Best Place to Buy a Mac?

S

Sumfun

Veteran
I've finally decided to switch to Mac, now I'm wondering where is the best place to buy one? I'm looking for a Mac Pro 2.66GHz, with 2G RAM, 23" Apple monitor, and possibly upgrade the graphics card to the ATI X1900XT. I know you can buy it directly from Apple, but they charge tax. MacMall and MacConnection don't charge tax (I think, because I'm out of state), and are giving $150 rebates, but they can only sell the ATI card separately. This may not be a big issue, because I might just stay with the base GeForce 7300 card. Any advice?

Also, does anyone have experience with Parallels? I guess with Parallels and Windows XP, you can have 2 computers in 1.
 
I'd say any major mail order place will be fine. I've ordered from MacMall and Smalldog before with no problems whatsoever. I don't know why anyone with an Apple Store in their state buys from Apple (the sales tax issue). That tax money can buy a couple gigs of RAM. No experience with Parallels, though. Although I heard that just got a distributor for it.
 
the apple store. Mac priceing is perty set. you might want to check out Mac Mall. the priceing isn't really any better but they throw in free printers and stuff like that.
 
best way to save is to buy used, goto the refurbished page on the apple store site, or buy extra components like ram and extra hard drives from 3rd party vendors. good luck and enjoy your new mac.
 
I think the Apple Store is still the way to go.

Pros:
1. If you're working as a pro, their Pro Care plan is pretty cheap and handy. Quick access to their talented support guys & faster turnaround for service/repairs.
2. Apple Store here in Phoenix is expanding the Genius Bar, would guess that's happening nationwide...?
3. Buy at the store and have a problem? Get in the car and get is solved, instead of mailing stuff back.

Cons:
1. No discounts, normally.
2. Avoid the new wave of employees that know nothing about Macs, it's really annoying.
 
Refurb is definitely a great way to go, and I'll do that myself when the time comes (please let it be soon, Lord). But if you're going to go new, I still recommend going somewhere besides the Apple store to avoid the sales tax. I love apple, but I love keeping several hundred dollars for harddrives and ram more.

But wait, how do I really feel?
 
Apple.com then student store... :) you save 10% on price so that eliminates the tax and a little more. Got my iMac 24" 200 bucks off
 
If you have your own company, open a business account with apple, you'll be assigned a rep to help you with your present and future purchases, you'll get 5% off the hardware. Also as mentioned above, go refurbished if you can, you'll get the same warranty, everything is/look brand new and much cheaper. Also get the extra warranty, you'll get 3 years of free support on all apple apps+hardware of course.
 
Everything I own (macs) have come from the Mac store, 1 was bought online. That would be my first choice for you to be safe. The second would be Macmall.com. Good luck, the piece of mind is worth it...
 
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