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Education store question

T

thomsonaj

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 23, 2010
4
0
Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and have already been distracted for far too long with other posts so here goes...

I am a student in the UK eligible for the Apple education discount - was thinking of taking the plunge and getting a MBP 15" - only thing is, I'm going to the states in a couple of months where the 15" MBP without discount is SLIGHTLY cheaper (£20-30)...however, if I could get the USA education discount, I guess it would make things a LOT cheaper...?

Maybe this is just me being greedy, but if anyone knows if it's do-able, let me know - also got to consider warranties/guarantees being invalid when back in the UK...

Cheers :)
 
I'm not sure if you could get the US discount if you don't go to school in the US, but then again, what do I know.
 
haha cheers for that CJS - I'm pretty sure whatever you do know, it's more than me :p
 
Here's an excerpt from an old blog, on MacTalk.com, circa 2006. Maybe this will help:


"I am travelling to the US / Japan / UK / Canada / Switzerland, and will visit the official Apple Store. Can I get the education discount at these stores"?

"At least in the US, most of Apple's own retail stores will offer the education discount on hardware (but not software) to foreign students/educators, so long as you can produce the requisite ID. Given that Apple tend to run their stores very similarly across the board, I'd expect that you'd similarly be able to get the education discount on hardware at Apple's other international retail stores too, though I have not verified this personally."

Of course, this applies to a purchase at the Apple Store, not an online transaction from within the U.S. I'm not sure if the online form you fill in would accept schools listed outside the country in which you're purchasing.

Here's Apple's UK warranty:

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/uk/Images/worldwidewarranty.html

From what I can tell, as long as the parts are available in the country where the repairs are to take place, Apple will fix a problem under warranty no matter where the purchase was made.

Don't worry about appearing greedy. A 15" MBP is expensive, and if you can save a little green, why not?
 
This topic kind of caught my attention as well. I'm in Canada, and can travel to an Apple store across the border with almost no effort. Since our dollars are almost at par, and US prices are at least $100 cheaper than here in Canada...I could stand to save a fair bit if the student discount still applies.

I'd love to hear other people's experiences.
 
I hopeyour not using apple.com's prices as a guide as they do not include tax which varies state to state.
 
Gav2k said:
I hopeyour not using apple.com's prices as a guide as they do not include tax which varies state to state.
Click to expand...

I know we pay 13% here, so any tax rate lower than that is an extra bonus for me. Not sure about the others.
 
thomsonaj said:
...only thing is, I'm going to the states in a couple of months where the 15" MBP without discount is SLIGHTLY cheaper (£20-30).......
Click to expand...

in considering your options, make sure you remember to add sales tax to any of those USA prices you're seeing because they aren't included in the advertised price
 
Cheers for your responses - it's definitely something to think about then. Tbh, I hadn't thought about sales tax at all being used to having it included in the prices in the UK as VAT (at 17.5%!!!)...

Just booked the flights yesterday and we are doing a bit of travelling - NY, NJ, PA, DE (from memory, zero tax...?), MD, etc so I can shop around as far as sales tax is concerned...

If I did manage to get education discount in the USA, I'd save myself a packet - about £150($225+) so I'll definitely bear it in mind. The beauty is, I'm not that desperate for one so I can wait until June and if it's too much hassle, I'll just get one when I get home.

Mike, if you can wait a couple of months, I'll be sure to let you know if it can be done :)

Thanks again for your help.
 
thomsonaj said:
Cheers for your responses - it's definitely something to think about then. Tbh, I hadn't thought about sales tax at all being used to having it included in the prices in the UK as VAT (at 17.5%!!!)...

Just booked the flights yesterday and we are doing a bit of travelling - NY, NJ, PA, DE (from memory, zero tax...?), MD, etc so I can shop around as far as sales tax is concerned...

If I did manage to get education discount in the USA, I'd save myself a packet - about £150($225+) so I'll definitely bear it in mind. The beauty is, I'm not that desperate for one so I can wait until June and if it's too much hassle, I'll just get one when I get home.

Mike, if you can wait a couple of months, I'll be sure to let you know if it can be done :)

Thanks again for your help.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd definitely be interested in hearing how you faired. I won't need to buy until the summer, so I have lots of time.
 
The keyboard (and language set up) will be different. Get it in your home country. But if you can wait until June, you get a free printer and probably an iPod Touch which you can sell on e-bay.

thomsonaj said:
Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and have already been distracted for far too long with other posts so here goes...

I am a student in the UK eligible for the Apple education discount - was thinking of taking the plunge and getting a MBP 15" - only thing is, I'm going to the states in a couple of months where the 15" MBP without discount is SLIGHTLY cheaper (£20-30)...however, if I could get the USA education discount, I guess it would make things a LOT cheaper...?

Maybe this is just me being greedy, but if anyone knows if it's do-able, let me know - also got to consider warranties/guarantees being invalid when back in the UK...

Cheers :)
Click to expand...
 
Oh wow, I just noticed something else too. Make sure that your institution doesn't have some "extra special" educational pricing. I logged in though the school's portal, and they had a special Apple store link within the portal. The computers at that link were priced even lower than the normal educational prices. $220 off the low end macbooks and over $400 off the mid range 15" ones.
 
I'll be sure to check that out Mike - I know we're getting a job lot of iPads in for the Comp Sci dept to fiddle with - maybe there are connections within the faculty...

Sirmausalot, I actually prefer the USA keyboard setup - I bought a gateway from best buy ages ago and I miss the american setup! You can actually specify a USA keyboard free of charge when ordering online here in the UK but you can't spec a UK keyboard from the US...only drawback I can think of is lack of pound (£) key...and at least the shift keys will be the proper size :rolleyes:
 
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