Tax free day is on the 6th. WWDC is the next day...

[yg17]

Of course, it's the day after my birthday. But then again, it was on my birthday last year. I don't think my parents would let me get another computer right now anyways.

I love the West County store, although I've only been there 2 times because it's a 1 1/2 hour drive. But the people are so nice! I LOVE APPLE!

Hour and a half drive? Where in the area do you live....the one in the Galleria might be slightly closer if you're coming from the IL side.

 

[zflauaus]

Hour and a half drive? Where in the area do you live....the one in the Galleria might be slightly closer if you're coming from the IL side.

I live in Washington county. I don't really have a choice one which store to go to, but I prefer the West County because it's a full size store. But I love going there.

 

[playaj82]

I'm not sure if someone else has already suggested this, but my advice would be to call the Apple store in your area and ask what their return policy is. As far as I know, it should be about 14 days, especially if you don't open the package. This way you could at least preserve the tax free product if Apple doesn't release a new product (which is not highly probable as is).

The other thing I would look into is whether the tax free option would apply to computers. I know when I lived in Texas, the tax free day only applies to books, clothes up to $100, and a few select other items.

My prediction is that no matter what, you probably won't get the laptop tax free because otherwise, every joe, sam, and sally would go out and buy the most expensive electronic they could think of on that day and there is no way the state would risk loosing all that tax revenue unless there were some restrictions.

As far as choosing a MBP over a MacBook, I can understand your desire. First, screen size is never negotiable. Second, my guess is that Leopard will be optimized such that the MBP outperforms the MacBook by a significant margin. I am basing this off of what I had seen in the transitions from 10.1, 10.2, 10.3....etc... when looking at performance and various hardware pieces that normally have a significant impact.

I can't stress enough how much the Radeon 9700 on the 15 and 17" powerbooks made a performance difference over the 12" when Tiger came around, especially when playing games or using multiple monitors.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

No, you have to pay taxes in the majority of states, only those without sales tax (apple has a business presence in all 50 states)

I've always wondered what their presence in Alabama is, since there's no retail store (yet).

Care to enlighten me?

 

[matticus008]

I've always wondered what their presence in Alabama is, since there's no retail store (yet).

Care to enlighten me?

It doesn't necessarily mean a retail outlet. If they have a license to operate in the state, they are obliged to collect sales tax for their sales. For example, even though Microsoft has no stores, it presumably has a legal business presence in all 50 states and if you buy something through Microsoft's website, you're charged tax on it. In some ways, it helps consumers (you can sue Microsoft in any state and not just Washington), but in other ways, it hurts (you have to pay tax on your purchases even though you're buying from out of state).

You'll find that most large pre-Internet-age corporations will collect tax from every state because that's how they set up interstate commerce in the past. It's only since the advent of the Internet that places like Newegg and Amazon operate in a different manner--they can reach customers from anywhere in the world with a business license in a single location, something that was never before possible. Newegg and Amazon are just very successful examples of non-chain stores leveraging the Internet--think of them like your independent bookstore down the street, only on steroids.

 

[Timepass]

It doesn't necessarily mean a retail outlet. If they have a license to operate in the state, they are obliged to collect sales tax for their sales. For example, even though Microsoft has no stores, it presumably has a legal business presence in all 50 states and if you buy something through Microsoft's website, you're charged tax on it. In some ways, it helps consumers (you can sue Microsoft in any state and not just Washington), but in other ways, it hurts (you have to pay tax on your purchases even though you're buying from out of state).

You'll find that most large pre-Internet-age corporations will collect tax from every state because that's how they set up interstate commerce in the past. It's only since the advent of the Internet that places like Newegg and Amazon operate in a different manner--they can reach customers from anywhere in the world with a business license in a single location, something that was never before possible. Newegg and Amazon are just very successful examples of non-chain stores leveraging the Internet--think of them like your independent bookstore down the street, only on steroids.

saddly that is going to change in the next few years as states start drafting new laws to colllect that sales tax. The current laws where set up before internet net bussiness became huge. Now states are seeing it as money they are clearlly missing out on and rightfully so. There is millions each year in tax money they are not collecting. Sales tax to states is a lot like income tax. Just they can not collect it from the internet companies.

It not them being greedy it just they are clearly missing out on millions of bucks that they could use and should be getting. Easy way to do it is draft laws helping push the internet companies to do for them and send them a check.

 

[mccldwll]

"You'll find that most large pre-Internet-age corporations will collect tax from every state because that's how they set up interstate commerce in the past. It's only since the advent of the Internet that places like Newegg and Amazon operate in a different manner..."

Actually, not really true. Pre-internet interstate sales were common through catalog companies. Those which also had brick and mortar stores (Sears) collected sales tax while those with just catalogs (L.L. Bean) promoted their tax-free status. Many of the early tax free merchants (such as Bean) now have expanded to include physical presences in many states, and now do have to collect sales tax on shipments to those states.