# Are there any Apple Mac notebook discounters? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552 "2009-10-21T01:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552/1 "2009-10-21T01:06:23Z")
If fortune smiles I possibly would like to get my daughter a Mac notebook[like one of these](http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook?afid=p201%7C1216905&cid=AOS-US-AFFC-CPU)in the next few months. What are the best places for Mac deals? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552/2 "2009-10-21T01:38:34Z")
That’s pretty much exactly what we just bought. We were looking for a deal, too, but Apple dealers don’t really have sales, and the price is pretty much the same at every store (as far as I know). What you can do, and we almost did this, is buy a refurbished laptop. We found that the refurbished price wasn’t low enough to justify buying refurbished over new (only about $100 less at this point, since the price of the 13" MacBook just dropped). ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552/3 "2009-10-21T01:57:12Z")
Macs don’t really go on sale. Apple seems to set their own prices, and only really lower them when new models are out/coming out. If you have a working college email address you can qualify for an education discount which usually gets you $100 off and/or a free iPod or something. There might be other ways to qualify for an edu discount but I’ve only ever gotten one for having a legit college email address that Apple recognized. Only other option I’ve seen is checking out Apple’s refurbished products store. But those discounts are not that great either. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552/4 "2009-10-21T03:07:13Z")
About the only real discount you’ll find other than via the educational market is to buy it from Amazon. I get discounts through my employer and an outfit called LifeCare, and while LifeCare will get me Apple products for less than at Amazon, having to pay shipping generally makes Amazon come out slightly ahead on the deal. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552/5 "2009-10-21T11:24:56Z")
When new model(s) come out, sometimes you can ge a deal on the now old model Brian ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552/6 "2009-10-21T12:41:40Z")
Look in the refurb section of the online Apple store. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552/7 "2009-10-21T18:03:39Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > When new model(s) come out, sometimes you can ge a deal on the now old model > > Brian This is true, and I’ve seen the older Macbook Airs go for a lot less than the original price, but I doubt the discount will amount to a lot when you’re looking at the cheaper models. Still, the new models are just in, so it may be worth looking around for deals in the coming weeks/months. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apple-mac-notebook-discounters/514552/8 "2009-10-21T23:17:44Z")
**Balthisar** has the best suggestion. [Here](http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=Nzc1MjQzMw) is a link. They have a couple of the previous-generation MacBooks, which have basically the same specs as far as processor speeds and so forth as the new one, for as little as $649. And they are covered by the same one-year warranty that brand-new Macs come with. But the stock changes daily and I would expect that the old MacBooks will go quickly, as they have a couple of features that the new ones don’t. The new ones have no FireWire port, no separate in/out for audio and no IR sensor for remotes.