Switching to Mac

[ceezo66]

Hey peeps,

So I'm going to make the switch.

Now I need to know the honest best way to buy a mac. In other words, how can I buy a mac with the lowest price and still be sure of buying a genuinely new macbook?

Club Mac? Mac Mall? Apple.com?

Best,
Caesar

[Tigris]

I think if you are any kind of pupil/student, you should probably go to the Apple Edu-Store. At least here in DE.

[balsawood]

In the UK, the online store is the pretty much best option. There aren't many Apple shops (on the highstreet) and they don't always have stock.

Other shops/online shops normally are more expensive and can only match the price with older models.

I've not had any experience with Mac Mall, Club Mac or any other US stores so I can't help you too much with them.

[Karlos Santos]

Depends where in the UK you are. Also you dont need to buy from an Apple Store you can buy from an Apple Reseller which is an approved store.
I did this and get great service from the guys in the shop which i think is better than buying from the website.

All stores have to sell at the same price apart from some which are like Apple Premium Sellers (one of the guys on here works at one) so theres not gonna be much of a difference in price but id look around your area to find a good reseller for a good after sales service.

My local guy cloned a HD for me and fitted the new one whilst i was on holiday and he charged me for 1 hour work which was like £30 . I came home and it was done , great service and i didnt have send the mac off .

[djhipnotikk]

yeah, i'd go in-store. i'm pretty sure they'll still give you a student discount (if you are student, of course) even if it's not on their edu-store online. plus, they can give you deals that a computer can't (sometimes in-store specials, however one time i got a firewire cable for cheap because the guy was super nice). plus they can answer any question you'll have, which is something you can't say about every other shop that sells mac + every other computer ever.

[DJ_Animus]

Dont do it!!!!!!

[JesC]

Dont do it!!!!!!

really come on, the guy is ready to switch.

[R2D2]

Dont do it!!!!!!

[ceezo66]

Just wondering if any of you know if Apple will upgrade their computers soon?

I don't want to drop a heavy stack and then have Apple come out with a new line for the same price with even better stats. I saw on Mac Insider that the cycle is coming up on an update soon.

Either way I think I'm going to hold out either to get a back to school special or buy an upgraded macbook pro.

[djhipnotikk]

it's true, we just got the 10.5.7 update, and once it gets to around 10.5.9, it's time to wait until they come out with 10.6 (snow leopard), because it will come standard with the machines that come after that, and anyone with 10.5.x will have to purchase the new OS. also, if i remember right, mac is pretty notorious about releasing new hardware along with new operating systems, but since they just recently came out with the new style of macbook pro, i don't think it will be a serious hardware upgrade.

keep in mind though, these updates come at intervals that could span 3-6 months with each update, so the least amount of time you'll be waiting until snow leopard is 9 months, the max being 18 (with my predictions). if you can wait that amount of time (ish), then i recommend it, it's just a deal.

also something for consideration is apples notorious habit of having the WORST version of their product released initially. if they come out with a totally new line of hardware, WAIT. after 6 months, the prices drop and the stats get a major upgrade. for example, i got my iMac back in the day when it first came out, about 8 months later they come out with a model that's cheaper, has standard SuperDrive (cd-rw/dvd-rw) on all models, bigger HDD standard, built-in iSight, and Front Row. just a heads up :P