Buying a Mac: Finding the Deals

Everyone likes a good deal. And now you're in the market for buying a new Mac. Here are some tips for buying a Mac at a bargain price.

WHAT TO BUY
First consider exactly what you want to buy. Buying a tricked-out PowerMac G5 tower is quite different than buying a low-end iBook. If you don't know what's currently available from Apple, use their online Apple Store to see the differences between the models. Browse around and narrow down what you want. Laptop? Desktop? Do you need a keyboard, mouse, or monitor? One excellent idea is to set yourself a spending cap. Decide how much you can really afford to spend on a new computer and then don't allow yourself to select a Mac that will cost more than you can afford. Credit cards are bad, mmmkay?

Consider buying a previous generation Mac, one that was just discontinued. When Apple updates their product lines (which happens several times a year), the market is flooded with these previous generation machines, often at pretty decently-discounted prices. For my bargan-hunting clients, I often tell them to wait until Apple refreshes their product line and then buy. You won't get the latest-and-greatest, but they are still perfectly great machines, and even greater because you saved quite a bit of money. Several of the retailers I mention in this article offer deals during the inventory clear-out phase after an Apple product refresh/release. More after the jump...

WHERE TO BUY
Of course you can buy directly from the online Apple Store. However, it can only offer you Apple's current product line, and often at the highest prices. The truth of pricing in the Mac market is that Apple sets a price on a unit and their resellers (like MacConnection, CDW, or Amazon)
can only best that price by a few dollars. The larger the retailer, the better the price they can offer because of bulk-discounting of the units. This is why Amazon often has the best prices for Macs. They're able to offer rebates and deals that other resellers cannot.

Other excellent places to look for deals are: SmallDog, Outpost, J&R, Buy.com, and NewEgg.com. Apple has a list of Authorized Online and Catalog Resellers as well.

Apple has had a Hot Deals page for quite awhile. It's an excellent place to look for deals on refurbished or discontinued product at great prices. The advantage here is that you're buying directly from Apple and more often than not, the refurbished computer will have the same warranty as a brand-new one.

TOOLS FOR BUYING
Fortunately, there are some tools available for helping us to find the deals. By far, my favorite is DealMac.com.
These guys have been around for a long time and have helped me and my clients save many thousands of dollars. If you're in the market for buying,
definitely take a spin through DealMac for a week before you buy. But DealMac isn't the only player in this game. MacPrices.com offers a very nice matrix for comparing the current prices for models between many online retailers. Both TechBargains and PriceWatch lean heavily toward the PC market, but sometimes I'll find a Mac deal on them.

EXTRAS
Golden rule number one is don't buy that extra RAM from Apple. The Apple Store has gotten better at it recently, but the RAM they're selling in their online store is often ridiculously overpriced. Apple's defense is that they sell only "qualified" RAM and won't support
"non-Apple" or "3rd-party" RAM. And that makes a certain amount of sense, but I still won't buy their crazy overpriced RAM (often just rebranded Kingston or PCE RAM). I generally buy my RAM from Transintl.com, but have purchased from Crucial, RamJet, and MemoryToGo
without any problems. It's true also that you probably shouldn't risk the no-name el cheapo branded RAM. Buy from a reputable vendor who will replace any defective RAM without a hassle. MacPrices.com also has a great matrix for seeing RAM prices by vendor. About a year ago, I compiled on my blog information from an old Mac-Mgrs.org mailing list post about which RAM vendors the people on the list preferred. This is useful because the people on this list work professionally as managers of Macs–so they buy a lot of RAM and have vast experience regarding which vendors supply the best/worst RAM.

LOCALS
A lot of people like to support their local Mac shops by purchasing directly from them instead of an online giant. Many can't offer the same prices on machines, but will often make up for it by offering a pleasant buying experience. If you're brand-new to the Mac marketplace,
sometimes it's best to use a trustworthy local reseller who can work with you on selecting a computer to meet your needs. You might end up paying more, but it's often a good idea for nontechnical buyers. More often than not, an Apple Authorized Service Provider in your local area is also an authorized reseller. You can find a local AASP using this tool at Apple's website.

EDUCATION
Lastly, if you're lucky enough to be either a student or a teacher in an educational institution, Apple offers some significant discounts on both hardware and software via their Apple Education online store. This same discount can also be used at any one of Apple's Retail Stores, but you should take with you both your official school ID and a form of State or Federal ID like your driver's license. The retail stores won't be able to offer you disconts on software (that's online only), but they will discount any hardware you buy.