Is there any benefit to buying directly from Apple, either off their website or their local store?
I asked one of their staffers today, and was offered a rather unlikely unlikely reason - this guy actually said that Amazon or MacMall might be selling refurbished computers at full prices. :rolleyes:
Only benefit I can see so far to buying from the Apple store is that they presumably have the thing in stock and I can walk out with one in hand.
Other than that, is there anything like the popular notion that leaving the dealer’s sticker/license plate frame on your car will get you perks like faster service at that dealership?
I just recently went through this.
I ordered an IMac through MacMall, and it was delivered damaged (cracked screen). It was quite a hassle to rectify. Macmall blamed Fed Ex. and Fed Ex blamed Mac. I wanted no part of the argument, sent it back, and cancelled the order.
Took a trip to a Mac store, and they actually took it out of the box, and booted it up to prove every thing was good to go.
Go to the Mac store, you won’t be sorry. Oh, and they could care less where you bought it. Either Applecare is paying for a repair, or you are. No ‘loyalty’ involved.
I bought mine a few weeks ago from our local Mac store. I had shopped around beforehand and Mac were the only people who were willing to give me any sort of discount for buying the machine, a pile of software and some extra hardware from them at the same time. YMMV, of course. This will, obviously, only be a factor in your decision if you are buying a bunch of stuff at once.
Wherever you get it, enjoy it! It’s a beautiful machine.
I have a friend who works for Apple, and he staffs the local CompUSA store.
When my son was looking for a Mac, I told him that of course we would buy from him.
He told me not to worry about it. He didn’t work on commission, he couldn’t give me a better deal than the Mac store, and in fact, since he owned Apple stock, he’d get as much out of it if my son bought from ANY authorized outlet.
In the end, the Mac store had all the software my son wanted in stock, so that’s where he went.
I tolde my parents what mac mini to buy, told them what buttons to push on Apple’s site, how to exactly get the machine I’d be most able to support.
The felt uncomfortable about putting their credit card into a web brwoser and sending it off out into the internet.
They went to a local shop. The guy there was most interested in selling leftover stock he had. So they ended up with a ‘better’ deal, got it home, and found it had last year’s iLife and OS X. I ended up having to ship them media so that I could support them (dialog boxes were quite a bit different between 10.3 and 10.4)
So, people brand new to a Scary different OS got to install it from scratch. Something that wouldn’t have happened if they’d just bought it direct from Apple. Yeah, the CPU was slightly faster and the hard disk was slightly bigger, but it wasn’t worth the hassle.
You can do some custom configuration to a machine.
I’ve never had a problem with MacMall or the other online retailers. But it’s right that they will have somewhat older machines. Usually Apple offers some kind of free or reasonable upgrade if you buy a new machine with an old OS.
Apple has a ‘Deals’ page on their website with refurbs. I’ve had some Apple refurbs and have always had good luck with them- they are fully warranted.
So, local Apple store if you like buying from real people where you canpoke at it, and the online Apple store if you want something customized or something specific, and can wait a week or so.
I’ve always bought Macs from catalogues or more recently, from those catalogues’ websites. Usually I go for a reliable out-of-state one to avoid unnecessary taxes.
I bought one back around '95 or '96. It had a bad modem. Apple sent a guy to my house to replace it and we had a nice chat while he was there.
Around '01 or '02 I bought one and the keyboard (my fault actually) went bad. After talking to Apple on the phone for a bit and going through the usual diagnostics, they sent me a new keyboard.
I don’t think it’s makes much difference whether you buy one from an Apple store or not. If it’s a Mac & has the usual warranty, you’re good to go.
But if I had an actual Apple store nearby, and it wasn’t just an authorized seller, and they had good deals and I felt I could develop a relationship with the people at the store, I’d go with that.
But mostly I just go for best price, keeping in mind shipping & taxes. Apple supports its machines pretty reliably, wherever you got them.
As a vendor, Apple gets consistently good reviews. Check out the ratings on Consumer Reports or the Better Business Bureau for up to date stats re Dell or other competing vendors. Their customer service and warranty service are usually rated much better than most other computer vendors. While most of those things still apply if you buy from another retailer, I think that they probably take the same care with their retail division as they do with the other aspects of their business. I’ve personally gotten very good service at the Apple stores. ('Course, I’ve pretty much only been to the Ginza store and Japanese service is legendary anyway).
If you’re buying under an educational discount, want built to order options, or want financing, you may actually have to buy through Apple. I’ve only bought directly from Apple or through university stores, so I’m not sure whether other authorized dealers offer those services.
You almost certainly will not get a better deal than through Apple. No matter what deal a retailer gets for their wholesale price when buying from Apple, from what I understand, per their retail agreement their retail price is required to be very close to Apple’s own retail price. That’s also why there’s not that much of a price war between different authorized dealers; they actually can’t offer much of a price break. Since that’s the case, you pretty much choose a dealer based on that business’s service rather than price.
Apple has the newest hardware revision and most up to date version of the pre-installed software on sale at their stores or site. Apple’s pricing usually doesn’t change much, even when they’re offering new things. When I bought my PowerBook, the processor had just been upgraded to a 1.5 GHz G4 and they were offering it for the exact same price as the earlier one. Right now, they’re offering the new 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro for the exact same retail price I paid for my PowerBook. While you might save a little bit of money by trying to find a place that had the older models in stock still, the price difference is usually not that big at all, and you could end up with computer envy or a situation like Unintentionally Blank had with his parents.
I realize none of these are supremely compelling reasons to buy from Apple rather than another retailer.
One thing I would say to avoid buying from Apple is memory, unless you’re getting an educational discount on the order. Their prices are a bit high and, if you’re capable of installing your own RAM, can easily be beaten even if you buy the exact same model and make of memory that Apple uses.
If you are already familiar with Macs, there’s no reason not to buy it from a third-party retailer who will throw in the best extras. I note that Amazon.com consistently has “$100 off and free ground shipping” deals for brand-new machines, which IMO are the best buys around. Bookmark MacPrices.com if you’re into this stuff.
If you’re not confident buying a new Mac, then definitely hike down to an Apple Store and get as much hand-holding TLC as you need.
Finally, note that if you buy a Mac by mail-order and there’s something wrong with it, you can take it to a brick-and-mortar Apple Store and have them honor the warranty. Not sure if that applies to stuff damaged in shipping, but it’s a comforting fact to keep for reference.
The best place to buy a Mac is your local INDEPENDENT vendor, not an official Apple store…
Apple is doing some very evil, anticompetitive “microsoftian” things to their vendors, they are literally trying to squeeze the independent vendor out of the retail channel, Evil Steve™ wants the retail market for himself, he wants Apple brick-and-mortar stores and the Apple online store to be the only place to buy a Mac
don’t let him get away with it, as **Ltfire ** found out, most independent retailers will take the time to help you choose the right machine, set it up and even test it for you, try getting that from an online retailer/mail order, and if you do have a problem, the local shop will be willing to help you out and make it right
if you’re buying a Mac, please support your local independent retailer
