questions about student ADC hardware purchase discount

[totodon]

Hi all,

I am a graduate student and kind of interested in the once-per-lifetime hardware purchase discount a student ADC membership brings. Before making the enrollment which will cost me $99, have several questions to ask and wish you guys can help me out.

1. How much is the current discount for hardware purchase? Some posts here said it was 20%, that will be awesome.

2. Is this discount applicable to all the items in the Developer Connection store ( The one I am looking into is http://store.apple.com/us_adc_38839) , including refurbished stuff?

3. Are those prices shown up on the website us_adc_38839 after or before discount? Apparently I do not have an active account yet and not logged in, but I do see some lowered price (about 10% off) comparing with regular apple.com store. Does that mean the current discount rate drop from 20% to 10%？

Any input will be appreciated.

 

[stonyc]

Hi all,

I am a graduate student and kind of interested in the once-per-lifetime hardware purchase discount a student ADC membership brings. Before making the enrollment which will cost me $99, have several questions to ask and wish you guys can help me out.

I also started grad school and took advantage of the student developer discount... good choice.

1. How much is the current discount for hardware purchase? Some posts here said it was 20%, that will be awesome.

In general it is 20%, but there's diminishing returns on some of the less expensive options. For example, the base macbook is only $50 less than the Education store, and $100 less than the normal price. Then look at the base 8-core Mac Pro ($3299 > $2999 Education > $2639 Developer), which is about 20% less than the non-discounted price. You should expect similar diminishing discounts on some systems, but in general it starts from 20% and goes down.

2. Is this discount applicable to all the items in the Developer Connection store ( The one I am looking into is http://store.apple.com/us_adc_38839) , including refurbished stuff?

Does not include refurbished systems, they are still separate. Another thing to keep in mind is that some items are actually MORE expensive than in the Education store (Applecare comes to mind most easily, I also believe the Cinema display is slightly more expensive in the Developer store than in the Education store).

3. Are those prices shown up on the website us_adc_38839 after or before discount? Apparently I do not have an active account yet and not logged in, but I do see some lowered price (about 10% off) comparing with regular apple.com store. Does that mean the current discount rate drop from 20% to 10%？

See my first answer, but yes... the prices you are seeing on that page are accurate for the Developer discount program. The price you pay won't be discounted beyond what you already see there, those are the actual prices with the Developer discount already applied. I think Apple allows access to that site without a login so that you can compare and calculate your impending purchases accurately.

Good luck with your purchase, if you have any other questions, as someone who has just (in the past 2 weeks) completed their purchase through the Student Developer program, I'll do my best to answer.

PS. Again, remember that some prices are actually higher through the Developer store so DO take advantage of your student status to shop through the Education store for some of those items... Applecare, Displays...

 

[stonyc]

Oh, so in terms of the $99 enrollment fee... keep in mind what you'll actually be buying. If you're just going to buy the base white macbook, the developer program isn't for you (unless you're looking to get in the program for access to developer tools, etc.).

$999 - 100 = $899, the $99 fee saves you $1.

Then look at something like the 2.8GHz Macbook Pro 15"...

$2299 > $1839 = $460 savings ($260 savings over the Education price too), the membership in the program saves you $361 (or $161 depending on how you look at it) and is basically paid for by the savings. Like in my previous post though, remember to get Applecare through the Education store ($239 Education versus $349 Developer).

 

[psingh01]

In general the more high end/expensive the mac the bigger the discount.

 

[totodon]

Thanks guys.
I think the ADC discount is not attractive to me anymore, since I'm not going to get a really fancy high-end machine. An apple retailer, clubmac, is actually offering MBPs for something about the same with the ADC store, plus they do not charge tax in my state, and not membership fee of course. So maybe will go to them or, just ebay.