After resolving some confusion as to what laptop I wanted, I've finally returned to wanting the Macbook Pro. The specs I am shooting for are the MBP 2.0 GHz with 2 x 1 GB of RAM and a 7200 rpm 100 GB hard disk. Before I went ahead with the purchase, I wanted to make sure if the following options seem correct.
Being tax season and everything, I hope the numbers below don't scare anyone away.
Option 1---Everything from the student store
Base computer (2 GHz, 1 GB, 5400 rpm): $2299.00
Additional RAM (1 GB): $270.00
Faster hard disk (7200 rpm): $90.00
Total: $2659.00
(MI Sales tax 6%)
Total with tax (1.06 x Total): $2818.54
Option 2---Lowest possible cost (ADC Student discount, RAM from outside)
Base computer (2 GHz, 1 GB, 5400 rpm): $2499.00
Faster hard disk (7200 rpm): $100.00
Total1: $2599.00
Total1 with tax (1.06 x Total1): $2754.94
Above with 20% ADC Student Discount: $2203.95
ADC Student Membership Registration: $99.00
Additional RAM (1 GB) from elsewhere: $160.00
Final Total: $2462.95
The difference between options 1 and 2 is ~356$ in favour of 2. Additionally, an ADC membership supposedly gives me OS updates for a year, and this fits nicely in the time frame for 10.5.
While there are no problems with option 1, is there something funny about the way I am computing option 2? I am going blindly with hearsay that there is a 20% discount on the prices on the regular Apple store. Is this correct?
And if yes, is there some reason I wouldn't want to choose option 2?
(I am a student at the university working on scientific computing---among other things---and writing code as a researcher is what financially supports me in grad school, so there is no funiness regarding using the ADC student membership.)
Being tax season and everything, I hope the numbers below don't scare anyone away.
Option 1---Everything from the student store
Base computer (2 GHz, 1 GB, 5400 rpm): $2299.00
Additional RAM (1 GB): $270.00
Faster hard disk (7200 rpm): $90.00
Total: $2659.00
(MI Sales tax 6%)
Total with tax (1.06 x Total): $2818.54
Option 2---Lowest possible cost (ADC Student discount, RAM from outside)
Base computer (2 GHz, 1 GB, 5400 rpm): $2499.00
Faster hard disk (7200 rpm): $100.00
Total1: $2599.00
Total1 with tax (1.06 x Total1): $2754.94
Above with 20% ADC Student Discount: $2203.95
ADC Student Membership Registration: $99.00
Additional RAM (1 GB) from elsewhere: $160.00
Final Total: $2462.95
The difference between options 1 and 2 is ~356$ in favour of 2. Additionally, an ADC membership supposedly gives me OS updates for a year, and this fits nicely in the time frame for 10.5.
While there are no problems with option 1, is there something funny about the way I am computing option 2? I am going blindly with hearsay that there is a 20% discount on the prices on the regular Apple store. Is this correct?
And if yes, is there some reason I wouldn't want to choose option 2?
(I am a student at the university working on scientific computing---among other things---and writing code as a researcher is what financially supports me in grad school, so there is no funiness regarding using the ADC student membership.)
