When to Buy a Mac
 

I have decided that I am going to buy a Mac laptop. However, I don't wish to buy one if they are going to reconfigure them soon. According to a guy at the Apple store they just did it a couple months ago so it seems like now might be an OK time. However, perhaps not. Does anyone know about how often they reconfigure their computers or a credible website where I could read rumors?

If you buy one within the next couple days you can get a free ipod nano. Also if you know any educators, or qualifying students you can get a good discount as well. I believe the newer models came out a few months ago.

I wasn't told about the free ipod. Perhaps it's because I am an educator and am going to recieve that discount thus making me ineligible for the nano?

http://images.apple.com/backtoschool/rebate.pdf

Hmm. May be ineligible, dunno.

I got the 15" MacBook Pro with the free Nano.. Wife got the Nano. It's cool to have, but is it worth the extra you pay for a Mac? Well, I have gone through a number of PC laptops because of various issues while my wife has had one Mac for five years. If the quality held, I expect I'll actually come out ahead.

It's actually one of the banner ads on the board here.

The girl Im going out with got one and a free nano a couple weeks back. She seems pretty happy with it.

Man, first you miss out on the most recent werewolf game, then you're buying a Mac? For shame.

The correct answer is never.

Dick.

The correct answer is, "When you want to." I'll probably have this Mac laptop forever. I am never buying another PC -- though I do build my own for my project studio. If you keep them pared down and off the internet, there's nothing wrong with PCs.

I keep reading this as "When to buy a Big Mac".

Off to McDonalds I go....

In the past, Apple has often announced price cuts and new products at or immediately after their Mac Expos, which are held twice a year. The next one is in January.

I'm don't think the educator discounts are all that big of a deal on Macs now. I only saved about $50 on the one I bought in December. A quick look at prices for the midrange MacBook Pro shows this:

Direct from Apple: $2,599
Apple Educational Price: $2,299
MacConnection price after rebate: $2,344

So again, unless I'm missing something, it's less than a $50 savings, tax/shipping considerations aside.

Adblock gets most of the banner ads for me here so I see very few of them.


I think life is not going to allow me to play WW with the frequency that I used to. And the only reason I'm considering a mac is now that they can dual boot, I can have a well designed laptop to use wherever I am, something which is a big deal for me considering I am spending more time away from home than at home. Perhaps it would even allow me to resume WW playing if I can manage to get my two classrooms covertly equipped with extra wireless routers I have.