OT: Mac Mini < MSRP

[Kurt Granroth]

Eric "Shubes" wrote:
> Does anyone know of a place to buy a Mac Mini for anything less than MSRP?
> I'm planning on getting one for my significant other for Christmas/BDay, and
> haven't been able to find it anywhere at a discount. Of course it's not
> Linux, but it's a step in the right direction (away from the dark side).

Generally speaking, Macs don't sell for less than the price that Apple
sets.  You'll sometimes see $4 or $9 off, but rarely more and they
pretty much never go on sale.  You'll also occasionally see a Mac
bundled with free equipment like a printer or, in the case of a Mac
Mini, a keyboard, mouse, and speakers.

Mostly, though, you have four chances of getting a Mac at less than the
normal price:

1. Buy a new Mac through a corporate sponsor plan.  The company I work
for has a 15% discount on most Macs, for instance.

2. Buy a new Mac through their educational discount program.  You just
need to have somebody in your household (or somebody otherwise close to
you) in higher education or teaching or similar and you can get some
percentage off.

3. Buy a refurbished Mac either directly from Apple or from an
authorized reseller like PowerMax

4. eBay!  Or craigslist or any number of other used computer marketplaces

FWIW, I've never bought a Mac brand new.  I always wait a year and pick
it up at hundreds less from either PowerMax or (mostly) eBay.

Kurt