I have bought all of my Apple products directly from Apple, either online or from one of my local stores. I am very close to the Christiana, DE store, so if I want a stock machine I can get it with an education discount and no tax 🙂 I do know many who have used eBay and Craigslist, however, which has saved them a good bit of money...I guess I just prefer the security and reliability of buying directly from Apple.