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Buying an iMac i7 from Best Buy

K

kyle99

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 11, 2009
22
0
Alright, this situation I'm in is a bit confusing, so try to bear with me. I'm going to be purchasing my first ever mac, and I decided on the 27 inch i7 iMac. However, I'm locked into buying from Best Buy due to me requiring their finance options. This may seem simple, but there appears to be a number of problems with this:
  • Can you get a student discount from either the Best Buy instore or the Best Buy online store?
  • Does Best Buy even sell i7 iMac's instore?

Anybody have any experience in this? Any help would be greatly appreciated :)
 
Yes.
Maybe.

If you qualify for a BB financing, then you probably could get a low interest, or even a much lower interest than BB, credit card instead?
 
kyle99 said:
Alright, this situation I'm in is a bit confusing, so try to bear with me. I'm going to be purchasing my first ever mac, and I decided on the 27 inch i7 iMac. However, I'm locked into buying from Best Buy due to me requiring their finance options. This may seem simple, but there appears to be a number of problems with this:
  • Can you get a student discount from either the Best Buy instore or the Best Buy online store?
  • Does Best Buy even sell i7 iMac's instore?

Anybody have any experience in this? Any help would be greatly appreciated :)
Click to expand...

don't Apple Stores in US have financing? the UK ones do...
 
Best Buy does not readily offer student discounts on any hardware or software. Usually if you plan on purchasing the extended service plan or extra accessories you can talk to a manager and have them price match the student discount that Apple offers. It's been done many times.

For right now, anything in the store $499.99 and up is 0% interest with 18-month financing. If I recall correctly, Best Buy's financing usually always beats whatever Apple is offering.

The last time Best Buy offered any advertised student discounts on Apple products was last year during back to school school with a free iPod Touch instantly when you purchase a Mac.

Hope this helps!

Source: Best Buy Employee
 
i'm 90% sure that apple themselves have no interest financing, would that not be a better idea for you? then you probably can get student discount
 
JNickyJJ said:
i'm 90% sure that apple themselves have no interest financing, would that not be a better idea for you? then you probably can get student discount
Click to expand...

From Apple's website:

  • Get 18 months deferred interest on your first Apple purchase of more than $2500 or more. If balances are not paid in full within 18 months, interest will be charged from the purchase date at a 22.99% variable APR.
  • Get 12 months deferred interest on your first Apple purchase of more than $900 but less than $2500. If balances are not paid in full within 12 months, interest will be charged from the purchase date at a 22.99% variable APR.
  • Get 6 months deferred interest on your first Apple purchase of less than $900. If balances are not paid in full within 6 months, interest will be charged from the purchase date at a 22.99% variable APR.

IMO their financing is a little lackluster and leaves much to be desired.
 
entity said:
From Apple's website:

  • Get 18 months deferred interest on your first Apple purchase of more than $2500 or more. If balances are not paid in full within 18 months, interest will be charged from the purchase date at a 22.99% variable APR.
  • Get 12 months deferred interest on your first Apple purchase of more than $900 but less than $2500. If balances are not paid in full within 12 months, interest will be charged from the purchase date at a 22.99% variable APR.
  • Get 6 months deferred interest on your first Apple purchase of less than $900. If balances are not paid in full within 6 months, interest will be charged from the purchase date at a 22.99% variable APR.

IMO their financing is a little lackluster and leaves much to be desired.
Click to expand...

That's not as bad as before where if you missed a payment because they moved up your due date (without telling you), they charged you interest for everything.
 
entity said:
IMO their financing is a little lackluster and leaves much to be desired.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how it could be much better. Almost any new Mac you buy will get you 12 to 18 months, interest free, so long as you pay it off in that time period. You could buy the new 15" i7 MBP, pay less than $200/month for 12 months and never pay a penny of interest.

alphaod said:
That's not as bad as before where if you missed a payment because they moved up your due date (without telling you), they charged you interest for everything.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of that. They moved up the monthly due date?
 
Yeah, it looked like to get the mac financing, you have to get an additional credit card, which I wouldn't want to do. It also sounds like the best buy student discount is on a store-to-store basis, so I called mine and they said they offer the same one as the apple.com store. I guess the only thing left to do is see if they have an i7 model.
 
Why not just get the Apple Store student pricing, and get financing from Apple direct? Or is 18 months finacing not long enough? (Granted you'll have to pay $300 more than you originally wanted to, to begin).

I don't believe Best Buy will sell the i7, as it's a custom order product.
 
TheBritishBloke said:
Why not just get the Apple Store student pricing, and get financing from Apple direct? Or is 18 months finacing not long enough? (Granted you'll have to pay $300 more than you originally wanted to, to begin).

I don't believe Best Buy will sell the i7, as it's a custom order product.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but in order to get the Apple Store financing, you have to apply for their credit card :rolleyes:
 
Get the financing. Buy the computer. Get the credit card in the mail. Cut up the credit card. Pay off the computer over time. When the balance is $0, close the account. Simple.

If you don't want to do that, you're probably going to have to "settle" for the i5, because (as mentioned above), it doesn't seem you can buy the i7 anywhere other than direct from Apple. But if you can find it at Best Buy and they'll give you the student discount, rock on.
 
IgnatiusTheKing said:
Get the financing. Buy the computer. Get the credit card in the mail. Cut up the credit card. Pay off the computer over time. When the balance is $0, close the account. Simple.

If you don't want to do that, you're probably going to have to "settle" for the i5, because (as mentioned above), it doesn't seem you can buy the i7 anywhere other than direct from Apple. But if you can find it at Best Buy and they'll give you the student discount, rock on.
Click to expand...

Alright, I guess I'll just order it with the apple financing.
 
kyle99 said:
Yeah, but I'm already a member of their premier silver thingy, so it wouldn't require any additional registration.
Click to expand...

Whoever told you that is totally wrong. Trust me, I work at Best Buy. Registering for the credit card is completely and totally different than the reward zone, a third party actually approves the app. That being said, if you can get approved, its a pretty nifty card to have.
 
Why not get a small loan from a credit union? If the bestbuy financing offer is like apple's, with the cumulative interest kicking in if you don't pay back in full by a certain time... why even bother? If you need the no interest deal now, what makes you so sure you're going to be able to pay it back later within the specific time limit? It seems like unnecessary risk.
 
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