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What would you do with a $1,000 discount?

Riot Nrrrd

Riot Nrrrd

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 23, 2011
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Lost Androideles
This is loosely based on a real-life scenario; I've just changed the scenario a bit.

(Apologies in advance for the American orientation.)

Let's say you walked up to an Apple Store and outside the door, someone came over to you and said, "I have 10 nice new $100 notes for you to have. The only 'catch' is that you have to spend it in this Apple Store, and you can only get something they have that's in stock."

What do you do? Do you
  1. Buy the closest thing to $1,000 so you don't have to pay any money out of your own pocket?
  2. Buy a super expensive, multi-thousand dollar Mac and pay the difference because you'll never see that kind of 'free money' discount again?
  3. Somewhere in the middle - you buy what you need most, and if it's over $1,000 you'll need to make up the rest with a credit card, but you're OK with that?
 
buy whatever is 1000 usd above what i was gonna buy

lets say i was gonna buy like a m4 pro for 2500 usd

then ill get the m4 max with whatever option for 3500 usd and pay the same price
 
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Riot Nrrrd said:
Guess I should’ve narrowed down the scenario. Only computers/phones/watches/etc. No gift cards.
Click to expand...
Anytime you come up with a scenario someone we’ll figure out how to work the system. I think most people would do some type of deal where they buy something keep in the package and sell it. Never underestimate how hard people will work to get around the system 😂

Going on the assumption that the person making the offer is reputable and not some sort of scam I would probably get a iPad Pro and magic keyboard. It would be a bit over $1000 but I would pay the difference.

In the scenario, what Apple Store are we talking about and approximately what time should I be there? 😂😂
 
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russell_314 said:
In the scenario, what Apple Store are we talking about and approximately what time should I be there? 😂😂
Click to expand...
The "real" scenario is actually Chase Bank's Apple Ultimate Rewards Store portal, where during the current month of May they offer up to $1.50/point (depending on which Chase Ultimate Rewards card you have) to use for Apple purchases on the portal to selected customers. So, if you have/use 66,666 Chase points, you can get $1,000 off. 133,333 points, get $2,000 off, etc. It's limited to stock on hand and they usually only have vanilla, base configurations available.

I can't find an article about the current promo but here's one about the last time they did this, in November of 2024.

So, no gift cards, the "Apple Store" is online and you can be there any time before the end of May 31st 😜
 
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How would Apple handle a return in that case? Pick up something, return, then use for whatever BTO items you really wanted, if that's the hoops they demand you jump through.
 
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Riot Nrrrd said:
It's limited to stock on hand and they usually only have vanilla, base configurations available.
😜
Click to expand...
I sense there is nothing in store that u NEED.

How about a nice Apple monitor, I would never get them overpriced with real money, but in this case it maybe a sign God wants me to have one monitor/$1K stand ! Just don't go overboard and splurge on the $4.6K top-of-line. Also assorted cables/chargers, can't never have enough. 2nd/3rd earpods, fessup how many have u lost?
 
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DaveEcc said:
How would Apple handle a return in that case? Pick up something, return, then use for whatever BTO items you really wanted, if that's the hoops they demand you jump through.
Click to expand...
The Chase portal is technically a 3rd party reseller “under the hood”, I think, so however 3rd party resellers handle returns would be my guess.
 
Mrbobb said:
I sense there is nothing in the store that you NEED.

How about a nice Apple monitor, I would never get them overpriced with real money, but in this case it maybe a sign God wants me to have one monitor/$1K stand ! Just don't go overboard and splurge on the $4.6K top-of-line. Also assorted cables/chargers, can't never have enough. 2nd/3rd earpods, fessup how many have you lost?
Click to expand...
I actually need several things, which is making this hard!

I agree a monitor would be nice, but the 27” Studio Display is too small and the 32” Pro Display XDR is too much (even with the ‘discount’) - plus it’s not available from the Chase portal anyway. So I’m pondering other stuff.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that responses so far have been split along the lines of “something around $1,000” vs. “use the discount to get the next model up on something expensive”.
 
Riot Nrrrd said:
I actually need several things, which is making this hard!
Click to expand...
Quite the opposite, this is making it really easy: Buy what has the least discount with other retailers compared to Apple's own pricing and for everything else where you actually need to hand over cash get the best deal from whatever retailer has the lowest price. Simply make a list of everything you're going to buy with one column for Apple pricing and one for the lowest price you can find the item for.

Since you said "need" I am assuming you'll buy these things one way or another.
 
okkibs said:
Since you said "need" I am assuming you'll buy these things one way or another.
Click to expand...
Not sure I parsed the first bit but as far as this part goes, it’s “one thing” not “these things”. I need a new Mac but can’t make up my mind what to get. I could use (as opposed to “need”) a new travel iPad (current on is an OG 2016 vintage iPad Pro 9.7”) but it would be odd having a newer, faster travel iPad than my 12.9” M1 iPad Pro that I’m finger pecking this post on. Decisions, decisions …
 
platinumaqua said:
I would do 3. Buy whatever I wanted to buy and take the discount. For example, buy a base Pro cpu/36 GB RAM/1 TB storage mac, which originally cost $2700 for $1700
Click to expand...
That was sort of my “in between” option but yeah, definitely thinking about that as a possibility.

One gotcha for me is that I have an LG 5K2K 34” monitor that Apple went and dropped support for the default/“ideal” screen resolution on (i.e. 3840x1620 scaled HiDPI), otherwise I probably would’ve bought an M4 MacBook Pro already … sigh.
 
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I'd probably opt to spend as little as possible, if I had a need, or knew someone who could benefit from having a new phone or something. I wouldn't be likely to buy for myself, since I don't have any need for a new device right now.
 
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Assuming I have to purchase for myself, I’d probably buy some Apple products I want, but can’t normally justify.
An iPad Mini with a Smart Folio, AirPods 4 with ANC, and maybe a new MagSafe station.
 
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The 15” Air and Pro Display aren’t too far off so maybe one of those. I haven’t been able to justify either one at full price but this kind of discount would make it a lot more tempting.
 
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A random stranger offers $1000 in crisp bills, outside a store selling premium products?

4. I'd walk away quickly and quietly. Watching to see if I'm being followed and wondering what I stepped into this time...
 
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Riot Nrrrd said:
Let's say you walked up to an Apple Store and outside the door, someone came over to you and said, "I have 10 nice new $100 notes for you to have. The only 'catch' is that you have to spend it in this Apple Store, and you can only get something they have that's in stock."
Click to expand...
I'd buy a $1,000 Apple Gift Card. Those are always in stock. ;)

I'd then save it for later when I actully need to buy an Apple device. Or sell it for 10%-15% off. 😂
 
Riot Nrrrd said:
Not sure I parsed the first bit but as far as this part goes, it’s “one thing” not “these things”. I need a new Mac but can’t make up my mind what to get. I could use (as opposed to “need”) a new travel iPad (current on is an OG 2016 vintage iPad Pro 9.7”) but it would be odd having a newer, faster travel iPad than my 12.9” M1 iPad Pro that I’m finger pecking this post on. Decisions, decisions …
Click to expand...
I can say that the Mini M4 is a wonderful computer even in its base config. I have one and haven’t been able to push it to its limits yet, even running vms and steam through whiskey (that’s a bit buggy though). Ram has always been green with 0 swap with several different browsers and their respective tabs open even though it’s 16gb. So, if you’re gonna be in one place with your Mac, I would definitely suggest it. Use the extra money to upgrade ram and ssd.
 
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Andy_2341 said:
I can say that the M4 Mac mini is a wonderful computer even in its base config.
Click to expand...
I would agree but sadly my 34” LG monitor is afflicted with this Ultrawide scaled HiDPI issue with all M4-based Macs which makes me really hesitant to buy any M4-based Mac right now. Sadly it looks like Apple has no interest in fixing it, either. 😞

I keep looking at M3 MacBook Pros … but the Chase Apple Ultimate Rewards Store portal isn’t offering any.
 
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