the difference of buying iMac on AMAZON and APPLE Except saving on tax, any benefit of buying iMac on Amazon? How about service? Can I contact Apple for return? Will my purchase record show up in Apple? Thanks! the difference of buying iMac on AMAZON and APPLE Except saving on tax, any benefit of buying iMac on Amazon? How about service? Can I contact Apple for return? Will my purchase record show up in... » Read More the difference of buying iMac on AMAZON and APPLE Except saving on tax, any benefit of buying iMac on Amazon? How about service? Can I contact Apple for return? Will my purchase record show up in Apple? Thanks! « Show Less
1827417
You may also want to consider Best Buy I'm a silver member so I would have a 45 day Return Window and you can rack up around $150 worth of store credit through their member points.
1827418
The BEST reason to buy your Macintosh at an Apple Store or Apple online is that you can purchase the One-to-One training program that Apple offers. You can't buy it anywhere else and you have to purchase a Macintosh at the store or online to be able to purchase the in-store training. It's basically $99 for a years worth of individualized training at any of the Apple retail stores worldwide. Most other places charge $50/hr. This is one years worth. It has to be the best value at the Apple store. I HIGHLY recommend it. Of course, you'll want to live close to an Apple store.
1827419
There is a site called Appleinsider.com that compares all the online sources, including the apple site itself, and prices for apple products. It is quite amazing the difference in prices, and they also tell you if the shipping is free and if taxes apply. Some of the sources even spread your payments out over a year. Good site for keeping up to date with all apple products.
1516064
N. Bird, you are correct, according to an Apple rep who I spoke with on 12/2 after posting my reply to the original post. The other thing is, my customer sales person from Apple was able to offer me a 6% discount on the spot when I told them of the $50 differential between Amazon's price and theirs. I know!! Her response: "Yeah, not enough people ask for a discount when they call, but they should!" All told, with tax (from both the Apple store AND Amazon), I'd have saved $2 by buying from Amazon... Not worth it! I'm buying my iMac direct from Apple for peace of mind.
1827420
It's worth calling 1-800-MY-APPLE and asking for a price match. I told the representative about the lower prices on both iMac and Applecare on Amazon. The total price difference on iMac and Applecare was about $80 (as of March 6, 2010). The rep said that he could do better than that. The total he gave me was $20 less than the Amazon's. I'm glad I tried.
1827421
And to debunk some of the misinformation on this thread - there really is no difference, or "peace of mind" by buying it from Apple or from Amazon.com. Warranties, just like EVERYTHING, is the same. Amazon is an authorized Apple reseller, just like BestBuy and many other places.In addition, PeggyA didn't seem to know, but yes, you can buy Applecare from Amazon. I THINK you can even buy Applecare after you have had your computer for some time, though I could be wrong on this.
1827422
Apple Phone support is only 90 days unless you buy the Apple extended warranty. The Best Buy warranty is their extended warranty, not Apple's.Big mistake not to buy the Apple warranty. If you qualify for educational pricing, Apple warranty is substantially less costly. Other: You can save if you go to the Apple online outlet. The $200-$ 300 savings pays for the warranty, you are buying directly from Apple, and the darn machine will probably be brand new. That's what I did.
1827423
In california the tax hike on a $2,000 machine would put Amazon at an advantage. It would be almost a $200 savings no matter what the price matching does. By the way, if your Mac goes bad at any time during the duration of its warrantee Apple will take care of it directly, especially if there's AppleCare involved. You wouldn't have to deal with Amazon at all unless it you were just returning it because you didn't want it.
982114
I gave up on Amazon. Canceled my order (Preordered Feb 17th). I stopped by the local Apple store and picked one up that they had in stock. It sucks that i had to pay tax, but at least now i have it. I'm guessing Apple is to blame on this mess. It's seems that they're only selling them directly, and denying them to other stores like Amazon. :-/
1176557
Hi, I'm not sure, it should. Best bet would be to call Apple and ask if amazon purchases are covered just to be sure.
1293252
I just got off the phone with Square Trade and they said they do NOT cover refurbished items unless purchased through eBay. The ST rep said that since ST is partners with Amazon, their warranty offer automatically shows up in Amazon listings whether the item is refurbished or not, their computer can't tell the difference. Glad I called!
1909398
Unless they have made change you have to purchase AppleCare at the same time as you purchase the computer. You could check on Apples Website, I have not checked in a while, so I am not certain of the exact rules.
1547920
Reading the Apple Support forums, people are getting the black MacBooks now from Amazon even when they are quoted a July shipping date. Also, in the MB 1.83 Ghz Amazon forum, someone mentioned that he got his shipped and delivered earlier this month even when quoted a late shipping date.So I think that Amazon is just being conservative as Apple is notorious for not having enough supply for their products. I think Amazon is just trying to cover their butts in case Apple can't meet demand and doesn't allocate enough shipments to Amazon.
1413824
I called and spoke to someone on the phone and they told me it has to be an Amazon purchase, however someone else asked this same question and there was a bit of discussion on the topic. I decided to buy the warranty here on Amazon and just give it a shot. They did accept my registration and my receipt from a product purchased somewhere else. I sent them a copy of my receipt as part of the registration and then called to confirm that everything was good to go.Personally, I'd much rather buy electronics here from Amazon whenever possible. The only reason I didn't buy my computer from Amazon was because they couldn't match the student discount I got elsewhere. I called and spoke to someone on the phone and they told me it has to be an Amazon purchase, however someone else asked this same question and there was a bit of discussion on the topic. I decided to buy the warranty here on Amazon and just give it a shot. They did accept my registration and my receipt from a product purchased somewhere else. I sent them a copy of my receipt as part of the registration and then called to confirm that everything was good to go.Personally, I'd much rather buy electronics here from Amazon whenever possible. The only reason I didn't buy my computer... » Read More I called and spoke to someone on the phone and they told me it has to be an Amazon purchase, however someone else asked this same question and there was a bit of discussion on the topic. I decided to buy the warranty here on Amazon and just give it a shot. They did accept my registration and my receipt from a product purchased somewhere else. I sent them a copy of my receipt as part of the registration and then called to confirm that everything was good to go.Personally, I'd much rather buy electronics here from Amazon whenever possible. The only reason I didn't buy my computer from Amazon was because they couldn't match the student discount I got elsewhere. « Show Less
1559894
Keep in mind that there is no fee of any kind to engage Apple's 1-year warranty, whether you buy from Apple or from Amazon. So if there's something wrong with the keyboard or anything else, as long as you didn't cause that problem, then you should be fine. As an Apple customer for over a decade, they've always treated me fairly. So if you know you're gonna like as long as nothing is broken or defective, it really doesn't matter where you buy it from as long you as buy from a reputable source that includes the Apple 1-year warranty.
544272
The answer is NO. I purchased a new Ipad on eBay. I called SquareTrade and asked if I could buy the warranty on Amazon for use with an eBay purchase. I was told that as long as the Ipad is new, the Amazon warranty would apply. So, I purchased the warranty on Amazon. When trying to register my Ipad, the "Place of purchase" was "Amazon". This could not be changed. Wanting to make sure that this warranty would apply to my Ipad, I called SquareTrade again and explained the problem. The process to get this straightened out took SEVERAL hours. The calls are outsourced so I was dealing with Indian agents with, for the most part, thick, heavy accents so I had to ask them to repeat themselves again and again and sometimes just giving up on the answer to that particular question. In addition, their comprehension of English was limited. At the end of my first call, the agent thought it was a glitch so he canceled my purchase and told me to buy it again and try registering. After hanging up, I did (it didn't work - same problem). During multiple calls, I was put on hold several times. For one of the holds, I waited over 10 minutes and had to hang up and call back. In addition, my call was dropped several times. Each time I had to call back and start at the beginning. In the end, a supervisor informed my agent that the Amazon warranty only applies to products purchased on Amazon. The Amazon warranty is better (offering longer terms and specials in pricing) than their warranty for other retailers since Amazon their biggest reseller. SquareTrade should make this clear in the description.
224298
I have tried contacting Amazon to find out when the iMacs with Leopard be available and no one seems to know... does anyone know when it will be?
577684
Yeah, but they just lowered the price $5 here on Amazon for the Family Pack. I ordered mine from Apple and although it will be nice to get it on Friday so I can do a clean install on my main computer over the weekend, I might have been willing to wait a few days to get it and save almost $10 (since Apple pops you for sales tax as well). Sounds like the classic "trade-off".
496055
I've been wondering that myself so I emailed customer service. The response I got back said she had confirmed it was shipping with iLife '08, but then as proof, she copied the details from the product page that said iLife '06. I wrote back asking for verification since there was the discrepancy. The next customer service person to answer couldn't even find the Macbook Pro and sent me a link to a Family Tree software product (???) and suggested calling Apple for help. I called Amazon customer service, but the person I spoke with also could only refer to the webpage and wasn't sure how recently their stock was purchased from Apple. Now, I love amazon as much as the next regular customer, but only being able to give me information I could already get myself is not my idea of helpful customer service! (I did try calling Apple, too, but as expected, they had no way of knowing how recent Amazon's stock is.) Anyway, sorry I don't have the answer, but if anyone else has purchased it recently, I'd be interested to hear as well.
543633
I'm within a mile and a half of a Costco, Best Buy, Apple store, and Circuit City. It's 9 AM. they all open in an hour. I think I'll be able to get a Touch at one of those stores. :) To heck with Amazon. They blew it big time with me, by showing "In Stock" when I ordered, on the 16th. I don't care about engraving and I know Apple is hard nosed about returns, so I'll double check the Return policy of the store I buy from, just in case the Touch doesn't work out well for me. IF Apple didn't have an automatic restocking fee, I'd just buy from them...
60741
I've noticed lately that Amazon has been giving very conservative estimates on its shipment/arrival dates. My items have always arrived well before Amazon's "estimated" arrival dates. I think this is a game they play with us so that we're happy when our packages arrive "early." The real question is whether or not Amazon actually has these in stock. Is Apple holding them back from everybody until Wednesday? Or are they just asking their sellers to not put them in customers' hands until Wednesday?
1758820
Shopping on Amazon is just like shopping anywhere else. You have to do your research to make sure you're getting the best price you can while making sure your comparing apples to apples. Sometimes the price difference may be a matter of size. In some cases, one vendor is willing to sell a product for less than another vendor.
539774
I purchased mine more than a year ago so I do not think they belong to the same batch. My computer works perfectly, however, very soon after I bought it it started showing lines on the screen, I could not use the warranty. Apple refused to accept the warranty as they said the computer had been sold a long time ago and they did not recognize the Amazon invoice as proof of sale of a new machine.
131840
Agreed. I'm wanting to upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard and then possibly Lion. Purchasing both Snow Leopard and Lion from the Apple site/Mac App Store is cheaper than buying Snow Leopard here. And Mac Store has free shipping on Snow Leopard at the moment. Together, both purchases are about $60, excluding any taxes. I'm sticking with Apple too. EmmKays