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Where did you purchase your mbp?

D

dandare83

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 10, 2010
3
0
Hello all. This is my 1st post on these forums and hope some of you can offer a bit of advice.

I am planning on purchasing a mbp in the next week or 2 but I'm wondering where the best place to buy it from would be?

I can see the following options.

1. Buy it from my local apple store
(most expensive option)

2. Buy a refurbished unit from the apple online store. (Will save a fair bit of money)

3. Buy it from an online retailer such as amazon
(price isn't far from a refurbished unit)

Where have you purchased your macs in the past and is there any advantage paying more money and getting it straight from apple.
 
dandare83 said:
Hello all. This is my 1st post on these forums and hope some of you can offer a bit of advice.

I am planning on purchasing a mbp in the next week or 2 but I'm wondering where the best place to buy it from would be?

I can see the following options.

1. Buy it from my local apple store
(most expensive option)

2. Buy a refurbished unit from the apple online store. (Will save a fair bit of money)

3. Buy it from an online retailer such as amazon
(price isn't far from a refurbished unit)

Where have you purchased your macs in the past and is there any advantage paying more money and getting it straight from apple.
Click to expand...

Bought mine from Best Buy (no Apple store here, yet, they started hiring a couple months ago for when it's completed) and that was great because then you can get the 1 year ADH for $100.

$100 for complete piece of mind.
 
Called the apple store directly and the customer service agent I spoke too gave me some discount coupons and lopped a couple of hundred of the price. SWEET.:D
 
Not sure where you live OP but for me in California sales tax is almost 10% 9.75% so spending $2000 on a MBP almost = a additional $200 cost.

For me BHPhoto http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Apple-Computers/ci/13222/N/4294250034 was the best option no sales tax and you still get free shipping. However I'm sure there are cheaper re-sellers and theres no customizing options with BH which is somewhat of a downside. Unless your like me and like to do you own upgrades.
 
$999 Microcenter Deal

Purchased from Best Buy with a $999 microcenter price match. I did this as I also get $20 in rewards from best buy, I know that is not a lot but its like free money!!
 
1st Mac - BTO from Sweetwater
2nd Mac - Local Apple Store
3rd Mac - Apple.com refurb


If you are planning to purchase soon, I would wait til after Sept.
 
Microcenter $999 13" MBP

Wish I'd have thought to do the BB price match. I'd have made silver already:)

Cheers,
 
dandare83 said:
Hello all. This is my 1st post on these forums and hope some of you can offer a bit of advice.

I am planning on purchasing a mbp in the next week or 2 but I'm wondering where the best place to buy it from would be?

I can see the following options.

1. Buy it from my local apple store
(most expensive option)

2. Buy a refurbished unit from the apple online store. (Will save a fair bit of money)

3. Buy it from an online retailer such as amazon
(price isn't far from a refurbished unit)

Where have you purchased your macs in the past and is there any advantage paying more money and getting it straight from apple.
Click to expand...

I bought my 24" iMac and my 13" MBP at the local Apple store (educational discount). I bought my son a 15" MBP online Apple Store refurbished.
 
freddyfingers said:
Not sure where you live OP but for me in California sales tax is almost 10% 9.75% so spending $2000 on a MBP almost = a additional $200 cost.

For me BHPhoto http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Apple-Computers/ci/13222/N/4294250034 was the best option no sales tax and you still get free shipping. However I'm sure there are cheaper re-sellers and theres no customizing options with BH which is somewhat of a downside. Unless your like me and like to do you own upgrades.
Click to expand...

I'm like you with the tax issue. It's ridiculous. BH is great, but at the time I wanted to buy, they didn't have the model with upgrades I was looking for. (17" i7 7200rpm HD and anti-glare) J&R did so I went with them. NO tax, no shipping just like BH. Plus I was able to use Amex points to bring it down $500. A LOT of points used for sure, but considering the same points were only worth $300 off a flight, I was quite happy to get $500 off the laptop.

I thought about using the student discount to get the free ipod touch and free printer from Apple, but going that route I'd still have to pay tax. On everything!! And then trying to sell off the ipod touch on Craigslist with the 100 others or so currently advertised would be a pain. Same with the printer. Just not worth it in my opinion. My configuration with the Apple store was $2369. Plus tax. Without my Amex points, the same configuration at J&R was $2399. No tax. I think I did OK.

By the way, I've never heard of anyone getting a discount by ordering over the phone from Apple. Maybe I should have tried that! I wonder how much they discounted the purchase???
 
I purchased my mbp on Amazon.com in June. If I could have waited, I definitely would have went with Apple.com since you get a free ipod/printer with rebate.
 
1st mac - Apple Store (educational promo)
2nd mac - Apple Store (educational promo)

However, saying that, it would depend on a few other factors:

Price? Usually online or get refurb from Apple. Also, if you're in a high sales tax state, online might be better since you'll save on sales tax.

Custom configuration? You'll probably have to buy it from Apple. Most stores or online retailers don't carry custom configurations.

Student? Apple has a pretty good promo right now that includes a free iPod with either MB, MBP or iMac purchase. You get the student discount (up to $200 off the machine) and a free iPod that you can resell online.

Hope that helps.
 
Apple retail store because i wanted to buy the previous gen to a new revision before they ran out of stock.

Normally Apple online store tho.
 
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