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Buying MBP 16 from Amazon UK

interbear

interbear

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 5, 2012
242
182
UK
Looks like Amazon UK have some pretty good Pre Black Friday deals on the new MBP 16 inch this morning.

£2,185 instead of £2,399 on the base model (save £214)
£2,547 instead of £2,799 on the higher spec base model (save £252)

I was considering a BTO via Apple with 32GB for future-proofing but I’m very tempted with this Amazon pricing to go for one of these base models plus AppleCare+. I use MS Office suite for work, many web browser tabs, Photos library, Music, iCloud and OneDrive mainly. Advice so far on here would suggest the base models will be just fine for me and that I don’t really need the 32GB RAM. My current daily driver is a MBP 13 inch with 8GB and dual core i5 from mid 2017.

Thoughts? Any reasons not to buy from Amazon (these prices are via Amazon UK not a reseller). And would the base models be good for me for a few (say 3-4) years?

Previously I’ve bought all of my Apple gear via the local store as it’s very close and good for support, but I presume with AppleCare+ this would make no difference if I bought via Amazon.
 
Damn...I just noticed that too. I ordered top spec with 32 and even though I got a discount this makes it very temping to stick with 16GB! would save nearly £500 on what I spent on the 32GB even with discount!
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The only thing is I think 32GB is very worthwhile if you're spending all this money anyway.
 
And on that note my finally turned to SHIPPED will be here next week. Will probably stick with this one for the 32GB ram and getting it from Apple to be honest :)
 
icloudUser said:
nice one there

Hope the 32gb RAM model also shows up.
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If you mean the highly specced model with i9, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD etc I'm pretty sure that one is stocked by Apple Stores only. I looked at it but £3,789 is far too much for me to spend and I really don't need that spec. Although I could pick it up today at my local Apple store :oops:
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pavvel said:
And on that note my finally turned to SHIPPED will be here next week. Will probably stick with this one for the 32GB ram and getting it from Apple to be honest :)
Click to expand...

I understand the 32GB but not yet convinced I need it. Even 16GB would be double what I currently use and I seem to get on fine with that. But, any particular reason you'd prefer to buy via Apple not Amazon? I'd usually do exactly the same which is why I'm questioning the Amazon route, I don't want to jump in and regret it as I've always been happy buying via the local Apple store. But a >£200 saving buying via Amazon is tempting.
 
interbear said:
I understand the 32GB but not yet convinced I need it. Even 16GB would be double what I currently use and I seem to get on fine with that. But, any particular reason you'd prefer to buy via Apple not Amazon? I'd usually do exactly the same which is why I'm questioning the Amazon route, I don't want to jump in and regret it as I've always been happy buying via the local Apple store. But a >£200 saving buying via Amazon is tempting.
Click to expand...

16GB would probably be ok depending on what you're doing maybe for me too but after spending all this money I didn't want to get caught out in the future. I personally hate Amazon and their ethics so would not really like to buy from them. I would much prefer to buy from Apple in general especially when it comes to something of this value.
 
One question I have is this - is Amazon UK an "approved Apple reseller" when it comes to AppleCare+? I absolutely want to buy AppleCare+ cover for my new MBP and need to know that this is possible.
 
I've been very impressed by service from the local Apple Store. I find if you buy stuff from them and have an issue, they're extremely accommodating. I had a recent experience where I had an issue with a new Mac, but it was over the 14 days remorse period. However, they happily swapped the faulty item for something else without any hassle which is something they simply didn't have to do.
 
interbear said:
If you mean the highly specced model with i9, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD etc I'm pretty sure that one is stocked by Apple Stores only. I looked at it but £3,789 is far too much for me to spend and I really don't need that spec. Although I could pick it up today at my local Apple store :oops:
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I understand the 32GB but not yet convinced I need it. Even 16GB would be double what I currently use and I seem to get on fine with that. But, any particular reason you'd prefer to buy via Apple not Amazon? I'd usually do exactly the same which is why I'm questioning the Amazon route, I don't want to jump in and regret it as I've always been happy buying via the local Apple store. But a >£200 saving buying via Amazon is tempting.
Click to expand...

Even with the discount on Amazon uk its still a high price to pay for a laptop.
So if I was spending that much money anyway i wouldnt want to compromise on the RAM and price wise adding another 16GB RAM (32 total) is not much compared to what one is already shelling out.

Whether 16GB is ok or not I dont know BUT best not to be in a situation where one spends so much and then gets constrained by RAM which BTW is soldered.
 
So I found this article which states that Apple have granted "approved reseller" status for Amazon in certain markets, including UK. But this is for Amazon only not the 3rd party resellers who sell on the Amazon platform: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=faf45bdc-f118-4641-b16f-6a5e6e8148b5
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icloudUser said:
Even with the discount on Amazon uk its still a high price to pay for a laptop.
So if I was spending that much money anyway i wouldnt want to compromise on the RAM and price wise adding another 16GB RAM (32 total) is not much compared to what one is already shelling out.

Whether 16GB is ok or not I dont know BUT best not to be in a situation where one spends so much and then gets constrained by RAM which BTW is soldered.
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OK I do understand the issue with non user upgradable RAM. But if I go BTO via Apple, the extra cost to get 32GB RAM will be the Amazon saving plus £360, so >£560. For an extra 16GB of RAM that I'm not sure I need given my use case. I don't run virtual machines, I don't develop or code software, I don't do graphic design of any type and I don't game on the laptop. I'm a fairly standard user of stock apps for photos and music, safari and chrome plus the MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint mainly), Outlook and regular (far too regular :)) video/conf calls using MS Teams and Skype for Business. Every other tech device in the house is Apple hence why I prefer Mac to a Windows laptop and am prepared to pay for that "Apple premium" as it integrates everything so well.
 
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interbear said:
OK I do understand the issue with non user upgradable RAM. But if I go BTO via Apple, the extra cost to get 32GB RAM will be the Amazon saving plus £360, so >£560. For an extra 16GB of RAM that I'm not sure I need given my use case. I don't run virtual machines, I don't develop or code software, I don't do graphic design of any type and I don't game on the laptop. I'm a fairly standard user of stock apps for photos and music, safari and chrome plus the MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint mainly), Outlook and regular (far too regular :)) video/conf calls using MS Teams and Skype for Business. Every other tech device in the house is Apple hence why I prefer Mac to a Windows laptop and am prepared to pay for that "Apple premium" as it integrates everything so well.
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That's really your call then. 16GB would probably be fine for you, it's just what happens in the future with app and RAM requirements.
 
pavvel said:
That's really your call then. 16GB would probably be fine for you, it's just what happens in the future with app and RAM requirements.
Click to expand...

I'll likely use this laptop for 3-4 years and then pass it on to one of my kids. So, for that timeframe would 16GB be enough? I don't see my usage needs changing in that period.
 
interbear said:
So I found this article which states that Apple have granted "approved reseller" status for Amazon in certain markets, including UK. But this is for Amazon only not the 3rd party resellers who sell on the Amazon platform: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=faf45bdc-f118-4641-b16f-6a5e6e8148b5
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OK I do understand the issue with non user upgradable RAM. But if I go BTO via Apple, the extra cost to get 32GB RAM will be the Amazon saving plus £360, so >£560. For an extra 16GB of RAM that I'm not sure I need given my use case. I don't run virtual machines, I don't develop or code software, I don't do graphic design of any type and I don't game on the laptop. I'm a fairly standard user of stock apps for photos and music, safari and chrome plus the MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint mainly), Outlook and regular (far too regular :)) video/conf calls using MS Teams and Skype for Business. Every other tech device in the house is Apple hence why I prefer Mac to a Windows laptop and am prepared to pay for that "Apple premium" as it integrates everything so well.
Click to expand...

Given your usage 16GB might be ok. I think getting mac is a very good idea in your case given all other devices are also from apple.
This is not a valid comparison but my (HP) work laptop - Win 10 with all the apps you listed above is using 14.3G/32gb.
 
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SpitUK said:
The deal on Amazon is actually provided by a premium reseller that gives 2 year warranty. They have a shop near me and you get great discounts. They have all combinations of the 16” to order...

https://www.krcs.co.uk/mac/macbook-pro-touch-bar?screen_size=11032

I ordered this a couple of days ago as it’s the spec I really wanted...

https://www.krcs.co.uk/macbook-pro-16-inch-touch-bar-2-3ghz-i9-8-core-32gb-1tb-space-grey-5500m-8gb
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Good link to a good reseller., thx. Like your chosen spec too. KRCS are a bit too far from me for warranty/support purposes though. I'm either going to buy from Apple or buy via Amazon, in either case with AppleCare+ so that I can get support via the Apple Store closest to me.
 
interbear said:
I'll likely use this laptop for 3-4 years and then pass it on to one of my kids. So, for that timeframe would 16GB be enough? I don't see my usage needs changing in that period.
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You'll be fine with 16GB RAM.
 
So I'm convinced enough that 16GB RAM will be fine for me.

I called Apple to check that buying the MBP and AppleCare+ from Amazon would be OK - cue a bizarre conversation with an Apple sale rep (in Ireland) who did his best to rubbish Amazon and try to convince me that spending an extra £250 and buying via my local Apple Store would be better in terms of returns and/or support. My position was that if I bought AppleCare+ surely that would cover me anyway? Very strange, but has planted a seed of doubt in my mind as to whether buying from Amazon makes sense.

Is my assumption that the Apple chap was talking b****cks the right one? Should I have ANY concerns about buying via Amazon?
 
interbear said:
I'll likely use this laptop for 3-4 years and then pass it on to one of my kids. So, for that timeframe would 16GB be enough? I don't see my usage needs changing in that period.
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16GB is plenty unless you have heavy VMs, etc.

I have 16GB in my Ryzen setup and it's plenty even for Ubuntu VM and more than enough for gaming.
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interbear said:
Is my assumption that the Apple chap was talking b****cks the right one? Should I have ANY concerns about buying via Amazon?
Click to expand...
AMZ has a very good return policy so you should be fine, I have only returned a few things but they never asked why or anything as far as you are in the return period.
 
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I returned something a few years ago and they closed my account and banned me for life. I never got a chance to ask why. There was a big thing about this. I don't trust them and certainly wouldn't buying this.
 
pavvel said:
I returned something a few years ago and they closed my account and banned me for life. I never got a chance to ask why. There was a big thing about this. I don't trust them and certainly wouldn't buying this.
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Yes but if we heard Amazon's side of the story as to why you were banned, who knows? I am sure there are plenty of shady purchasers on amazon too..

I've returned thousands of £ worth of goods to Amazon over many years and had no issues.
 
I've no issues with buying from Amazon generally. Prime member and buy from them all the time. But the discussion I had with Apple spooked me a bit about buying a MBP from them. So, I called Apple direct again and ended up placing an order via them for the MBP 16 plus AppleCare+. Feel a bit more reassured that way and they also played with the pricing a bit. So I'm happy, although at the last minute I decided to go 32GB RAM for future-proof peace of mind. Do I need that today, no. Will I need it in 2-3 years, maybe. Looking forward to my new machine, it's done now.

Thanks for the input folks, helped move me along the purchase process even if I ended up with a higher spec and not actually buying via Amazon :D
 
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I got a warning that I was returning a lot of stuff so I backed off and didn't buy anything for a year pretty much
 
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