Does Apple do holiday deals?

J

JonKemerer

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Sorry if this question doesn't belong here. I wasn't sure which forum would be appropriate for this kinda question.

My buddy wants to buy a Mac but is waiting for some kind of "After Christmas Sale". My question is, does Apple typically do this on their website? Or, maybe some retailers? I guess what he means is Dell sometimes does pre-holiday specials, he's looking for the same thing from Apple, but after Christmas.

My thinking is Apple doesn't, but figured I'd ask some of you Mac people. Thanks in advance,

- Jon K.
 
I'm no expert but I believe that apple fixes their retailer's prices. Every apple product I can remember has been discontinued or replaced en lieu of a price drop. Try eBay.
Jeremy
 
Keep in mind, if you are a student, you can always get a student discount! They also have a pay per month program as well.
 
I don't know if all apple stores do this, but the one in memphis has a sale once a month. They take all the discontinued and demo products and put them on a rack in the back of the store and mark it all down. Sometimes they have a couple computers there. More laptops than desktops usually. I'm guessing with the current iMac update, there will be some old iMacs in the stack, I may take my x-mas cash there :)
 
I remember last Black Friday they had sales. But who is crazy enough to goto the Apple store on black friday...
 
Keep on the lookout for other stores that sell Apple products. For instance, J & R (http://www.jandr.com) is a store in NYC (I know you're from Pittsburgh, but maybe worth if you visit for the holidays!), that sells Apple products and may have a sale. I go there fairly frequently, so I will check up on that.
 
There is a promotion running right now where you get a $100 mail-in-rebate when you purchase any printer with any computer (the rebate is on the printer). There is also a promotion where you get $30 off of .Mac when you buy it with a new computer. There is typically some sort of sale on black friday, but it is hit or miss whether it will cover what your friends wants to buy.
 
A number of years ago some big companies fixed their retail prices with something called "Fair Trade" prices. As I recall it was ruled illegal (monopolistic?). How Apple and Canon and some others get away with it would probably make a good investigative report.
 
The two best ways to get a Mac at a discount, but still get appleCare with it, is either using the Sale button at the bottom right of the Apple Web Store page or going over to a Apple surplus store like Smalldog.
 
I've talked to a retailer off the record before, and they mentioned how apple does big marketing pushes (just ads) durning the holidays... then a little while later, the either drop prices, or upgrade the hardware. Apparently it pisses alot of people off, but the figure, keep selling the old stuff (and making it) till the day they release the new ones.
 
if i remember correctly they had special online deals the day after thanksgiving...vut they werent anything to get all worked up about.
 
Places like macmall.com typically do not have to charge sales tax to most states, which is kind of like a sale (8% on $2000 computer is $160). This offsets the shipping cost and then some. They also offer a lot of mail-in rebates for free memory upgrades, printers, etc. I have found their customer service to be so-so (well, at least not as excellent as Apple's) in that I had to call them to request rebate forms and they gave me the wrong amount of RAM upgrade once, but not so bad that I didn't go back to them. I'd call the 800 number and speak with a rep to make sure you are seeing all the possible freebies, but just be ready for them to also try to sell you a lot of add ons that you don't need.
 
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