Best Way to buy a MAC

spcw

hi

My son wants a mac book pro and has saved the cost of it over the summer. Where is the best deals to be had or is there a smart way to get discounts on mac products.

Thanks

SPCW

Paulw

Buy a refurb - http://store.apple.com/ie/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro?mco=MjEwNTY3ODE


You still get the very same warranty.

Fluffy88

Best way to buy a Mac.
Buy a normally priced laptop then take €700 and burn it :P

Just my opinion, they are very over-priced and you could get a more powerful Windows laptop for much less. I don't think they are worth the cost unless there is a good reason for him to want a Mac.

Mac
http://store.apple.com/ie/product/FC372B/A?mco=MTgxMzM0MzU - €1,439 (using site linked above)
Higher spec Acer
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5750G_1091432.html - €563

Darksaga87

The main problem with the acer laptop you linked to is that its not a macbook pro.

Johnmb

Fluffy88 wrote: »

Best way to buy a Mac.
Buy a normally priced laptop then take €700 and burn it :P

Just my opinion, they are very over-priced and you could get a more powerful Windows laptop for much less. I don't think they are worth the cost unless there is a good reason for him to want a Mac.

Mac
http://store.apple.com/ie/product/FC372B/A?mco=MTgxMzM0MzU - €1,439 (using site linked above)
Higher spec Acer
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5750G_1091432.html - €563

Battery life is twice as long on the Mac, delivery is free (not so for the Acer unless you live in the UK mainland). Acer is plastic, Mac is aluminum unibody construction. Not like with like at all.

To the OP, is your son a student? If so, he can go to the regular store and avail of the student discount. If he's a university student, they may have their own links to the store with discounts via his student email account (UCD do at least, I assume the rest do too), but even if he's not going to one of those universities, he can go to the generic student store, I assume the discounts would be pretty similar.

milltown

Fluffy88 wrote: »

Best way to buy a Mac.
Buy a normally priced laptop then take €700 and burn it :P

Just my opinion, they are very over-priced and you could get a more powerful Windows laptop for much less. I don't think they are worth the cost unless there is a good reason for him to want a Mac.

Mac
http://store.apple.com/ie/product/FC372B/A?mco=MTgxMzM0MzU - €1,439 (using site linked above)
Higher spec Acer
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5750G_1091432.html - €563

Seriously. Why do these people bother posting in the Mac forum?
Do you troll the regional forums too? Telling people on the Galway forum that they should move to Longford because they can buy the same house for half the money and it will do everything the Galway house can do. Except maybe be the house they want to buy.

OP, I'm starting to sound like a broken record but... I'd second the refurb store for a bargain. Otherwise, if you know anyone flying through Dublin airport, Dixons in the airport are doing better prices than anyone (including Apple). No prices on their website but if you know what you want give them a ring and price it.

Snowie

spcw wrote: »

hi

My son wants a mac book pro and has saved the cost of it over the summer. Where is the best deals to be had or is there a smart way to get discounts on mac products.

Thanks

SPCW

hes student he can get discount... its not much but he can bye apple care with the difference... well maybe...

Irish_Elect_Eng

If you have any practical way of doing so, but it in the USA to really get the best student discounts and to avail of the currency advantage.

Note there will be some minor inconvience with power cables...etc, but if the price is a key issue then this might be the way to go.

whiterebel

Fluffy88 wrote: »

Best way to buy a Mac.
Buy a normally priced laptop then take €700 and burn it :P

Just my opinion, they are very over-priced and you could get a more powerful Windows laptop for much less. I don't think they are worth the cost unless there is a good reason for him to want a Mac.

Mac
http://store.apple.com/ie/product/FC372B/A?mco=MTgxMzM0MzU - €1,439 (using site linked above)
Higher spec Acer
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5750G_1091432.html - €563

That post is like a lighthouse in a bog......brilliant, but f**king useless.....:rolleyes:

ZENER

Fluffy88 wrote: »

Best way to buy a Mac.
Buy a normally priced laptop then take €700 and burn it :P

Just my opinion, they are very over-priced and you could get a more powerful Windows laptop for much less. I don't think they are worth the cost unless there is a good reason for him to want a Mac.

Mac
http://store.apple.com/ie/product/FC372B/A?mco=MTgxMzM0MzU - €1,439 (using site linked above)
Higher spec Acer
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5750G_1091432.html - €563

Seriously ?! You're comparing a piece of crap Acer (I say that from experience by the way) to an Aluminum Uni-Body MacBook Pro ? The Acer doesn't run Mac OS X anyway !!

+1 for student discount and the refurb store.

Ken

mikemac

Go for the refurb store OP

You can use the student card on MS Office

Apple have their own product, Pages is ok but after using Excel for years I'm not going to take the time to learn Numbers.

Or there's neoffice too which is fine

A student needs one of these three anyway

Paulw

milltown wrote: »

Seriously. Why do these people bother posting in the Mac forum?

Probably because the topic was posted in Computers & Technology forum, and then moved, so you can still see it there. :rolleyes:

For me, I've never been a Mac person at all. Never owned one.

I have a lovely Dell laptop (i7 processor, 4gb ram, 500gb hdd, high-res display), but currently I'm considering buying a Macbook Pro (15", i7, 4gb, high-res anti-glare). The main reasons - battery life, solid body, etc.

Fluffy88

I posted that when this thread was in the Computers & Technology forum, so no I wasn't trolling. And I have made a very vaild point.

Personally I agree with all of you, I wouldn't get that Acer I hate Acer too. But it really does prove my point, Macs and way over priced and none of you can disagree with that because it's true.

I don't like to let people buy stuff without the full picture. I didn't tell the OP not to get one, I was simply trying to show him that Macs are over priced and unless his son needs the Mac OS then a more powerful Windows machine might be a more sensible purchase.

If I was to get a computer comparable to the Macbook Pro I would probably pay around €700 for a laptop, then buy a 128GB SSD for it and I would have a much, much better laptop for less than €900, but then again I wouldn't pay that for a laptop

I don't mean to attack the Mac OS, I'm sure there is a good use of a bloated, expensive Linux Distro :P

ZENER

Here we go again !! :rolleyes:

maccored

you get what you pay for, and if any of the macs I have are anything to go by, what you pay for is quality and long life. I have a 7 year old mac book and the oldest dell laptop I have (a cast off from work) is only 4 years old ... yet one crawls and the other works like the day it was bought. I'll leave you to work out which is which.

Fluffy88 wrote: »

I posted that when this thread was in the Computers & Technology forum, so no I wasn't trolling. And I have made a very vaild point.

Personally I agree with all of you, I wouldn't get that Acer I hate Acer too. But it really does prove my point, Macs and way over priced and none of you can disagree with that because it's true.

I don't like to let people buy stuff without the full picture. I didn't tell the OP not to get one, I was simply trying to show him that Macs are over priced and unless his son needs the Mac OS then a more powerful Windows machine might be a more sensible purchase.

If I was to get a computer comparable to the Macbook Pro I would probably pay around €700 for a laptop, then buy a 128GB SSD for it and I would have a much, much better laptop for less than €900, but then again I wouldn't pay that for a laptop

I don't mean to attack the Mac OS, I'm sure there is a good use of a bloated, expensive Linux Distro :P

cython

maccored wrote: »

you get what you pay for, and if any of the macs I have are anything to go by, what you pay for is quality and long life. I have a 7 year old mac book and the oldest dell laptop I have (a cast off from work) is only 4 years old ... yet one crawls and the other works like the day it was bought. I'll leave you to work out which is which.

The bolded is an impressive claim, seeing as the Macbook (i.e. intel CPU) was only introduced a little over 5 years ago (May 2006), unless you mean an iBook/powerbook?

As to the OP's question of where best to buy a mac, definitely go for the refurb store if you can afford the time to wait for the one you want to appear, as from what I've seen it's actually cheaper than the education discount, and even if you can swing something through the US, there is a risk of getting stung for VAT/import duties.

uncle_sam_ie

[QUOTE=Fluffy88;74127678
Macs and way over priced and none of you can disagree with that because it's true.

:P[/QUOTE]
I can. OSX, build guilty and excellent tec support it's worth every penny. BTW, I own and use both a PC and a Mac.

i71jskz5xu42pb

spcw wrote: »

hi

My son wants a mac book pro and has saved the cost of it over the summer. Where is the best deals to be had or is there a smart way to get discounts on mac products.

Thanks

SPCW

www.compub.com do ex-demo and refurb
www.themacshop.ie do ex-demo (not sure about refurb)
And the Apple Store of course

I seem to remember reading something about a seller on eBay with a really good reputation but don't have a link.

mickoneill30

maccored wrote: »

yet one crawls and the other works like the day it was bought. I'll leave you to work out which is which.

Does the processor get slower with old age?

Final Approach

Hey OP. Just for your information, I purchased my 13" Macbook Pro a few months ago in the US. I knew someone that was going, so I gave them the money and they picked it up at the Apple store over there.

It was US$1199, and they were also offered a US$50 discount, which considering the exchange rate at the time, amounted to around €850. That was a saving of €350!

My Macbook Pro works perfectly over here, and I have no regrets whatsoever. The only differences that I am aware of is the dollar sign instead of the euro sign on the keyboard, (I just press option + 2 for it instead), the enter key is smaller, and of course the plug was US. (I just bought a normal plug in a hardware store, cut off the US plug and rewired the UK plug.

I know that this is not an option for you unless you or a friend/relation is planning a trip soon, but just in case, I thought I'd let you know!

milltown

Paulw wrote: »

Probably because the topic was posted in Computers & Technology forum, and then moved, so you can still see it there. :rolleyes:

Fluffy88 wrote: »

I posted that when this thread was in the Computers & Technology forum, so no I wasn't trolling. And I have made a very vaild point.

Mea culpa

psycho93

you can also use the student card in any CompuB?

I bought a MacBook Air 11' in CompuB for my daughter, cough, and they gave me 7% discount and then another for cash!!!! cost me €900.

after they printed out the receipt in my daughters name the kind salesperson then printed me a receipt in my name so I can also claim back the VAT

TrustedApple

psycho93 wrote: »

you can also use the student card in any CompuB?

I bought a MacBook Air 11' in CompuB for my daughter, cough, and they gave me 7% discount and then another for cash!!!! cost me €900.

after they printed out the receipt in my daughters name the kind salesperson then printed me a receipt in my name so I can also claim back the VAT

I would not go near CompuB i asked about buying a mac in there shop in cork before had to head to the counter to get a sales man and i asked what is the price on the basic mac book pro i was told by him go down and look at the lefflit beside it.

Also that mind me asking you get 10% off if you got it from apple and a free printer also a free 75 euro gift card for the mac app store a lot better deal if you got one from apple

Was in CompuBin limerick looking for a ipad 1 case for my mums new ipad and they had the official apple one for 89 euros !!! whent right around the corner to currys and paid 39 euro rip off 101 in that store