Buying a Mac

david29dpo

And remember, when you come to sell, you will get a good price. Just look at second hand mac prices on ebay.

Leopard

Pssst wrote: »

Any reason why you want a mac?

I would have thought it was blindingly obvious that there is a reason why he wants to buy a Mac. Why else would he have posted that, specifically, he does? :rolleyes:


Spybot,

There is a huge gap in the market between the poorly-specced Mac mini and the full-on Mac Pro, filled only by the iMac - which is difficult (to say the least) to upgrade and which thus obliges the owner to junk a perfectly good inbuilt monitor when the computer itself becomes obsolete.

(The same, of course, is true of a laptop: but a screen is inherent to the concept of a laptop.)

Many people (myself included) prefer to fill this gap with an Apple laptop plus an external display; not least because unless you really need the tremendous power of a Mac Pro, it gives you much more flexibility.

If I were currently in the market for another Mac, I would opt unhesitatingly for one of the recently superseded range of Apple laptops rather than the new ones - unless it be for the current 17" model which still (but not for long) has the former specification.

More specifically, a MacBook Pro or a black MacBook. I'd also snap up a 23" monitor, while I still could, in preference to the new 24" model, unless the budget permits a 30" monitor (which can only be supported by a MacBook Pro, not by a MacBook).

This, usefully, has the additional advantage that it would be cheaper than forking out for one of the new range (which I do not like).

That, however, is not the main thrust of your question - which was how to get the best deal on an Apple.

Unless you can obtain an educational (or profession-specific) discount from Apple, the best way to obtain an effectively new Mac is, as Marty points out, from the Apple Refurb division.

Personally, I prefer to purchase my Macs from private sellers on eBay whom I pick very carefully indeed and from whom I always collect in person, never parting with the money until I have thoroughly inspected and tested the Mac itself. I then buy Applecare for them (also on eBay).

Undoubtedly that carries an element of risk and I would not recommend doing this to anybody who cannot afford to take that risk if anything should go awry.

Nevertheless, I've done it so many times, with never a problem, that I'd still be well ahead, financially, if I had to write off completely the next one I buy that way.

I'm writing this, incidentally, on a £1,600 MacBook Pro which I bought, to all intents and purposes brand new and unused, for £550 a few months ago. It's connected to a £1,200 Hewlett-Packard 30" monitor that I bought similarly on eBay, but definitely new, sealed and unused, for less than half that price. So, the strategy does work and I'm delighted with both.

Redmond Rednecks on here rant on endlessly about Macs being prohibitively expensive but they need not be. :money:

I hope you find a Mac you like at a good price and I wish you luck. I'm sure you'll love it.

Bob63

Check whether the company you work for has an employee purchase plan (EPP) with Apple. Mine does, which means we get discounts ranging from 2% to 17%. From memory the discount on systems is around 8%. One of the organisations with an EPP is the NHS - so all NHS employees can get discounted Apple stuff. Same thing for people who work in education - teachers through to caretakers and dinner ladies.

knightstyle

Just seen our local Argos has a Macbook, don't know which one, behind the counter with all the reduced stuff. It is not in the catalogue or on their website. So it may be worth looking in your local one.
Cheapest way to get a Mac, an old one but still good and will run on OSX 10.4.11 is to pick up an ex-college one on Ebay for £60-£70. I am sending this on one now.

isofa

Many Mac suppliers will be reducing the old MacBooks and MacBook Pros, now the new ones are out. Try Macwarehouse, Jigsaw24, Cancom, or buy a copy of MacUser and see who is offering the best deals.

Millionaire

There was a great offer on dabs.com last week on a brand new Macbook Pro reduced from £1299 to £880 as it was being discontinued due to the release of the newer models. Unfortunalty they have been snapped up.

As others have mentioned one of the best ways to acquire a new one cheap is via the student discount.

I recently purchased a white Macbook (£719 with superdrive) from Apple retail store. Took my brother down(who is a student) and got it reduced to (£618) got the ipod rebate offer and sold that on ebay for £85 net. Purchased 3 year AppleCare for just £48 on the student offer (normally £195) and brought 4GB ram upgrade from Dabs for £36 (£147 via Apple).

So total £631 cost. If normal purchase all through Apple it would have cost me £1061. So saved £430.

So either find yourself a student or go for one of the discontinued models.;) or options that others have mentioned. You can get discount via quidco as well.

Comet are selling quite cheap (used to be £699) Only downside it does not have a Superdrive(which lets you burn to DVD's)

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/443816/APPLE-MB402B-A

Leopard

CheesyMike,

Few quotes are more appropriate to this thread than the one (of Ruskin) in your signature. :money: :T

By the way, when Apple refreshes its ranges it seems to dispose of its surplus stock of the superseded models (which it has to keep in its shops until the day the new ones are announced) by putting them up for sale, re-boxed, as refurbs.

I alerted my companion (who did not want to risk buying one on eBay) to this and she pounced on a MacBook Pro there a day or two after Apple updated its range earlier this year. It was clearly new and unused. It was perfect and it was offered at a discount of 31% to what it had been selling for, the previous week. She was a very happy bunny indeed and she loves it.

Last week, moreover, she nailed a £270 Applecare for it - the real thing, sealed in box, not a "we'll email you the serial number because that's all you need" offer from America - on eBay for £100. So now it's fully covered by Apple until mid-2011.

It's only the ignorant who denounce Macs as being "too expensive".

But please, everybody, don't try to convert the Redmond Rednecks to Mac. We need them to continue buying their Windows machines in huge numbers, so that those who produce and unleash malware keep concentrating on them and leave us alone.

Leopard

Millionaire wrote: »

There was a great offer on dabs.com last week on a brand new Macbook Pro reduced from £1299 to £880 as it was being discontinued due to the release of the newer models. Unfortunalty they have been snapped up.

As others have mentioned one of the best ways to acquire a new one cheap is via the student discount.

I recently purchased a white Macbook (£719 with superdrive) from Apple retail store. Took my brother down(who is a student) and got it reduced to (£618) got the ipod rebate offer and sold that on ebay for £85 net. Purchased 3 year AppleCare for just £48 on the student offer (normally £195) and brought 4GB ram upgrade from Dabs for £36 (£147 via Apple).

So total £631 cost. If normal purchase all through Apple it would have cost me £1061. So saved £430.

So either find yourself a student or go for one of the discontinued models.;) or options that others have mentioned. You can get discount via quidco as well.

Comet are selling quite cheap (used to be £699) Only downside it does not have a Superdrive(which lets you burn to DVD's)

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/443816/APPLE-MB402B-A

Nice one, £x,000,000 Man!,

Proves, to perfection, the point I was making.

It's always important to remember, too, that the discounts on new (and effectively new) Macs purchased from the Apple Refurbs store can sometimes be a lot greater than even the Educational discounts.

And, personally, I'd most certainly prefer one of the previous model MacBooks and MacBooks Pro to the new ones.

Leaving aside any issues over the reliability and functionality of the larger trackpads, the removal of Firewire 400 is a deal-breaker. They used, moreover, to have a USB2 port on either side. Now, they're both on the left -hand side: that must be infuriating for anyone who uses a USB mouse right-handed.

The other killer for me is the glossy screen. I hate glossy, reflective screens. You can even see reflections on the screens illustrated on Apple's own website. Matte screen is now no longer even a specifiable option on the new MacBooks Pro, whereas previously it was the default. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Yet the new ones have neither Blu-Ray nor an eSATA port - both of which are standard on upper-end Sony Viaos.

I see this latest range of Apple laptops as very much a stop-gap offering until a new generation arrives, better equipped.

And even those will have bloody reflective screens. :mad:

And last, but very not least, there's Apple's nasty little secret surprise for buyers of the new ones. They've been HDCP shackled. And in a very heavy handed way. People are discovering, to their anguish, that films and videos purchased from the iTunes store and which played just fine on their previous Macs now throw up an uncompromising message that they are attempting to watch it on kit that isn't HDCP compliant. Halloween came two weeks early with Apple.

If any disaster befell either of my own MacBooks Pro, I would most certainly seek out a replacement of the same type, complete with Firewire 400 port and matte screen rather than buy one of these things. And so would my companion: she hates glossy screens even more than I do!

The new MacBook, with no Firewire port of any sort, is useless for many Mac owners and those who work with video. What's ridiculous is that it's supplied with iMovie - and Firewire is what you use with iMovie... Give me one of those gorgeous black 2.2 or 2.4 GHz MacBooks of the previous generation any day, instead of one of these new ones. (Even with its infernal glossy screen. :mad: ).

One final little gem. The new Mac laptops (except for the top of the range 2.8 GHz model) are actually SLOWER than the old ones. At least until OS 10.6 is released and can make use of the new CPU/GPU setup.

Halloween indeed!

isofa

I very much doubt these new MacBooks are a stop gap IMO, it's a new manufacturing process, which Apple have invested heavily, and will see them through several iterations, they are clearly phasing out Firewire on consumer models to force professionals who need it, to the Pro models - which cost a premium - this is clearly a specific marketing plan.

People can argue about camcorders with Firewire, but most new ones now are USB 2 equipped, and with USB 3 on the horizon very soon, possibly early next year (if it's ratified quickly) will make FW look ancient, it's clear Apple are readying the hardware for that, not older Firewire IMO. Apple have a history of abandoning technology for newer items, the wholesale loss of ADA, SCSI and the floppy are some examples.

I'd be very surprised if Apple reintroduce FW into consumer MacBooks. They phased it out from iPods years ago, and now from consumer laptops, leaving it only in Pro laptops.

I use Firewire all the time, but I'm not a consumer! USB 2 is much faster on PCs than it is on Macs for large data transfer - which is a pity, and why many studio professionals use FW for storage on Macs.

Leopard

isofa wrote: »

I very much doubt these new MacBooks are a stop gap IMO, it's a new manufacturing process, which Apple have invested heavily, and will see them through several iterations, they are clearly phasing out Firewire on consumer models to force professionals who need it, to the Pro models - which cost a premium - this is clearly a specific marketing plan.

People can argue about camcorders with Firewire, but most new ones now are USB 2 equipped, and with USB 3 on the horizon very soon, possibly early next year (if it's ratified quickly) will make FW look ancient, it's clear Apple are readying the hardware for that, not older Firewire IMO. Apple have a history of abandoning technology for newer items, the wholesale loss of ADA, SCSI and the floppy are some examples.

I'd be very surprised if Apple reintroduce FW into consumer MacBooks. They phased it out from iPods years ago, and now from consumer laptops, leaving it only in Pro laptops.

I use Firewire all the time, but I'm not a consumer! USB 2 is much faster on PCs than it is on Macs for large data transfer - which is a pity, and why many studio professionals use FW for storage on Macs.

I use Firewire, both 400 and 800 - sometimes sumultaneously - all the time, too, and I AM a consumer! :mad:

Clearly, you're right about Apple phasing out Firewire for consumers and forcing those who want it to move up to MacBooks Pro. I'd be very angry if I had a big investment in Firewire 400 kit and needed to replace a MacBook.

Wasn't suggesting that they'd ditch the new manufacturing process, merely that they would change the ports in future generations, adding eSATA and also Blu-Ray. Hence my comment that I view these current lot as a stopgap.

Nothing is really going to settle down until OS 10.6 is released and the changes arising from its advanced use of graphics cards for processing can be assessed. Not buying anything until then!


PS. You are the poster on Mac matters whom I respect most in this forum. :A