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25% off MPB now or 10% off MBP later with Core 2 Duo?

E

Egosphere

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 21, 2006
69
0
Hi. I'm starting college next year at UC Berkeley and I will need a laptop. I decided I want the MBP. Well, I bought it earlier in March and it had those terrible known defects, so I returned it for a full refund. So, now I'm waiting on the Core 2 Duo MBP, hoping that it will have all quirks ironed out, and maybe it'll have some other improvements (hopefully, the graphics card). I don't mind waiting a few weeks into the semester--I can use the computing centers. The only thing is that here in Texas I have connections :D and can get the employee discount which is 25%. If I wait 'till I'm in California, then I can only get the edu discount which is about 10%. (For clarification, the edu discount and the employee discount cannot be stacked together--only one discount on purchase.) I leave around the 20th or something. So, I'm not sure what to do. I'd really like the new MBP (plus, I waited all this time already and Core 2 Duo is now SO close), but the 15% difference in discounts is quite substantial. What do you say?
Do you think, also, maybe, I can get the MBP with the discount just when I leave and not open it, and get it replaced with the newer MBP in San Fransisco (across the bay from Cal) within 2 weeks? Will that work? Will I still get the same price? Will they only give me a refund for what I paid with the employee discount and I'd have to buy the computer with the edu discount? Will they upgrade my MBP if unopened? Will they even refund my money fully or will only the store where I bought it do that?
Thanks for helping!
 
What is the price of the MBP you want right now? When you find that out, look up the Edu discount on said MBP. What's the price difference? If the employee discount will save you tons more money vs. the edu discount, buy it now. If not, hold out the extra couple weeks for the updated one. If the Yonah MBP does everything you want it to do right now, buy it now.
 
I love those employee discounts...

That being said, if it's an Apple Employee discount, the discount isn't in-store. Employees have to order their machines from a back-of-house online store and all sales are final. You can't return it, replace it, exchange it, etc. You are stuck with what you have. I would hold off until Core 2 and have them order it for you then...they can order it with your CC info and have it shipped to you just as if you ordered it online yourself.
 
So, you're an Apple employee in Texas but not in California. j/k

In general that type of thing is frowned upon. Using a discount to which you aren't entitled is unethical. It's better than a five-finger discount but it's 25% the same thing.
 
Rod Rod said:
So, you're an Apple employee in Texas but not in California. j/k

In general that type of thing is frowned upon. Using a discount to which you aren't entitled is unethical. It's better than a five-finger discount but it's 25% the same thing.
Click to expand...

Not really. Employees are given (1) personal 25% discount and (3) family and friends 15% discounts per year to use pretty much as they please. If this employee wants to waste it on the OP, it's their prerogative...I'd keep it for myself...but that's me.
 
MBP now with 25 % Discount = 1499.99
MBP Updated with 10 % Discount = 1799.99 (May change if apple choose to raise or lower prices of new MBP's)
Difference in Savings = $300.00

Considering the extra 300 dollars you save I would say it really depends on your financial standing. Would those 300 be helpful for getting more school supplies, books etc.? or would it be worth it to have the greatest and latest when the new MBP's are released. The current MBP has had a few revisions to fix those nasty bugs it had when it was first released but I cant assure you of it being flawless, since I dont own one. The new MBP's may or may not come with flaws and bugs or their own, which depends entirely on how many things are changed or added, you may wait and end up in the same situation you where in when you first got your MBP. It all really depends on what you want and whether saving 300 dollars would help you on other necessities.
 
MovieCutter said:
Not really. Employees are given (1) personal 25% discount and (3) family and friends 15% discounts per year to use pretty much as they please. If this employee wants to waste it on the OP, it's their prerogative...I'd keep it for myself...but that's me.
Click to expand...
If that's the case then I agree with you.
 
Just keep in mind that the employee discount is per product, per year. So they can buy one Mini, one MacBook, one Mac Pro, one iMac, one Nano, one iPod, etc. all at 25% off. The employee might get an iMac for themselves and still have their discount available to buy the MacBook Pro.
 
weldon said:
Just keep in mind that the employee discount is per product, per year. So they can buy one Mini, one MacBook, one Mac Pro, one iMac, one Nano, one iPod, etc. all at 25% off. The employee might get an iMac for themselves and still have their discount available to buy the MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

This is incorrect. It is one discount for ONE SYSTEM per year...not PER SYSTEM.
 
if it was people could get it for as many systems as they wanted to they could just go to say ebay and sell it for about retial price and also keep the 300$$ in savings so I would belive you would only get 1 25% per year not on each item because that seems quiet a lot of money apple would lose.
 
MovieCutter said:
This is incorrect. It is one discount for ONE SYSTEM per year...not PER SYSTEM.
Click to expand...
Not according to my friend who works for Apple Education. He was very explicit that it was per product when I asked him about this on Saturday. He's already bought a MacBook this year so he said he could still get a Mac Pro at discount (we were speculating about new products). I asked him about a refresh to the MacBook line (like Merom processors) to see if that reset his discount and he answered that that very thing happened when the Nanos were updated. He was able to buy another one the same year when the product changed.

Just to be clear, according to what I've been told, Apple Employees can buy one item from a particular product line at discount each year. That means one Mac Pro and one iMac is possible, but not two Mac Pros.
 
weldon said:
Not according to my friend who works for Apple Education. He was very explicit that it was per product when I asked him about this on Saturday. He's already bought a MacBook this year so he said he could still get a Mac Pro at discount (we were speculating about new products). I asked him about a refresh to the MacBook line (like Merom processors) to see if that reset his discount and he answered that that very thing happened when the Nanos were updated. He was able to buy another one the same year when the product changed.

Just to be clear, according to what I've been told, Apple Employees can buy one item from a particular product line at discount each year. That means one Mac Pro and one iMac is possible, but not two Mac Pros.
Click to expand...

This may be true for your friend or he's misinterpreting the rules. For retail employees, it's one system, per year.
 
My wife works in UC Berkeley, so I can see what offers the Berkeley Scholar's Workstation have. I don't have access to the special offers at the moment (I don't know her username/password), but they normally have something like the MBP bundled with AppleCare and some other offer (like free RAM upgrade), for the normal educational price of the MBP (i.e free AppleCare + RAM)

So you may get more than 10% off when you're a student there.
 
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