Buying from Third Party Retailer

[Autrement]

I'm in the market for an rMBP '13, and I was thinking I was going to wait until June for the expected news of a Haswell Refresh at WWDC, but in scouring the internet for news about it, I came across news of the deep discounts that places like MacMall are offering on current generations to unload them. You can see in the chart at the bottom of this link:

appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/06/best-buy-macbook-pro-sale-helps-push-down-prices-on-13-retina-models

My question is, are there any downsides to buying through a third party like MacMall rather than through the Apple Store? I suppose a return would be a problem, but Apple will take care of any problems under warranty and I can still buy Applecare. If you take no sales tax through MacMall into account, isn't it even better? (Yes, yes, I know that sales tax SHOULD still be reported 🙄)

Do prices for these older models just continue to drop even further after the announcement of a new model as long as they're still in stock? Macmall has a promo code for an extra 3% off through May 31. Is there any reason to spring for one now?

I might be convinced to spring for Haswell if the refresh is ridiculously awesome, but I think the older ones might suit my needs and I would be happy to get a little bit extra for my money. Unless, is there any reasonable chance the new rMBPs might see a price drop too?

Thanks for any insight or speculation you might have.

 

[saturnotaku]

As long as the reseller is Apple authorized, which MacMall certainly is, you will have no trouble getting service, adding AppleCare if you so desire, and so forth.

The MBP in my signature was purchased from MicroCenter a bit more than a month after the announcement of the 2012 MBP lineup. It cost $1599 + tax. The same machine would have cost $2649 + tax when it was "current" (October 2011-June 2012). Shortly thereafter, I added AppleCare purchased from Adorama Camera for $244, another significant savings over the $349 retail price.

I think waiting until after a new product line is announced and picking up "last year's" model on sale/clearance is a good use of resources.

 

[KPOM]

MacMall's return policies are stingy (essentially all Mac sales are final), so you need to be sure of it. That said, they are an authorized reseller and Apple's warranty applies in full. I once purchased a MacBook Air from MacMall. The logic board failed after a few days. Apple exchanged it on the spot at one of their stores since it was within Apple Store's own 14-day exchange period.

 

[johnnnw]

MacMall's return policies are stingy (essentially all Mac sales are final), so you need to be sure of it. That said, they are an authorized reseller and Apple's warranty applies in full. I once purchased a MacBook Air from MacMall. The logic board failed after a few days. Apple exchanged it on the spot at one of their stores since it was within Apple Store's own 14-day exchange period.

I'm not sure why you say MacMalls returns are stingy. They offer the same 14 day warranty.

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you may return most items within 14 days of the date of shipment. We will exchange items or give you a refund for the full amount of your order. All returned items must be in their original box and include packing material, manuals and all accessories.

http://www.macmall.com/n/Returns-And-Refunds-/macNavLinks-macNavLinks.139

 

[saturnotaku]

I'm not sure why you say MacMalls returns are stingy. They offer the same 14 day warranty.

That's actually better than MicroCenter's return policy, which is only 7 days on computers. They do have 14-day price protection, though, and I ended up taking advantage of that when I bought my MBP. It was $1699 at time of purchase. They dropped it another $100 a few days later, and I got the difference back with no hassle whatsoever.

 

[KPOM]

I'm not sure why you say MacMalls returns are stingy. They offer the same 14 day warranty.


http://www.macmall.com/n/Returns-And-Refunds-/macNavLinks-macNavLinks.139

When I bought from them, the fine print was that the 14-day policy didn't apply to Macs.

 

[Autrement]

Thanks for the response everyone,

If I go through MacMall, I will be 100% sure that I'm getting what I want so I won't have regrets. And getting a discount on AppleCare sounds pretty nice too. And my other question seems silly now - of course it's worth waiting, because the prices of the last generation can only go down after the refresh, at least until they're out of stock.

I guess the only question now is what the new line will look like after the Haswell refresh, which is anybody's guess. Unlike most people, I'm sort of hoping (against the current rumors) that the cMBP gets discontinued and the rMBP drops at least $200-$300 to get closer to that middle price point, so I could probably afford to spring for a new Haswell model. Otherwise I'll go for the older generation retina at MacMall (and pray there's no Image Retention)/ A price drop is of course 100% wishful thinking, but if sales of the rMBP are still as poor as they're saying, it's not out of the question as a way to push the retina line.

 

[ValSalva]

When I bought from them, the fine print was that the 14-day policy didn't apply to Macs.

Yeah, I'd be wary of buying from some of these places like MacMall. If there is something defective about the MBP that is not blindingly obvious then you are probably stuck with it.

I've had Apple and Amazon replace Macs that had minor screen and trackpad problems I noticed within the first day of arrival. I've never bought from MacMall because I think they'd refuse to exchange a Mac with minor but non-repairable manufacturing issues.