Cheapest place to buy a Mac?

S

sxereturn

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Hey guys,

Last year I made the jump and bought myself a Macbook Pro directly off the Apple website. Pleasant experience all round but at $3,500 it's anything but cheap. I now have to deck my PA out with a laptop so she can work from home...so everything is compatible, I'm going to get another Macbook Pro. Depending on price, I will either give her mine and take the new one, or just give her the new one.

So, apart from the Apple website, where's a good place to score a good deal? It seems Apple is much the same as Oakley, in that they rarely discount.
 
S

stringbean

Likes Bikes and Dirt
sxereturn said:
Hey guys,

Last year I made the jump and bought myself a Macbook Pro directly off the Apple website. Pleasant experience all round but at $3,500 it's anything but cheap. I now have to deck my PA out with a laptop so she can work from home...so everything is compatible, I'm going to get another Macbook Pro. Depending on price, I will either give her mine and take the new one, or just give her the new one.

So, apart from the Apple website, where's a good place to score a good deal? It seems Apple is much the same as Oakley, in that they rarely discount.
Click to expand...
i heard somewhere they dnt do discounts, hit up jb-hifi anyway, might be worth a shot.
 
bjmtb

bjmtb

Likes Dirt
sxereturn said:
So, apart from the Apple website, where's a good place to score a good deal? It seems Apple is much the same as Oakley, in that they rarely discount.
Click to expand...
Your right in thinking that, Oakley as well as Apple are pretty set on their RRP, I had a good friend working in an apple reseller for a few years and I asked him the same question with respect to discounting. For the most part apple don't like it and I am certain all the retailers they sell to are under strick rules not to discount. However, that said it does happen, I'd suggest trying an apple reseller first (aka jb hi fi) or something of the likes and see what they can do. Get a quote if possible and use that as leverage to shop around.
 
LJohn

LJohn

Likes Dirt
I believe it's because Apple don't distribute, they merely license resellers, meaning no margins. Basically, even if you don't buy from Apple, you're buying from Apple.

Say you're from Uni, go for the education discount.
 
K

kalem

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Education discount via their website... *they don't really check if you are eligible*
 
wombat

wombat

Lives in a hole
Regan of Gong said:
Apple refurb, pretty good value. Comes with warranty/
Click to expand...
This, or cozy up to an apple store staff member and convince/blackmail* them into letting you use one of their friends & fam discounts.
Or second hand actually too. I've seen some previous gen MBPs pop up at a reasonable price on OCAU and the like, if they have apple care, or the option to get it, then you're pretty set.

On another note, 3.5k must have bought you a pretty big or flashy macbook, will your PA need anything that intense? If you're buying a 17" laptop, do you really need a laptop, or would you be better off buying a desktop or imac?
 
dog boy

dog boy

Likes Dirt
go to jb hi fi, walk over to the laptops look at any machine with equal or better specs so i7 4gb ddr3 ram 1gb graphics, look at price tag save $1000+ enjoy compatbility with everything, WIN!
 
Tomas

Tomas

my mum says im cool
sxe, i got the fully kitted 15" which retailed at $2500ish. Haggled JB HIFI down 12.5%. Then got a mate to take it out of the country for me and got the GST back (a further 10%). But if it's a business purchase, the GST thing won't help so much.

All the internet is pointing to new MBP's coming out in June at the WWDC, so Apple might be keen to offload excess 15's.
 
Tomas

Tomas

my mum says im cool
dog boy said:
go to jb hi fi, walk over to the laptops look at any machine with equal or better specs so i7 4gb ddr3 ram 1gb graphics, look at price tag save $1000+ enjoy compatbility with everything, WIN!
Click to expand...
I did that a few years ago. Got an ASUS with Vista. Vista was shit, obviously. The battery was shit. The screen was bog. It was heavy and big as fuck. The HDD blew up with all my data 14 months later.

Bough an apple. Then another for home. Then the girlfriend got one. Then the housemates. Not one dissatisfied customer.
 
wombat

wombat

Lives in a hole
dog boy said:
go to jb hi fi, walk over to the laptops look at any machine with equal or better specs so i7 4gb ddr3 ram 1gb graphics, look at price tag save $1000+ enjoy compatbility with everything, WIN!
Click to expand...
Then realise that to get build quality to come close to the MBP you've gotta ignore the consumer laptops and look at business grade units, then faint at the price of Elitebooks, Thinkpads and co.
I'm no hardcore Apple lover, I don't even own anything from them other than an Ipod, and my laptop for work is an elitebook, but it's hard to fault the build quality of the MBPs.
 
No Skid Marks

No Skid Marks

Blue Mountain Bikes Brooklyn/Lahar/Kowa/PO1NT Raci
Duty free.
My girlfriend just bought a Mac Lap top from US online. I'll suss out where. She shopped about a fair bit in Oz first, but we're Canberra based, Syd might have better deals.
 
2

24alpha

mtbpicsonline.com
willsy01 said:
Yup. Unless you're buying in any sort of quantity the best you'll ever get is the odd 10% sale at Dick Smith or JB. Apple are c$%ts with their pricing.
Click to expand...
I worked for one of Victorias larger Unis, and we brought Macs in huge quantities, we still didn't get discounts any more than the education pricing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top