Shopping Tips
What to Consider When Buying a Mac
I ran into a pamphlet that promotes Mac, in which it says:
"Macs are designed from the ground up to work better than any other computer. And they come with everything you need to have more fun, right out of the box, including iLife, Apple's award-winning suite of software that let you easily create photo books, websites, blogs, home movie and more. A built-in iSight camera for video chats with your friends and family. Mac OS X, the world's most advanced operation system, that doesn't suffer from all the viruses that plague PCs. And Intel's latest chip, so everything runs faster than ever."
which I agree. In addition, consider these:
Intel-Based Macs Run Windows
If you are one of many consumers who are hesitant about switching to a Mac because of your investment in Windows applications, you may now reconsider. To run Windows, you want to buy one of the Intel-based Macs (not G4 or G5 based Macs) to run Windows XP. On 2006 April 5th, Apple unveiled Boot Camp, public beta software that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. With Boot Camp, you can install Windows XP and your existing Windows applications on any Intel-based Mac. If you already own an Intel-based Mac and want to take Boot Camp for a spin, you can download it at http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/.
Shipping Cost
Many online merchants offer free shipping on Macs. It is becoming a standard way to attract online shoppers because they are not allowed to go below the suggested retailed price as an Apple reseller. If you see a store charging $40 to ship a Mac, simply click away and go to another online merchants.
See Before You Buy
If you never experienced a Mac, go to an Apple store near you to see how an Apple computer looks and how decent the Mac OS is for a broad range of creative and scientific applications. Whether your are editing video, composing music, designing an ad campaign, or mapping the human genome, you'll have all the functionalities you need.
Merchant Rebates
Very unlikely to find manufacture rebate offered directly by Apple Computer on newly released products in my experiences, but I noticed online merchant rebates offered by Amazon many times in the past. Amazon offers free shipping on qualified items often include all Mac computers. As Mac priced pretty much the same across all merchants, a merchant rebate makes a big difference on top of free shipping. Before you buy, check on Amazon to see if any rebate is going on. If so, a 'rebate' icon can be found on corresponding product page. If you're lucky, you'll save $100 to $200 on a Mac purchase.
Sales Tax
Buying from a store that has a presence in the same state of your shipping address triggers the sales tax. For instance, the sales tax may run as high as 8.75% in many counties of California. If you can, order from out-of-state may save you hundreds of dollars in sales tax. Let's say you're a California resident, in stead of buying from Apple.com or an Apple retail store, order Apple computers on Amazon.com will save you big bucks.
Free Upgrades
As Mac prices do not vary too much across merchants, online stores tend to offer free memory upgrade or free accessories. Free memory is a good offer to go with because it offers better performance to your system. Search deals on Mac to see a list of stores that you can look into.
Education Discounts
Apple has been offering special education discounts to teachers and students to many participating schools. If you are:
- Faculty or staff member of a public or private Higher Education Institution in the United States, or,
- Student currently attending or accepted into a public or private Higher Education Institution in the United States
you might be eligible to buy a Mac at a lower-than-street price.
You can find participating schools by city and state, which is easier than finding by zip code. Once you find the school you attend from the list, select and click 'Continue' to the storefront page of your school to enjoy discounted prices. A online representative is also available to assist you while you're there. You can save up to several hundred dollars on a high-end Mac this way.
last revised on 2006-04-07
by Charles Gwa
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