Potentially decent deals on Macbooks @ Argos

Zonda999

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10152&catalogId=14551&langId=111&searchTerms=macbook&authToken=

Basically use code "TECH10" to get 10% off the above prices in store. I cannot guarantee this works BUT what I did do is go through the process on Argos' UK site and entered the promotional code and it gave 10% off the sticker price so there's no reason I can't see why this wouldn't work at the tills at Argos stores in Ireland.

Take the 128gb Macbook Pro Retina for example, that's €1399 sticker price, with 10% off, its €1259. That same laptop is €1499 off Apple's online store so a substantial discount versus that, and there's no waiting for delivery

There appears to be some stock of all the models in various stores around the country so this may be of some use to some one. Use http://www.checkargos.com/ for an easy way of checking stock nationwide

mick8

Buy it with argos gift cards bought with aldi or lidl vouchers in tescos and save another e250..

capefear

Yep it worked in Argos Longford got a iPad and case with the 10% discount on both

bigpink

How do these aldi or lidl vouchers work

CantGetNoSleep

bigpink wrote: »

How do these aldi or lidl vouchers work

Aldi often give 10€ off 50€ vouchers which Tesco also accept, although buying gift vouchers with them can be tricky so I wouldn't rely on this option

Wanderer78

jebus lads, those things are expensive

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

jebus lads, those things are expensive

Without getting into the Mac vs Windows debate, I agree - you can get a far better specced Windows machine for a good bit less money.

Wanderer78

Techmaster wrote: »

Without getting into the Mac vs Windows debate, I agree - you can get a far better specced Windows machine for a good bit less money.

never owned a mac, they certainly look nice and the environment looks very user friendly but ive always thought, over-priced.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

never owned a mac, they certainly look nice and the environment looks very user friendly but ive always thought, over-priced.

And you'd be right. Not worth the prices they are asking IMO.

sweetie

Personally, I saved 500 euro buying my macbook in the States from apple returns. Yes, windows machines are cheaper and I use one day to day but as a DJ who relies on my gig PC to just work always i find the peace of mind worth the premium.

Wanderer78

sweetie wrote: »

Personally, I saved 500 euro buying my macbook in the States from apple returns. Yes, windows machines are cheaper and I use one day to day but as a DJ who relies on my gig PC to just work always i find the peace of mind worth the premium.

are macs really that more reliable than a similarly priced pc?

Curb Your Enthusiasm

sweetie wrote: »

Personally, I saved 500 euro buying my macbook in the States from apple returns. Yes, windows machines are cheaper and I use one day to day but as a DJ who relies on my gig PC to just work always i find the peace of mind worth the premium.

I've always used Windows and find it very reliable. Never an issue. Maybe it's worth it to you to spend €500-€1000+ more than a Windows machine, to get a Mac but I think it's overpriced and marketing genius.

sweetie

Wanderer78 wrote:

are macs really that more reliable than a similarly priced pc?

Lots of messing and tweaking dj software and drivers on decent windows laptops and a few crashes here and there. Not a single issue in three years of using a macbook. Its practically industry standard now.

Into The Blue

Wanderer78 wrote: »

are macs really that more reliable than a similarly priced pc?

Yes

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

are macs really that more reliable than a similarly priced pc?

No. They are limited in what they can do, like all Apple devices (compared to Windows), and are therefore considered to be 'more reliable' which is nonsense. It is marketing, marketing and more marketing that gets people to believe they are somehow getting a 'premium' machine that's somehow better than a cheaper Windows machine with the exact same, or usually better insides.

Into the Blue - please explain how they are more reliable, and how it justifies the €500-€1000+ price difference?

Wanderer78

Techmaster wrote: »

I've always used Windows and find it very reliable. Never an issue. Maybe it's worth it to you to spend €500-€1000+ more than a Windows machine, to get a Mac but I think it's overpriced and marketing genius.

you have to start asking questions though folks when a company has over $200 billion cash in their accounts. whos fooling who!

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

you have to start asking questions though folks when a company has over $200 billion cash in their accounts. whos fooling who!

The amount of customers who come into my store thinking the word 'iPad' isn't the same as a 'tablet' is unreal. It's marketing at its finest.

The_B_Man

I use both daily. Both are grand. If you're born and bred into Windows, then you'll think Mac OSX is missing a few things. Some of the stuff just doesn't make sense.

I get a good few crashes on the Mac as well.

The only actual reason I have to use a Mac is because you can't run Xcode on any other OS. The command line is miles ahead of Windows as well, but if you need the command line the Linux is better again.

What I actually did was spend 1200 on a Windows laptop with a nice i7 and a fair bit of RAM (to mimic the top spec €2500 macbook) and run Mac in VMWare. Its slower, but potentially I could convert my laptop into a hackintosh for closer to native performance.

But ye look, if you're buying an Apple product, no harm using this deal to get a discount. Can't really go wrong either way.

melekalikimaka

Was windows for years. Had to go mac for final cut, now I would not use a windows based machine unless not alternative. Imo well worth the premium

Zonda999

Techmaster wrote: »

Without getting into the Mac vs Windows debate, I agree - you can get a far better specced Windows machine for a good bit less money.

I would have thought so as well but I've been looking for a well specc'ed 13.3" laptop lately and to be honest, I would beg to differ to an extent, coming from someone who has only ever owned windows laptops.

I'll give you the example of what I'm thinking of getting. I'm thinking of getting the retina Macbook Pro with the 256Gb SSD (As opposed to the 128Gb version). Off amazon UK, I can get this laptop for €1440 about. Admittedly thats not cheap by literally any measure, but if you look at the core spec's you'd find it very difficult to find a windows laptop with the same screen size (That's very important in my case I'll add) for any less.**

At the equivalent spec's of the macbook, you're looking at the top tier ultrabooks from the other main manufacturers. At the moment, the most notable of these would be the Dell XPS 13 (The €1200 version of this doesn't have a screen resolution as good as the macbook by the way), the HP Spectre x360 or maybe the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro. None of these laptops gets perfect reviews either, all of these have some flaw that would put me off them (The trackpad in the case of the Dell and HP, and the concerns over build quality in the case of the Lenovo). All of these laptops are €1200 plus to get spec's similar to those of the Macbook.

I've used Macbooks in the past and I've always been very impressed with their operation and build quality. My colleagues use them at work and some of them have macbooks that are now 6 years old, taken very hard usage in that time and are still perfectly usable laptops for day to day tasks. Then there's the other side of the coin that the Macbook will likely keep its value better than any of the similarly priced windows laptops. Have a look on the likes of donedeal and you'll see how well macbooks appear to keep their value. I just think as an overall ownership proposition, they do look to be the one to buy in terms of €1000+ laptops

** On that point, its worth mentioning that you can clearly get windows laptops wiith bigger screen sizes for a lot less than equivalent macs. Look at this for example BUT its a 17" beast, no one would consider a 17" and a 13" to be comparable surely

Curb Your Enthusiasm

The Spectre x360 with i5, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD is a lovely machine. No issues with my trackpad on it. Use mine every day. Gorgeous screen too.

Zonda999

Techmaster wrote: »

The Spectre x360 with i5, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD is a lovely machine. No issues with my trackpad on it. Use mine every day. Gorgeous screen too.

Its actually the one laptop I'm going to look at before pulling the trigger on the macbook. They stock them in PC World and Harvey Norman. Supposedly, HN sell the i5/8Gb RAM/ 256Gb SSD version for €1199 which isn't the worst value to be fair

The_B_Man

Look up this crowd:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

Build a laptop to your specs. That's where I got mine. Recommend them.

Into The Blue

Techmaster wrote: »

No. They are limited in what they can do, like all Apple devices (compared to Windows), and are therefore considered to be 'more reliable' which is nonsense. It is marketing, marketing and more marketing that gets people to believe they are somehow getting a 'premium' machine that's somehow better than a cheaper Windows machine with the exact same, or usually better insides.

Into the Blue - please explain how they are more reliable, and how it justifies the €500-€1000+ price difference?

Are we still not getting into a Mac v win debate?

I can't afford even one slip up when using my setup. The 1500 differential pales into insignificance when you're charging more than that a night..
My Mac is well traveled at this stage, and still hasn't missed a beat, where as ALL of the windows based laptops/pcs I've used in the same time (for lees demanding tasks) have come up with the usual 'x program has stopped responding') on numerous occasions.

darragh o meara

Into The Blue wrote: »

Are we still not getting into a Mac v win debate?

I can't afford even one slip up when using my setup. The 1500 differential pales into insignificance when you're charging more than that a night..
My Mac is well traveled at this stage, and still hasn't missed a beat, where as ALL of the windows based laptops/pcs I've used in the same time (for lees demanding tasks) have come up with the usual 'x program has stopped responding') on numerous occasions.

Have to agree, I used a Mac for Djing also. 6 years and 1 crash which was caused by me not seating the ram I'd just fitted an hour before properly. I'd never gig with anything else..period.

The_B_Man

Into The Blue wrote: »

Are we still not getting into a Mac v win debate?

I can't afford even one slip up when using my setup. The 1500 differential pales into insignificance when you're charging more than that a night..
My Mac is well traveled at this stage, and still hasn't missed a beat, where as ALL of the windows based laptops/pcs I've used in the same time (for lees demanding tasks) have come up with the usual 'x program has stopped responding') on numerous occasions.

darragh o meara wrote: »

Have to agree, I used a Mac for Djing also. 6 years and 1 crash which was caused by me not seating the ram I'd just fitted an hour before properly. I'd never gig with anything else..period.

All I'll say is, don't confuse a laptop you got in Harvey Normans/PC World/Argos and spent 400 euro on, with a 2500 macbook.
Compare a 1200 or 1500 Windows laptop to a 2500 macbook.

Into The Blue

The_B_Man wrote: »

Compare a 1200 or 1500 Windows laptop to a 2500 macbook.

I've never had a hardware induced failure on a windows rig.. Always down to the €50 OS..

FluffyAngel

this mac v windows is getting very stale on bargain alerts..

great find op..must check out the vouchers,how do they work?

The_B_Man

Into The Blue wrote: »

I've never had a hardware induced failure on a windows rig.. Always down to the €50 OS..

Haha fair enough. We'll leave it there so...

:pac:

jaymcg91

I got my MacBook last year - and I'm in love. Even for the money it cost, it's worth every penny. Got an iPhone and iPad recently and I'm now a fanboy .

Quackster

Get an additional 6% off by buying an Argos gift card here:

countdown.svmeurope.com

Buy the physical card with the minimum €1 credit and then load it when you need it!

FluffyAngel

Quackster wrote: »

Get an additional 6% off by buying an Argos gift card here:

countdown.svmeurope.com

Buy the physical card with the minimum €1 credit and then load it when you need it!

you might just have made me jump the trigger on it ..:D
can the card be used online

davidom2513

mick8 wrote: »

Buy it with argos gift cards bought with aldi or lidl vouchers in tescos and save another e250..

How does this work?

And how does it save €250

can someone please explain?

NATLOR

That code will work with any laptop,tablet or TV worth over €499

davidom2513

NATLOR wrote: »

That code will work with any laptop,tablet or TV worth over €499

What I mean is, how do the argos gift cards bought with aldi or lidl vouchers in tescos work to save another €250 as was mentioned above

NATLOR

I dont know, my post wasnt answering your question

Furzy

davidom2513 wrote: »

How does this work?

And how does it save €250

can someone please explain?

Newspaper Aldi vouchers = get €10 back when u spend €50. Buy newspapers to get 25 vouchers. Tesco will accept the vouchers. In SOME Tesco stores u can buy Argos gift cards using the vouchers so you get €50 gift card for €40 so actual cost of gift cards worth €1250 is €1000. You might have a bit of difficulty using 25 vouchers to buy gift cards though!

Quackster

FluffyAngel wrote: »

you might just have made me jump the trigger on it ..:D
can the card be used online

No, Argos gift-cards can only be used in-store. And it takes 48 hours for credit to be applied to this card and to the Argos gift-cards on sale in Tesco from when activated/topped-up so they may not be suitable if time is of the essence!

Still, 6% of €1200 is €72 so it's not to be sniffed at if you can bag it!

Remember, for safety reasons, it's best to order it with only €1 credit on it and get it delivered by ordinary post, and then load it once you receive it.

Quackster

Furzy wrote: »

Newspaper Aldi vouchers = get €10 back when u spend €50. Buy newspapers to get 25 vouchers. Tesco will accept the vouchers. In SOME Tesco stores u can buy Argos gift cards using the vouchers so you get €50 gift card for €40 so actual cost of gift cards worth €1250 is €1000. You might have a bit of difficulty using 25 vouchers to buy gift cards though!

You might also have some difficulty using 25 gift-cards to buy a laptop as till systems tend to have a limit on the number of gift-cards that can be accepted in the one transaction. For instance, in TK Maxx that limit is 6.

davidom2513

I wonder can the 6% discount can be used in conjunction with the 10% discount?

There might be some T+C's to say it can not be used in conjunction with other discounts etc.

Quackster

davidom2513 wrote: »

I wonder can the 6% discount can be used in conjunction with the 10% discount?

There might be some T+C's to say it can not be used in conjunction with other discounts etc.

Definitely can as to them it's just a regular gift-card and is as valid a method of payment as any other they accept. They have no way of knowing you paid less than face value for the gift-card.

dermiestv

FluffyAngel wrote: »

this mac v windows is getting very stale on bargain alerts..

+1

CantGetNoSleep

Second most annoying thing on boards after Man Utd v. Liverpool

slave1

..not to mention sugar content posters whenever any chocolate or soft drinks BA pops up....

back on topic, my Tesco have stopped allowing Aldi/Lidl vouchers to be used against gift cards

Doodah7

Quackster wrote: »

You might also have some difficulty using 25 gift-cards to buy a laptop as till systems tend to have a limit on the number of gift-cards that can be accepted in the one transaction. For instance, in TK Maxx that limit is 6.

Not in Argos anyway. When I bought my iPad in there, I had SEVENTEEN €10 vouchers :D

FluffyAngel

if you have a tesco clubcard ,you get points back for spending x amount

alksander

Quackster wrote: »

You might also have some difficulty using 25 gift-cards to buy a laptop as till systems tend to have a limit on the number of gift-cards that can be accepted in the one transaction. For instance, in TK Maxx that limit is 6.

Can you ask Argos separately to merge gift card balances onto a few (or onto one)?

Celly Smunt

The have to use both Mac and Windows for work and both are equally annoying in different respects. Mac's feel more fluid though can be really slow for any rendering type situations, Windows can be just down right laggy when it wants to be. Using Windows I've lost days of work due to some crashes. I've lost months of work (luckily backed up) on mac's due to HDD sensitivity.

Neither is more reliable than the other. Though software wise Mac is much more stable, hardware wise I'd go with a PC.

****ing right click too.


So yeah, not a bad deal once you're saving something.

davidom2513

alksander wrote: »

Can you ask Argos separately to merge gift card balances onto a few (or onto one)?

That would be worth a try.

After a few visits will have whittled it down to a few gift cards

mick8

You get 150 tesco club card points for every e50 branded gift card - that covers the cost of e1 saturday paper.. I would say it shouldent take more than one hour if you live in Dublin to go through 2 tesco shops and couple of tills to get the e1250 gift cards for e1000 cash, maybe 2 hours but still worth e250 right?

Quackster

mick8 wrote: »

You get 150 tesco club card points for every e50 branded gift card - that covers the cost of e1 saturday paper.. I would say it shouldent take more than one hour if you live in Dublin to go through 2 tesco shops and couple of tills to get the e1250 gift cards for e1000 cash, maybe 2 hours but still worth e250 right?

On the one occasion I tried to buy €50 of gift cards with a competitor voucher, I was refused. But I've had no problems buying €10 or €20 worth of gift-cards with the balance of €50 made up with groceries etc.