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AppleFan18

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2016
5
0
Hello Fellow Apple Fans,

I am about to purchase a new 15" MBP and get rid of my Uni-body Late 2008 MBP. I will be purchasing the computer using an education discount.

I was wondering if historically apple has offered discounts around Black Friday / Cyber Monday or even Christmas, as they do for back to school. I can certainly wait a few more weeks if it includes a gift card, or beats headphones or something.

Does anyone have any input into this? Does using an education discount change anything?

Thanks,
AppleFan
 

macs4nw

macrumors 601
Hello Fellow Apple Fans,

I am about to purchase a new 15" MBP and get rid of my Uni-body Late 2008 MBP. I will be purchasing the computer using an education discount.

I was wondering if historically apple has offered discounts around Black Friday / Cyber Monday or even Christmas, as they do for back to school. I can certainly wait a few more weeks if it includes a gift card, or beats headphones or something.

Does anyone have any input into this? Does using an education discount change anything?

Thanks,
AppleFan
Let me preface this by saying none of us know Apple's plans, not even most Apple Store employees until the day of.
Don't look for discounts from the Apple Store though, and especially not for just released new product that's barely available at regular retail prices. If you want to buy one of the new MBPs, your best bet is the educational discount.

Historically Apple Stores have only had promotions for the late-summer back-to-school period, and sales and/or promotions for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales period. Apple's sales discounts are usually very modest compared to the discounts you can get from third-party retailers. From them you should be able to get some good deals on previous generation MBPs now that the newer ones are going to be hitting the shelves shortly.
Keep in mind most places won't let you combine sales prices with the Edu discount. And be sure to check out Apple's own Refurb Store, for excellent deals on good-as-new equipment with full warranty and return policies.

Here is a round-up from last year's Black Friday sales, which might give you some idea of what to expect.

And here is a current round-up of what to expect for the upcoming holiday season. Look for the email update link.

Some more insights on Apple product discounts in general.
 
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AppleFan18

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2016
5
0
Let me preface this by saying none of us know Apple's plans, not even most Apple Store employees until the day of.
Don't look for discounts from the Apple Store though, and especially not for just released new product that's barely available at regular retail prices. If you want to buy one of the new MBPs, your best bet is the educational discount.

Historically Apple Stores have only had promotions for the late-summer back-to-school period, and sales and/or promotions for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales period. Apple's sales discounts are usually very modest compared to the discounts you can get from third-party retailers. From them you should be able to get some good deals on previous generation MBPs now that the newer ones are going to be hitting the shelves shortly.
Keep in mind most places won't let you combine sales prices with the Edu discount. And be sure to check out Apple's own Refurb Store, for excellent deals on good-as-new equipment with full warranty and return policies.

Here is a round-up from last year's Black Friday sales, which might give you some idea of what to expect.

And here is a current round-up of what to expect for the upcoming holiday season. Look for the email update link.

Some more insights on Apple product discounts in general.
yeah it looks like there are more discounts (and by that i mean headphones etc) around the back to school. with my education discount I save about $230 so I think i'll hold off for the cyber monday deal to see what they are going to offer. maybe it will be worth it.

thanks!
 

Kudos6612

Suspended
Aug 10, 2016
50
10
Bad advice, I would use buy now if you're looking at the 2016 macbook pro, and wait unless you want the 2015s which are sure to drop further down in price.

2015 macbook pros came out in March of that year so they were on the market for quite a while i doubt apple will discount it for at least 6 + months.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
I think you can't combine Apple's educational discount with their Black Friday deals.
Correct, its one or the other.

I'll be surprised if Apple aggresively prices the new MBPs on black friday also. That's just a mere 5 weeks away, and given the new MBPs are only starting to arrive in the time period means that brand new owners may still be waiting for their MBPs to arrive - too soon to have a sale imo
 

AppleFan18

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2016
5
0
Correct, its one or the other.

I'll be surprised if Apple aggresively prices the new MBPs on black friday also. That's just a mere 5 weeks away, and given the new MBPs are only starting to arrive in the time period means that brand new owners may still be waiting for their MBPs to arrive - too soon to have a sale imo

totally understand about the discounted pricing, i was more referring to whether or not they throw in beats headphones / $100 itunes gift card - that sort of thing.

i have not purchased a new computer in many years, so i haven't paid attention to the deals on them in some time. i know apple does a back to school promo with the headphones.

bottom line, if i can get something for 'free' i will wait a few more weeks...if not - i will just order.
 

conamor

macrumors 6502
Jun 27, 2013
364
21
I built/looking to buy the new mbp over 3k :) An an offer of 100$ gift card per 1000$ would be great!
 

Kudos6612

Suspended
Aug 10, 2016
50
10
Apple only includes free headphones during the back to school deal once a year and that's only to get rid of older models before they release the new ones. If you wait until next year (late summer to early sept) good chance you will get those free beats you want.

There may also be some good deals on the 2015 model during Black Friday or Christmas if you don't need the latest.
 

Kingmanarts

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2016
27
3
Eugene, Oregon
My Bose are way better than the Beats my wife bought on the same day I bought my refurbished Bose head phones. Gave the Beats to one of the child units.
 

Obi Wan Kenobi

macrumors 6502a
Mar 9, 2011
509
345
London, UK
Correct, its one or the other.

I'll be surprised if Apple aggresively prices the new MBPs on black friday also. That's just a mere 5 weeks away, and given the new MBPs are only starting to arrive in the time period means that brand new owners may still be waiting for their MBPs to arrive - too soon to have a sale imo

I would be astonished if they gave a deal on the new MBPs given how new they are going to be to the market. UNLESS, Phil Schiller's claims of having the highest 'online sales for a new MBP' is spin, because they are only available online (thus making the sales numbers inevitably higher as there is no other way to buy them), but low in terms of what Apple were reasonably expecting. In which case, there would be a business case for giving them a Black Friday boost to increase the sale, or to throw off criticism of profiteering on their new MBPs.

i confess I don't think they've reduced the price of their dongles / adaptors (for the rest of 2016) because everyone was happy with the prices, or because their onlines sales were free from signs of price-related concerns.

Either way I'm not optimistic.

In the UK, we have been poorly treated by Apple on Black Friday. There were no Black Friday deals in 2015. In 2014, they charged the same price to the UK customers for everything, but made a 'charitable donation' to the equivalent of a Black Friday deal. It's fine to do charitable work, but that didn't help UK customers buy into the Apple eco-system. In 2013, they gave 8-10% depending on the product, as I recall.

I would caution UK customers about getting Black Friday deals from the internet. If you're buying from John Lewis, that's one thing. I thought I was buying an iPad on a Black Friday deal from Amazon last year, but it turned out only the delivery was fulfilled by Amazon. It came from another seller whose online business looked unsatisfactory to me. There was nothing wrong with the iPad, I hasten to add, or the service (especially Amazon's). But I wouldn't want to take the risk with such an expensive item again.
 
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