Educational Discount

[dirkmonson]

I am currently an employee (webmaster, actually) of a K-12 school district in North Dakota (Minot Public Schools) and I'm going to be taking a trip down to Minneapolis (Apple store, w00t) in the next few weeks. I've never owned an Apple computer and have been in the market for a new laptop (been with PCs all my life, though I use Macs at work), and I've finally decided on the 12" iBook with Combo Drive.

I'd really like to buy the iBook while I am down there and my question is what are they going to require as proof that I am indeed an employee of a K-12 school district? We don't have ID badges or anything like that, so using them as proof isn't an option. Any ideas?

I've also noticed the "Cram and Jam" deal. Any chance that I'd be eligible for that? It'd be nice to have the 20GB iPod along with a new iBook, not that I really need the iPod, but it'd be a nice addition.

Thanks,
Dirk

 

[JDOG_]

Cram it & Jam it!

TO get the discount just make sure you bring proof that you are a teacher/student/faculty member (like an ID badge) and they should give you a discount. Maybe call the store & find out their requirements first.

As far as the Cram & Jam deal goes, you might as well get the iPod too, since you can basically get the 20 gig one for $100 after the rebate, and then if you didn't need it you could just sell it on eBay or Craigslist brand new for like $250 and just take that off the price of the computer in terms of money spent total.
I think that works out mathmatically...I don't know it's been a long day.

Either way you're getting a great machine that should fulfill your needs at least until Core technology comes into play with Tiger & you'll undoubtably feel left in the dust...but that's the way technology works

 

[echeck]

Congrats!

I'm actually going to be making the exact same purchase in about a week or so. As far as what they will need for identification, I'd do what JDOG suggested, give the store a call and see what they need for ID.

Are you sure the Cram and Jam is available to faculty and staff? For some reason I thought it was just available for students, but I could very well be wrong. Worth checking into maybe.

I would totally go for the iPod. I'm getting the iPod mainly because I'd never be able to rationalize spending 300+ bucks on an mp3 player, but with the Cram and Jam, it's too good to pass up.

Good luck!

 

[Elan0204]

Since you don't have a school ID, I bet you could use a pay stub to prove who you work for. Definitely call the Apple Store and see what they say, though. Also, it looks like anyone that qualifies for education pricing qualifies for Cram & Jam:

 

[SolidGun]

Since you didn't specify, which type of 12" iBook you are getting, I will just add this on.
To be eligible for cram and jam, you have to purchase a qualifying iBook (not the case for PBs). In the Apple stores, they only have stock systems, and you will end up ordering it through them for it to be delievered to you in Minot.
Just didn't want you driving 5-6 hours to get there and find this out the hard way.
Offer excludes the 12-inch iBook with CD-ROM drive and iPod mini.

Personally, I recommend the 12" PB, but I am sure you have given that issue some thought. I didn't know too much about Macs and thought I would give it a try with iBook, but coming here and being greedy about extra power made me get the 12" PB with Superdrive. I don't recommend the superdrive though. I have a nice DVD burner on my desktop (Plextor), but I just couldn't help it and now regret spending $200 for something that burns DVD-R only.
Hope you enjoy Mac....I recommend Mac OS X the missing manual....I have also ready Mac OS X PC to Mac (or something like that) and it isn't too bad....took me a day to go through it and learn most of the stuff.

 

[dirkmonson]

Thanks for all your help! I'll give them a call later today and see if they do have any of the qualifying stock systems available right there at the store.

I'll be sure to post any information I find about what they require for proof of employment when you're school district has no employee ID badges (i.e., cheap).

I did give the 12" Powerbook quite a bit of thought, as it's not that much more expensive. I've used them quite a bit work, but I use my first gen 17" iMac alot too (only 1GHz) and the speed difference was slightly noticeable, but I think a RAM upgrade makes a bigger difference. I plan on upgrading to atleast 768MB right away.

After reading the fine print of the "Cram and Jam" deal, I do believe that Elan is right, and if that's the case, I may not be able to wait two weeks to get my new iBook. Two toys for just more than the price of one, you can't beat that.