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Best place to buy an iMac in NYC?

jaybar

jaybar

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 11, 2008
2,176
666
Whst are the best places for purchasing a new iMac in NYC to replace my late 2013 iMac?


Apple Store
B & H
Mikes Tech Shop
Best Buy
Other

I plan to get a 27 inch i5 iMac with a 256/512 GB SSD and 8/16 GB of RAM. I plan to get Apple Care.

Things that I am looking for:

Ease of Customer support.
Trade-in
Data Migration

None of these three are absolute requirements, but they woukd be nice.

I have a significant birthday soon, so I might receive some Apple store gift cards. You never know. That should not be the deciding factor at this point. I work very near an Apple Store, if that is a factor.

Thanks

Jay
 
The Apple store.

B&H is great, you might save a little money, BUT they take no returns for refund once the box is open even if you get a lemon. They may do an exchange, but it's like moving a mountain and they'll probably tell you to go to Apple for warranty work. (OTOH, B&H does stock some non-standard configs, so you can get them faster than waiting a week or two for Apple to build one.)

Best Buy is OK, they just sell standard configs, so I don't see a reason to buy an iMac from them over Apple. If there's a discount it's minuscule.

Don't know Mikes.
 
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mj_ said:
Have you considered a Refurbished iMac from Apple's refurbished store? Those are practically new iMacs for 15% less, with Apple's full one-year warranty. Otherwise I would suggest the Apple Store as well. Plus, Apple has a trade-in program: https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in
Click to expand...

I’ve gone this route, and am glad I did. From the Apple Store. Other places will sell ‘refurbished’ macs, but in spite of the slight difference in cost, if any, I’d avoid the other stores, and stick with Apple. The service is worth it, imo.
 
The Apple store does not take the iMac in trade. A box is sent and you have to send it in. Having broken my hip and ankle, boxing it up and getting it to Fedex or UPS can be an extra hassle.
 
Same advice I give everyone: Order exactly what you want then get in a car and drive to Christiana Mall in Delaware for pickup. Make it part of a day trip. You’ll save a huge amount in NY sales tax. I think if you arrange they can do the data migration, just as a restore from time machine backup. I would do it myself so it’s a non-issue for me. Every time I’ve gone to an Apple store I’m shocked at how little some of the sales people know about their own product.
 
jaybar said:
The Apple store does not take the iMac in trade. A box is sent and you have to send it in. Having broken my hip and ankle, boxing it up and getting it to Fedex or UPS can be an extra hassle.
Click to expand...
holy mowley, how do you get around downtown in that rat race?
the apple store has an elevator. I'm sure you can sell the old one CL with the students arriving next month, and NYCer looking to save money. There are a few apple buyers in Bergen county, a new store opened in Saddle Brook, 12 miles from the GWB off of rt 4 n 80.
get better!
 
Can we please STOP this line of discussion? If I could have replaced the drive, I would have. I am not capable of doing it and to invest $500 to have it done professionally made no sense. If I originally said I wanted to replace the iMac, and did not ask for ways I could extend its life, then please respect that and offer suggestions in that context.

I am well aware of the possibility to run an external drive. I want to get a new iMac. Please respect that.

Jay
 
jaybar said:
Can we please STOP this line of discussion? If I could have replaced the drive, I would have. I am not capable of doing it and to invest $500 to have it done professionally made no sense. If I originally said I wanted to replace the iMac, and did not ask for ways I could extend its life, then please respect that and offer suggestions in that context.

I am well aware of the possibility to run an external drive. I want to get a new iMac. Please respect that.

Jay
Click to expand...

And he said “new” iMac…so lay off the refurb talk!
 
mreg376 said:
The Apple store.

B&H is great, you might save a little money, BUT they take no returns for refund once the box is open even if you get a lemon. They may do an exchange, but it's like moving a mountain and they'll probably tell you to go to Apple for warranty work. (OTOH, B&H does stock some non-standard configs, so you can get them faster than waiting a week or two for Apple to build one.)

Best Buy is OK, they just sell standard configs, so I don't see a reason to buy an iMac from them over Apple. If there's a discount it's minuscule.

Don't know Mikes.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I've never had an issue returning anything to BH or Adorama. Never tried with an Apple, but they did help me with a Dell even though it was beyond 30 days and Dell would do nothing to let me return a dock that had issues. Dell even did a recall, but since I did not buy direct from them they would not even talk about a resolution. B&H took it back and gave me a full refund minus a restocking fee, which they did not waive, but did give me a store credit for it (IIRC).
 
BayouTiger said:
Hmmm, I've never had an issue returning anything to BH or Adorama. Never tried with an Apple, but they did help me with a Dell even though it was beyond 30 days and Dell would do nothing to let me return a dock that had issues. Dell even did a recall, but since I did not buy direct from them they would not even talk about a resolution. B&H took it back and gave me a full refund minus a restocking fee, which they did not waive, but did give me a store credit for it (IIRC).
Click to expand...
That's interesting (and good) news about B&H. I've bought thousands of dollars of video and camera stuff, and supplies from them over the years, and also never had a problem returning. But I have not purchased a computer there because of their stated policy allowing no returns for refund. So maybe they're more flexible than they say...
 
mreg376 said:
That's interesting (and good) news about B&H. I've bought thousands of dollars of video and camera stuff, and supplies from them over the years, and also never had a problem returning. But I have not purchased a computer there because of their stated policy allowing no returns for refund. So maybe they're more flexible than they say...
Click to expand...

B&H is not necessarily more flexible than they say with regard to refunding or exchanging Mac computers. My documentary team has purchased large amounts of professional cameras, lenses and video equipment from B&H, and we've never had any problem refunding or exchanging those for any reason within 30 days. It's actually rare we'd need that, but occasionally an item is substandard, fails our internal optical or functionality tests or is found incompatible with other equipment. Our goal is never return anything, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

However -- computers are a different case -- even Mac computers. The B&H policy is no refunds or exchanges whatsoever on Mac computers, even within 30 days. In limited cases they might slightly bend that but charge a 15% restocking fee, but that is $2,000 for a top-spec iMac Pro.

This situation is exacerbated by two factors:

(1) Apple retail stores -- including the Business team and Joint Venture team -- do not have access to CTO (Configure To Order) machines. Thus there is no option for a serious professional customer to test their workflow, data or procedures on a CTO iMac Pro, except for buying one.

(2) Apple does not stock CTO machines, yet B&H and Adorama do. Thus if you need to replace a failed CTO machine, or just evaluate a new CTO machine, you can't do that through Apple unless you have it custom built which takes a month. B&H and Adorama have CTO machines in stock (inc'l the 18-core $13k iMac Pro), but those cannot be returned.

This situation will get even worse when the 2019 Mac Pro ships. That will probably be a configurable multi-socket high-end machine, maybe upwards of $20k in the top spec. If Apple continues their policy of not stocking CTO machines, that means a future Mac Pro customer could potentially face 30 days of downtime while Apple custom builds a replacement CTO machine in China. If that machine was purchased from B&H and failed an initial workflow evaluation test, the 15% restocking fee would be $3,000.

The problem seems to be that Apple's Sr. engineering executives are not communicating with the head of their retail organization. Apple's engineering arm is making big investments in the upcoming Mac Pro, even using a "Pro Apps Workflow" team to ensure it meets the needs of professional customers. However the retail side (which is responsible for support) is still being run as if it were a luxury lifestyle experience like Burberry. That's OK for a watch or iPhone but not for high end IT equipment.
 
Last edited:
Thanks to all. I ended up ordering a 2017 27 inch i5 with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. I purchased from Apple as I ended up receiving Apple Store Gift Cards for my birthday. I will be trading in my old iMac.
 
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