Where should I buy the new macbooks?

[Hissori]

I'm not sure which place is best for me to buy my new macbook. I have a few choices

1) BestBuy
2) Futureshop
3) Apple store (a little bit far)
4) my university bookstore

I'm just wondering would best buy and futureshop give me the education discount? I'm pretty sure the apple store would and I believe the university bookstore has the prices already discounted. However, the bookstore... well its just not devoted to computers so I'm not sure if they would handle things best, and I'm not sure if they would replace my macbook if anything happened to it within a few days of purchase.

Would best buy/futureshop replace my macbook if there were damages to it right when I get it? Also, how does applecare work with FS/BB? Do they fix it, or would they just send it to apple. If thats the case, would it be better for me to just bring a macbook bought from futureshop/bestbuy to the apple store if I have applecare?

Thanks for the input.

 

[ATimson]

I'm just wondering would best buy and futureshop give me the education discount?

I doubt it.

Would best buy/futureshop replace my macbook if there were damages to it right when I get it?

Probably depends on the whims of whoever's working at the Customer Service desk that day.

Also, how does applecare work with FS/BB? Do they fix it, or would they just send it to apple.

It isn't even that they would send it to Apple; they'd tell you that you have to go deal with the manufacturer. So yeah, it'd be better to jump straight to the Apple Store.

Of the four choices, if you have an Apple Store, that's probably your best bet.

 

[jojo13]

I'd say Apple Store or on the internet
If not, Best Buy or Future Shop are still great and you can still buy an Apple Care and you still have the warranty from Apple wich means that if your computer has problems(hope not ) you can still go to the apple store

 

[Hissori]

Thanks! That really helped!

 

[Vivid.Inferno]

I have the same problem. The closest apple store to me is 4.5 hours away. I went to Future Shop yesterday, and asked if they'd honour the student price, and they said yes. As long as they can confirm there's a discount, and I have my student card. I'm thinking about going with Future Shop, just because it's close if anything goes wrong. And if there's a problem with the computer straight out of the box I can just take it back to them.

 

[Freewayjim]

If you buy at Best Buy and have a Reward Zone card you are looking at getting $25-30 in rewards certificates with the purchase of a MB.

I just bought my MBP there today and the $50 in Rewards was the main reason I bought there as opposed to the Apple Store, plus it's a little closer to home.

 

[skye12]

Amazon is always good because you save $50-90 on sales tax depending
on where you live. No rebates have shown up on the new ones yet.
In the past they usually add another $75-100 savings on applicable rebates.

Smalldog has free shipping on the new models, but you must be an old customer to order them. Apple store is fine, they offer free shipping and
custom configs and its easy to get xchgs etc if you have problems. They will
also transfer everything to your new computer from your old one at no cost.

 

[jay1097]

First off all the poster can't buy it online from Amazon because he lives in Canada. If you buy the MB for futureshop or BB then you have 14 day no questions asked return. You can try before you buy from either futureshop or bestbuy. I know that Futureshop matches the student discount and they will also match the price off applecare if you want the FS warranty instead of apple care.

Just a word of caution FS will give you a lot of pressure to buy their PSP.

 

[MatLane]

Are you in the UK mate or Over in USA


If your in the UK i would try either



Computer Warehouse


or KRCS

I have a krcs local and the service is great and slightly cheaper than the apple store



I have heard a lot mention a site called Macmall too

I had a look and the deals dont look too bad on there!


Google them dude, see what you think and good luck


ML

 

[Hissori]

I'm in canada actually so yea... So with applecare, you can bring it to the apple store and they will fix it even if you bought it at another apple authorized dealer like futureshop?

 

[jay1097]

Ya you can bring it into a genius if you bought it elsewhere. But remember that FS or BB doesn't sell apple care so you have to buy that directly from apple. Whatever happens don't believe a single thing that the BB or FS sales-staff tells you.

 

[McGiord]

I'm waiting for mine from MacMall, you can save on the taxes and add some good mail in rebates, but the shipment isn't that fast if they don't have them in stock.

 

[nsbio]

I would say, a University bookstore is as good as the Apple retail store for purchasing Apple computers. Even better, you can oftentimes pick up useful software at your University bookstore for way less than even the generic educational discount allowed by Apple. (You can not get edu discounts on software at Apple retail store).

If you have any problems with your Apple during the warranty period, you could easily bring it to the Apple store to the genius. The only potential disadvantage of the University bookstore is that Apple computers often can not be returned for refund unlike those purchased at the Apple store.

I bought my G4 PB at a University bookstore 3 and a half years ago and had no problems getting warranty service later on at a retail Apple store.
So the question where to buy should be basically which of the two stores is physically closer to where you are.