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MBP via Amazon or Student Discount?

M

mrgiapanta

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 5, 2010
105
0
OC, California
Which is better? To purchase New 15' MBP i7 via Amazon or via Apple store with Student Discount? Does anybody have experience of purchasing MBP with Amazon? Good? Bad?

I don't like paying taxes. Rather than paying taxes here at California, I'm thinking about sending my wife on vacation to her friend who lives in Oregon by buying plane tickets using the money which could have been sales tax, and ask her to buy me MBP without any tax in Oregon.

But today it came across my mind that there shouldn't be any tax for Amazon. Maybe it could be cheaper than Student discount without taxes?
But their apple care seems over priced and I don't think they offer better resolution option either. (well, i can buy apple care at apple store)

What would you do if you were in my shoe?
 
Yeah, not sure what the point of sending her to Oregon would be. You'd still be spending the same amount, maybe more if CA decides to try to collect the sales tax from you (and there have been rumblings about that).

Honestly, I'd buy the machine without AppleCare, since you get 90 days phone support and 1 year parts/labor with the MBP, and then before the 90 days are up, buy the AppleCare. It'll at least spread out the pain a bit. I wouldn't go without AppleCare altogether, though.
 
Purchase it at macconnection.com . There is no sales tax and theres free shipping. And I think there is a 150 dollar discount also. So you'll save about 355 from sales tax and the discount. I heard good things about them also.
 
I just bought my new MBP through Amazon instead of with Apple's Student Discount. If I ordered from Apple, the discount was negated by all of the taxes. I was able to get my 13" MBP for 1159.99 + $3.99 overnight shipping (thanks to Prime).
 
tmiw said:
Yeah, not sure what the point of sending her to Oregon would be. You'd still be spending the same amount, maybe more if CA decides to try to collect the sales tax from you (and there have been rumblings about that).

Honestly, I'd buy the machine without AppleCare, since you get 90 days phone support and 1 year parts/labor with the MBP, and then before the 90 days are up, buy the AppleCare. It'll at least spread out the pain a bit. I wouldn't go without AppleCare altogether, though.
Click to expand...

I had no idea CA can collect the sales tax like that. Good to know.
and buying AppleCare~!! That's very smart!! Thanx for great advice!
 
ttran88 said:
Purchase it at macconnection.com . There is no sales tax and theres free shipping. And I think there is a 150 dollar discount also. So you'll save about 355 from sales tax and the discount. I heard good things about them also.
Click to expand...

Macconnection.com I'll check it out~! Thank you!
 
kazmac said:
I would vouch for Apple's educational discount, I bumped up the specs on the 15" i7 but still saved about $550-600 (my math stinks).

And I have to pay tax @ Amazon (in NY).
Click to expand...

Yea, it even gives me discount on apple care as well.
But again...tax...is pain in my butt.
 
carbonfly said:
I just bought my new MBP through Amazon instead of with Apple's Student Discount. If I ordered from Apple, the discount was negated by all of the taxes. I was able to get my 13" MBP for 1159.99 + $3.99 overnight shipping (thanks to Prime).
Click to expand...

That's really good deal.
I really wanted to get 15 inch MBP with i5 or i7
but with that price, instead of spending over $2000 on 15 inch MBP
i can probably buy another new 13 inch MBP in the near future.
Sounds like a smart buy. thanx for the idea :)
 
kazmac said:
I would vouch for Apple's educational discount, I bumped up the specs on the 15" i7 but still saved about $550-600 (my math stinks).
Click to expand...

How did you save that much? Apple's education discount on the 15" i7 MBP is $200 (price drops from $2,199 to $1,999).
 
I never considered going to Oregon until reading this thread. I'm not too far from Portland, actually. Would it be possible to drive down to an Apple Store in Portland, and then use my student ID so that I get no tax AND the student discount? That would be a pretty unbeatable price...
 
tmiw said:
Honestly, I'd buy the machine without AppleCare, since you get 90 days phone support and 1 year parts/labor with the MBP, and then before the 90 days are up, buy the AppleCare. It'll at least spread out the pain a bit. I wouldn't go without AppleCare altogether, though.
Click to expand...

AppleCare is 4x less expensive if bought with Student Discount together with the computer. This is in the UK
 
I was in the same position as you. As a freshman in college, I could go Amazon and save sales tax or get the student discount through Apple.

I decided to go through the Apple Online Store. Basically I saved about $210ish with my student discount and paid $150ish in taxes. If I wasn't going to get the high res screen, it would have been about the same or if I had gone with the i5 instead of the i7 processor.

Plus I don't think amazon has the hi res screen in stock (at least not when I bought it).

That's my experience. Good Luck!
 
It's better to buy applecare directly from apple using the education discount, regardless of where you buy the computer from.

I bought the 15 inch pro from amazon last week, but it came with a defective touchpad (would not recognize most of the clicks). Shipping it back to amazon. After seeing the monitor, i'm tempted to upgrade to the high res screen, but amazon does not carry it. Macmall has it as an BTO option and is about $85 cheaper than buying it from Apple with edu discount (after shipping; cannot wait for free shipping due to travel plans).

Not sure whether I should buy from Macmall though. I heard that they have a NO return policy, so even if you get a defective unit you have to get it repaired from apple. (Apple refused to exchange my current machine I bought from amazon, saying they can only repair units bought from other vendors and not replace it).
 
pumpkinwhite said:
It's better to buy applecare directly from apple using the education discount, regardless of where you buy the computer from.

I bought the 15 inch pro from amazon last week, but it came with a defective touchpad (would not recognize most of the clicks). Shipping it back to amazon. After seeing the monitor, i'm tempted to upgrade to the high res screen, but amazon does not carry it. Macmall has it as an BTO option and is about $85 cheaper than buying it from Apple with edu discount (after shipping; cannot wait for free shipping due to travel plans).

Not sure whether I should buy from Macmall though. I heard that they have a NO return policy, so even if you get a defective unit you have to get it repaired from apple. (Apple refused to exchange my current machine I bought from amazon, saying they can only repair units bought from other vendors and not replace it).
Click to expand...

Thanx for the info.
Good to know Macmall policy and your experience with Amazon :)
 
LoganT said:
You can get Apple Care from Amazon btw.
Click to expand...

They are way more expensive though.
At Apple store it's $239 for 15' MBP (student discount)
Currently $317.17 at Amazon for same apple care for 15'
Don't know how Amazon came up with that odd number^^;

Looks like in California
Purchasing Apple Care with computer or without computer is same price at Apple Store.
So I'll buy Apple Care later instead of buying both computer and apple care at same time.
 
BenLeong said:
I never considered going to Oregon until reading this thread. I'm not too far from Portland, actually. Would it be possible to drive down to an Apple Store in Portland, and then use my student ID so that I get no tax AND the student discount? That would be a pretty unbeatable price...
Click to expand...

I believe so, do it~!
My friend visited Oregon recently and purchased many things without tax.
I've once drove by Oregon on a road trip and everything was tax Free.
Lucky you that you live near Portland.

My brother had a friend in Oregon, and he ordered his computer shipped to his friend's house in Oregon without paying tax, then had his computer shipped to California. Even with shipping fee to California, he saved about $200.
 
How academic discounts work with Apple. Do I need to show a student id to get academic price ?
 
mjoshi123 said:
How academic discounts work with Apple. Do I need to show a student id to get academic price ?
Click to expand...

no go to the store tab at apple.com and on the left column of links there is an education store link, search for university and click on it. It discounts almost all items.


-----
If you go with a base model and no upgrades go to another site but if you upgrade it you will have a better deal with Apple edu store even though you pay taxes, for example iWork is like $41, applecare is a 183 dollars on 13ich macbook pro and 239 on a macbrook pro 15 and 17 inch.
 
Shipping through Oregon

About two years ago I was thinking about buying a new MacBook Pro (ended up waiting until now) and I remember finding out about a company in Oregon who would basically be a shipping proxy: for $85 IIRC, you would ship your order to them (so as not to pay sales tax) and then they would ship your order to you.

$85 is a lot cheaper than sales tax on a $2000 dollar computer, obviously. Does anyone know about this company? I can't remember what they were called and can't seem to find them now.
 
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