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Resolved Buy from Apples online store, or retail store.

M

muffinss

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 27, 2011
36
0
Hello all!

I am wondering if you can buy the 27 inch iMac with the Core i7 2.93ghz processor from the retail store. And if so, can you do the same upgrades to the iMac as the online store? Or at least have them upgrade the ram from the stock 4gb to 8gb? And is the upgrade from 4gb to 8gb the same amount as if ordering from the online store, which is only $200?

Pretty much, could I pick up a 27 inch iMac from the retail store with the following specs?
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM

I have only purchased from the online store so I've been wondering about the retail store lol
 
Last edited:
You can do the RAM update after you got the Mac, yourself, as it will save you money, as 8GB currently cost around 100 USD, therefore you save 100 USD and gain an extra 4GB due to you still being able to use the 4GB coming with the Mac.
Example:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/2010/DDR3_21.5_27
You can also try Newegg or other vendors.

And if you contact your Retail store, you can find out, if they have the model you want. Though I would advise against the Apple RAM update, as it costs more.
 
To my knowledge, you can only purchase the base configurations at the apple retail store. So you could buy the 3.06 or 3.2 21.5" or the 3.2 or 2.8 quadcore 27" but you can not upgrade bits and pieces at the store (such as RAM, or HDD).
 
I've used both, though the brick and mortar variety only has the typical stock options. You want to BTO option, you'll need to do that online.

The advantage of going with apple ram is that you don't have to fuss/muss with the computer and depending on the model you buy (MBP, MacPro, iMac) will dictate how easy/hard it will be. If the price for the ram increase isn't outrageous, its good to have apple do it and have the entire computer (ram and all) be under the same warranty.
 
RAM (and possibly hard drive) upgrades are easy enough to do yourself, but other upgrades, like CPU, screen resolution, glossy vs matte finish, etc. are not -- for those, you must BTO.
 
When I bought the mac mini from a brick and mortar I wanted the upgrade to 4gb of ram, they unboxed it in front of me so I could inspect it and then took it into the back and 10 min. later came out with the ram upgraded to 4gb. I'm sure they could do a HDD upgrade as well.
 
I never understood why they don't do HDD upgrades in the store, but they don't. Maybe because for iMacs and minis, it involves quite a bit of time to disassemble?
 
Buy from the retail store. Then you can as said above install the extra memory yourself saving money, plus you get the pleasure of actually going out and buying it and bringing it home, something I find far more enjoyable than ordering online and waiting.
 
Ty all for the help!

I successfully bought my 27 inch iMac at my local Apple retail store :] They had the Core i7's in stock and I was able to upgrade the ram to 8gb for the same price as the online store. I also saved some money since the tax was cheaper at the store than the online store xD
 
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