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In Store Today?

WhyJay said:
We were talking about the Rockaway store on the post you're talking about. This is the story about GSP:



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Wait... They're matching the $200 education discount AND giving you a $150 BB card? What...
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah I drove out there too after they told me they would have them the next morning.


And then I just drove out to the Best Buy out in the parking lot there after they told me they had the retina display model and would hold it for me. I asked the guy on the phone 4 times if it was the retina display and he said yes. I also asked it it didnt have the dvd drive to get another aspect of it in and he said it didnt. I get there and they have the normal 15" reserved for me and never had the retina display ones in. The guy then tried to sell me office for mac and the best buy warranty for the computer that they didnt have.


Trying to buy one of these things has been a nightmare.
 
mrbucket2 said:
Oh, yeah I drove out there too after they told me they would have them the next morning.


And then I just drove out to the Best Buy out in the parking lot there after they told me they had the retina display model and would hold it for me. I asked the guy on the phone 4 times if it was the retina display and he said yes. I also asked it it didnt have the dvd drive to get another aspect of it in and he said it didnt. I get there and they have the normal 15" reserved for me and never had the retina display ones in. The guy then tried to sell me office for mac and the best buy warranty for the computer that they didnt have.


Trying to buy one of these things has been a nightmare.
Click to expand...

Alright, going to buy a Sony VIAO now. Talk to you guys later. :mad: :apple::apple::apple::apple::apple:

EDIT: I accidentally a word.
 
WhyJay said:
We were talking about the Rockaway store on the post you're talking about. This is the story about GSP:



----------



Wait... They're matching the $200 education discount AND giving you a $150 BB card? What...
Click to expand...

That is what I was told. I specifically asked the manager, "Are you price-matching Apple's student discount?" and he (very proudly) said, "We're not matching it, we're BEATING it--we are giving out $150 Best Buy gift cards." And I said, "So you're doing the $200 off price plus the $150 gift card?" and he said, "Uh...I think we're just doing the $150 gift card," to which I replied, "Well, you're not beating Apple, then." And he said, "If Apple's discount is $200, we can do that also. And the $150 gift card."

My advice (since it has been well-established that Best Buy's "student discount" policy is a store-by-store manager's discretion sort of thing): Don't ask if BB has a student discount. Ask if they will PRICE MATCH Apple's student discount. It worked for me, anyway.
 
mrbucket2 said:
Oh, yeah I drove out there too after they told me they would have them the next morning.


And then I just drove out to the Best Buy out in the parking lot there after they told me they had the retina display model and would hold it for me. I asked the guy on the phone 4 times if it was the retina display and he said yes. I also asked it it didnt have the dvd drive to get another aspect of it in and he said it didnt. I get there and they have the normal 15" reserved for me and never had the retina display ones in. The guy then tried to sell me office for mac and the best buy warranty for the computer that they didnt have.


Trying to buy one of these things has been a nightmare.
Click to expand...

Best Buy by me didn't know what Retina was either, said they had the 13" Retina in stock….

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WhyJay said:
Alright, going to buy a Sony VIAO now. Talk to you guys later. :mad: :apple::apple::apple::apple::apple:

EDIT: I accidentally a word.
Click to expand...

You serious?

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aufh3bung said:
That is what I was told. I specifically asked the manager, "Are you price-matching Apple's student discount?" and he (very proudly) said, "We're not matching it, we're BEATING it--we are giving out $150 Best Buy gift cards." And I said, "So you're doing the $200 off price plus the $150 gift card?" and he said, "Uh...I think we're just doing the $150 gift card," to which I replied, "Well, you're not beating Apple, then." And he said, "If Apple's discount is $200, we can do that also. And the $150 gift card."

My advice (since it has been well-established that Best Buy's "student discount" policy is a store-by-store manager's discretion sort of thing): Don't ask if BB has a student discount. Ask if they will PRICE MATCH Apple's student discount. It worked for me, anyway.
Click to expand...

I'll try it if I don't have success with Apple.
 
WhyJay said:
We were talking about the Rockaway store on the post you're talking about. This is the story about GSP:



----------



Wait... They're matching the $200 education discount AND giving you a $150 BB card? What...
Click to expand...

Actually no, this is wrong. That's what I heard from some posts but I called BB and confirmed that they are not. They will match the $100 gift card that Apple gives during their "back to school" promotion but they do not give any additional discount. They said that this year, they are upping that gift card to $150 instead of the $100. So it's still cheaper if you buy through Apple. I was really hoping for that best buy deal, could have used my $2500 BB credit card to finance that deal at 0% for 18mo.
 
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undies1993 said:
Are you serious? Where?
Click to expand...

Sorry that I just saw this.

I got mine at the Apple store in Southlake, TX. I walked in around 10 am, and the rep said to come back in an hour because they had to check them into inventory. When I came back, the rep was talking to two other guys who wanted a base model as well. She came out with one base model and two of the 2799 models. She was kind enough to say that I had been in first, so I got the one that I wanted. The other two left because they didn't want to spend the additional bucks.

I have to say that I'm loving this thing!
 
Essentialy you're getting $150 more from Apple"

$200 education discount
$100 Gift Card


BB is only giving the gift card, upped to $150 this year.
 
mohsy90 said:
Essentialy you're getting $150 more from Apple"

$200 education discount
$100 Gift Card


BB is only giving the gift card, upped to $150 this year.
Click to expand...

That may be the policy the stores are supposed to implement, but for whatever reason, the Best Buy near me agreed to price match the $200 discount as well. It was a verbal agreement, since there was no computer in stock for me to actually purchase, so it remains to be seen whether or not they will honor their agreement once the retina comes in. I'm keeping hope alive. :D
 
Pipper99 said:
Sorry that I just saw this.

I got mine at the Apple store in Southlake, TX. I walked in around 10 am, and the rep said to come back in an hour because they had to check them into inventory. When I came back, the rep was talking to two other guys who wanted a base model as well. She came out with one base model and two of the 2799 models. She was kind enough to say that I had been in first, so I got the one that I wanted. The other two left because they didn't want to spend the additional bucks.

I have to say that I'm loving this thing!
Click to expand...

Lucky….
 
mohsy90 said:
Actually no, this is wrong. That's what I heard from some posts but I called BB and confirmed that they are not. They will match the $100 gift card that Apple gives during their "back to school" promotion but they do not give any additional discount. They said that this year, they are upping that gift card to $150 instead of the $100. So it's still cheaper if you buy through Apple. I was really hoping for that best buy deal, could have used my $2500 BB credit card to finance that deal at 0% for 18mo.
Click to expand...

Just read from another thread, that it's a store to store promotion. Some stores do it, some don't. Unfortunately mind doesn't. So call your local BB, you might be able to get the $200 education + $150 BB gift card.

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aufh3bung said:
That may be the policy the stores are supposed to implement, but for whatever reason, the Best Buy near me agreed to price match the $200 discount as well. It was a verbal agreement, since there was no computer in stock for me to actually purchase, so it remains to be seen whether or not they will honor their agreement once the retina comes in. I'm keeping hope alive. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, your lucky, my local BB is not doing it. Let's see, ill go in an see if they say something different. Are they also offering a gift card??
 
mohsy90 said:
Just read from another thread, that it's a store to store promotion. Some stores do it, some don't. Unfortunately mind doesn't. So call your local BB, you might be able to get the $200 education + $150 BB gift card.

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Yeah, your lucky, mine is not doing it. Let's see, ill go in an see if they say something different.
Click to expand...

Wish mine would. Love the rewards I would get from that too.
 
Well, went to the Ridgedale store to look at it and actually talk to someone, and the story is the same as others have been hearing. Talked to 3 separate people because I wanted to try to get the real story on the stock of these things, and they all independently said that the store hasn't received or sold a single non-display unit yet. They had 6 units for display, including the one out on the display stand behind the storefront glass.

I also spent quite a bit of time with the unit and the "new" old-design MBP, about 45 minutes. Quite honestly, and I can say this without bias as this would be my first Mac, I came away less impressed. The display is beautiful for sure, but as an overall product it's touch and go. There are most definitely performance issues with this high of a screen resolution. I was using the default "best for Retina" resolution, not even scaled, and parts of the UI definitely still felt laggy. I used it for a bit and then jumped over to a 13" MacBook Air - the Air felt faster even on simple things like scrolling the page in Safari that the Retina Pro should be able to handle no problem. Take a look at this thread - I had that experience exactly - it's definitely not isolated to that unit. It's not how a $2200 unit should perform.

On top of that, the software support just isn't there. Safari and iPhoto look great, but any non-Retina apps look bad on this new screen. I wouldn't think it would be noticeable, after all, it's just the same resolution as the standard "old" screen, but trust me, it really is noticeable. I came up with an image to try to demonstrate how bad it is. Assuming you're reading this on a non-Retina screen, the difference between the image on the right and the image on the left is about what the difference between a Retina app and a non-Retina app feels like. Now obviously the "old" apps don't look nearly as bad as in the image below, but it's the relative difference you should be paying attention to. It's not just "oh, this app isn't as sharp as the Retina apps". You can actually see the 2x2 pixel-doubled "pixel" blocks, and it's quite annoying. I tried using Photoshop CS5 and it was distracting. The entire Microsoft Office suite is cringe-worthy as well.

ZFETC.png


Even apps that have supposedly been updated for Retina aren't completely. I opened Final Cut Pro, and the UI text has been updated, but many of the icons and other UI graphics still use the old images and look pixelated. It feels rushed.

I quite honestly think this is a botched launch by Apple. The units don't exist in retail, and on top of that, there are issues that should have been resolved far before launch. I don't think it will be as bad as Antennagate, but I have a feeling you'll see quite a lot of criticism in the reviews coming out in the next few days that will mention the legacy software issues and how the UI doesn't really perform as it should on a $2200+ machine. Will these be fixed? Hopefully. But it doesn't exactly make me confident running around and trying to throw my money at Apple for one.

So, with the stock issues, performance and software issues, lack of user upgrade-ability, lack of Kensington lock slot (I would be taking this to college), I'm sort of on the fence as to whether I actually want one of these or not. The new 15" high-config non-Retina MBP looks pretty damn attractive at the same price as the base RMBP. I could buy the Retina and hope that Apple comes out with fixes for the performance issues and the software support gets better as time goes on, or I could drop the same amount of money on a non-Retina MBP and get better specs, better performance, and a machine that is still pretty damn thin and light. I don't know...

I'll probably wait outside a store tomorrow morning, but if days pass and there continues to be a lack of stock, I might just cave and get a non-Retina MacBook Pro.

For everyone else, I seriously suggest you go to your closest Apple store and spend half an hour with one of these in person. Seeing is not enough - make sure you actually use it. Make sure you know you want it before you put so much work into trying to find one. :)
 
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Saw it today. Stunningly pin sharp. It was more than I even hoped it would be. The screen is still glossy, yes, but noticeably less glary, and that's under the harsh lights in the store. If there is any drawback it doesn't get that bright and looks a tad dim in-store, again under bright lights.

Weight feels a lot less than the 13" MBP, but mostly because the weight is more evenly distributed b/c of it's wider body. It's really like an Air on steriods.

I can't wait till mine ships.
 
mohsy90 said:
I'm gonna go in and see if I can get them to agree to price match! I'm not sure whether they'll still offer the gift card though??
Click to expand...

They offered me both the gift card and the discount, which ultimately beats Apple's student discount/gift card package by $50. It was pretty clear that my store wanted to one-up the Apple store.
 
I just reserved a 2.6 GHz model with my local Best Buy. They give you the Apple education pricing and a $100 (or maybe it was $150) gift card. They said it would likely be a few days.
 
So, today I tried a number of different stores in the DMV area: Tysons, Bethesda, Georgetown, Pentagon City, Clarendon...

Each of them had 3-6 display models. One store (Bethesda) said they received a shipment of three, but sold out immediately. The others said they had no idea when they would be receiving any new shipments, except for the Georgetown store, which said that it will be about a week.

This is getting to be very frustrating.
 
Another possible perk to getting the RMBP from Best Buy would be United miles for anyone who is a frequent traveler. If you link through to bestbuy.com from Mileage Plus Shopping, you get 3 miles per dollar spent. Assuming you also charge the purchase to a united credit card, you get another 1 mile per dollar.

So essentially you'll get about 8,000 to 12,000 miles from buying the RMBP, around what you would get from two round-trip transcontinental flights. If you buy the $2799 RMBP, you'd be getting nearly 1/2 the miles required for a saver ticket, which could be worth many hundreds of dollars if you play your cards right.

All of this of course will require waiting until bestbuy opens up ordering on their site, and hoping that the 3 miles per dollar deal stays in effect until then.
 
Suggestions:
Should I A) Drive 30 miles tomorrow morning and get to a store before it opens (again)
B) Call the store at 9, then drive over. (I called this morning and they said they had none)
C) Wait until like 1 when they would have a new shipment?
 
Nielsenius said:
I just reserved a 2.6 GHz model with my local Best Buy. They give you the Apple education pricing and a $100 (or maybe it was $150) gift card. They said it would likely be a few days.
Click to expand...

Sweet!! I'm gonna try this, they said they didn't over the phone. But it looks like alot of people are getting BB to price match the apple discounts.
I have the cash to buy it, but much rather finance with my BB card for 18mo at 0%.

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undies1993 said:
Suggestions:
Should I A) Drive 30 miles tomorrow morning and get to a store before it opens (again)
B) Call the store at 9, then drive over. (I called this morning and they said they had none)
C) Wait until like 1 when they would have a new shipment?
Click to expand...

Why not just wait a few more days, likely by Friday or Monday they'll have enough stock to accommodate demand.
 
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