PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

elchivito · #22 02-04-2011, 11:57 PM

There's no need to shop price like you have to do with Pee-Sees. Apple has retail presence in all 50 states so if you buy from their website, you'll pay tax, but shipping will be free. 3rd party sellers will often throw in extra memory or some cheesy printer as an incentive, but their prices will not beat Apple's website prices. You will save tax with them though. AVOID MACMALL LIKE THE PLAGUE. A great 3rd party seller is Small Dog Electronics. It's a good idea to check the Apple refurbished page daily. Their products carry the same warranty as new, I've bought at least 3 machines and I don't know how many iPods refurbed from them and they are identical to new. You can save 10-20 percent, but have to take whatever's available. It changes daily. I also can't recommend the extended AppleCare warranty enough, especially for a newb. You have up to a year to buy it from your date of original purchase. It extends your warranty up to three years. Unlimited phone support and as often as not you get to talk to a native English speaker, not "Peggy". If warranty repair is needed, they'll send you a shipping box next day fedex prepaid. I had a laptop last year turned around in less than a week with a new motherboard installed, door to door to door in 6 days. Great service. If you know anyone who's an educator, they can get a good education discount off the website too. Look for the link "Apple store for education". You have to log in and find your school, and can then buy at discount. It's usually enough to cover the tax on an entry level machine. As far as recommendations, unless you really need a laptop, the iMac is the best bang for the buck. I say that typing this on a 17 inch Powerbook however. By the way, it's a 2003 model and runs flawlessly, never had an issue and gets heavy music production and video/photo editing usage. Great machine. Get ready to be rid of viruses, spyware and all the other nasties that are a fact of life with M$ machines. You'll never look back.
Me? A Fanboy? Nope, just a cheapskate who doesn't like to spend money keeping machines safe and fixing and patching them all the time and who expects them to last a good long while and be worth something when I'm done with them, that's all.