the volume of charges to Best Buy. I immediately called it in to approve the charge (which it was - it's still showing in my "Pending Charges"), but I just got told this by Best Buy Support on Twitter:

"Our system automatically cancels orders when there's a fraud check in case it's identity theft. Can be annoying, I know."

 

[thelookingglass]

Also curious about the same....

Seems like there is screen lag when doing heavy multi-tasking from reviews I have read, but to be honest I havent done a whole lot of research on the rMBP until recently.

For light usage (word processing, emails, web browsing, itunes, etc) would this be a problem on the 2012 rMBP?

Seems much of the screen lag has been resolved in Mavericks. Having said that, I'd still wait for the Haswell update if for no other reason than an updated GPU and better battery life.

 

[sam2428]

Seems much of the screen lag has been resolved in Mavericks. Having said that, I'd still wait for the Haswell update if for no other reason than an updated GPU and better battery life.

Thanks for the reply. Yea, I would like to wait for the haswell update but with the update also comes a higher price tag. I'd like to stay around my $1200 budget if possible (which is why I was originally planning on the 13" MBA).

But this discount really puts the rMBP at about the same price...thats the only reason I am considering it.