5 Tips For Getting The Best Deal on Apple Purchases

The holiday shopping season is about to take off and for many people a Mac or iPod is on their list. So, doesn’t it make sense to try and get the best deal possible? Well, to aid you in your purchasing endeavors we here at AppleMatters have come up with some tips for getting the most Apple stuff for your money. So, read on and prepare to save money.

Tip #1: Look at the store, but buy online
The best deals are always on the web. Now, you have to wait for your order to ship to you and so you must buy early, but that is a small price to pay for saving a few hundred bucks as you will see below.

Tip #2: Educational discounts rock
To qualify for the educational discount you have to be a student, teacher or in some way affiliated with an institution of learning. To use the discount all you have to do is go to http://www.apple.com/store and click on the “savings for students, faculty and staff” link. Follow the directions, find your school and then when you are returned to the Apple store you will magically find that all computers, monitors and iPods have been reduced in price by %5 to %15! Limits apply as to how many items you can purchase in a year. Be warned though that this discount can only be used at their online store. For clarification see tip #1.

Tip #3: There is no shame in refurbished products
Did you know that Apple sells refurbished iPods, Macs, monitors and Airport Base stations? Well, a lot of people don’t, much to their loss. Go to the Apple online store and click on the red “sale” tag (located on the bottom right of the page). From there you will be able to see all of Apple’s refurbished products as well as any sales or promos they are currently running. Sometimes you can get deals up to %40 percent off their original price. For example, as of 11/20/06 you can get a Refurbished MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo - White for $999 (thats %24 off the original price of $1,299) or a Refurbished iMac 17-inch 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Combo Drive for $849 (thats %16 off the original price of $999). Or maybe you want an iPod? How about a Refurbished 4GB white iPod nano for $149 (thats %41 off the original price of $249). I have personally bought several refurbished computers from Apple and have never been able to tell the difference between them and their new products. Take my word for it, if you don’t mind last year’s stuff, this is a great way to go.

Tip #4: Shop on black Friday
The day after Thanksgiving Apple discounts everything they make for one entire day. All of their computers, iPods, monitors and some of their accessories will get a discount. And to make things easier on you shoppers out there this discount can be found both online and at their retail stores. This can be a good time to pick up an iPod or two but you have to more quickly because the sale ends when Saturday dawns.

Tip #5: Check out other sites
Apple.com isn’t the only place to go for great deals. If you want harddrives, memory, optical drives and just about anything that can be inserted into a Mac check out http://www.macsales.com and have a look at all of their wonderful stuff. They tend to have fair prices (and they ship fast) so be sure to use them if your Mac needs an upgrade this Christmas. If you like bundle deals then skip Apple’s store and head over to http://www.macmall.com and see what they have for sale. Their prices match Apple’s (assuming you don’t use any discounts) but come with lots of free stuff and special offers. For example, if you buy a laptop you can get a free Lexmark printer and the option of buying Parallels desktop for $9.99 or a Sling backpack for $4.99. An even better deal (for some) is to buy one of their Mac/Windows bundles that has Bootcamp and Windows XP pre-installed. This can save you last minute shoppers from the hassle of buying XP and installing it yourself.

Now that you know the best ways to save money this holiday season you can put your extra cash towards more important things like buying both season’s of Battlestar Galactica for your iPod.