Pleased as punch with Apple store. Deep discounts in Education Store. Free Shipping!
Written: Mar 18 '04 (Updated Mar 22 '04)
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Background
I did a lot of research on www.apple.com (among other places) before buying my my first new Mac, an iMac, from one of the online mega-resellers (MacMall, I believ). I did so for the purpose of saving a few bucks by getting 512MB of extra RAM, some other freebies, and no sales tax. That experience went OK, but the salesguy was high-pressure and, the more reviews on MacMall and similar dealers I read, the less comfortable I feel.
So now, I was in the market for a laptop. After looking around a lot, I decided on an iBook G4 12.1" (review will come later, once I have some time to gain experience). This is my first personal laptop (though I've had several models owned by my office), and knowing that they're more prone to problems than desktops, I wanted to make sure that support would be a given, not an unknown. So I decided to buy from the source and go with Apple.com, squandering a few extra bucks for the peace of mind. So far, a wise decision, I think.
Selection
Obviously, anything Apple makes, you can buy at the Apple Store. A bonus is that you can get custom configurations without any hassle. In this case, I wanted a bigger hard drive installed. No problem, just added it in the configuration page. More memory - not a problem. Accessories - they're there as well.
Price
Here's where I thought I'd be taking a hit. The base iBook at the time I was shopping went for $1099 from Apple. For $1094, MacMall was offering it with some extras:
- "free" 384MB extra RAM (they take the second 128MB unit out and replace it with a 512MB unit - charge you $140 for the swap and rebate $100 back, the remaining $40 serving as an "installation" charge - pretty steep for 5 minutes of work max).
- "free" carrying case ($30 minus a $30 rebate) - but not a very good one, and a bit large for a 12" iBook. I was planning to buy a new one anyhow.
- Other "free" or "rebate" deals I wasn't going to take anyhow.
- No sales tax to TX.
But, if you're affiliated with a school (I am taking courses on the side), you may be eligible to shop in the "Education" store on Apple. Checking there, I found the same iBook for $999. Even though Apple charged me 7.25% TX state tax, the total price ended up under MacMall's offerings. Plus, I was able to put in a 40MB hard drive for a mere $22 extra.
The upgrade to 640MB total RAM runs $135, but for $99 you can find a brand name 512MB unit online and sell your 128MB for a few bucks on half.com.
I also bought another copy of OS X 10.3 Panther for $69.99 on the Educational website to upgrade my iMac G4.
Special offers
Check out the "Special Offers" section on the store webpage (lower left side). There, I was able to get a refurbished (with full new warranty) AirPort Extreme wireless module for $72! Lots of other good stuff there including discontinued and refurbished laptops, deskstops, and accessories.
Shipping
Shipping by FedEx ground currently is free for anything over $50 at the apple store. iBooks are made in Taiwan, so they go FedEx air (also free). Mine was shipped on a Tuesday night and arrived Friday morning.
Pre-order Customer Service
I was very impressed by the knowledge and courtesy of the Apple phone sales department. They answered my questions quickly and thoroughly, without any hint of "hard sell" like MacMall. Once your'e ready to buy, you can do so over the phone or via their secure website.
Post-order Customer Service
Something I thought that was really nice (and really easy to do - wish more stores did it) was that, in addition to the ability to track my shipments online, I received lots of e-mail info on the order as it progressed:
- Initial e-mail with estimate of shipping dates.
- Notices when each portion of the order shipped (no extra charge for shipping as soon as each item is available).
- Notices of when my account was billed (they bill separately for each portion of the order, after it is shipped)
- A note of apology, believe it or not, when one item (OS X) shipped a day later than expected. The note included an offer to cancel the shipment if the lateness would cause problems. By the way, even though it shipped late, it arrived before it was promised.
Delivery speed
Everything shipped on or before the estimated shipping date (except OS X software as noted above), and everything including the late shipment, arrived before the promised delivery time. I made my order on a Friday. I had all the accessories by that Thursday. My custom configured iBook shipped the following Tuesday and arrived Friday. Not bad at all.
Overall Satisfaction
So far, I'm pleased as punch with the Apple store, and will do business with them again. The prices are nearly the same as the "discount" mega-resellers, and I have more confidence in the follow-on care. I plan to update this as I have more opportunities to interact with them.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? iBook, many accessories
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pilotpat
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Member: Pat
Location: World Traveler
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