Travel Technology - Cheapest way to buy a G4 PowerBook

My daughter (who is a starving artist) needs to buy a 15" G4 PowerBook that can burn DVD's. Does anybody have some good advice on the most cost-effective way to obtain one.

Apple is probably the one computer brand with the tightest control over how its products are sold. To get a new, current model with an official warranty, be prepared to pay list price. Wholesale, Apple products are priced to prevent an independent reseller from making any profit. The only loophole I can see would be trying to save on taxes.

Otherwise:
- grey market vendors (I haven't followed this channel for years)
- eBay and such
- enroll in an educational institution after checking the Apple pricelist in its bookstore. Alternatively (but against the rules), buy through a student at such an institution. At last check, this did not yield the truly large savings it did 10-15 years ago, when I would sell my 1 year old Macs at a profit.


P.S. If I were starving, I could think of many more cost-effective ways to burn DVD's than with a Powerbook http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif




[This message has been edited by monahos (edited Dec 30, 2003).]

Try the refurb models... See: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/

Click "Special Deals"

Educational discounts save a bit (maybe $100) as mentioned. Also refurbs. There might also be an opportunity to get an older model in stock when they switch to a newer model with a faster processor, etc. But none of this will save a lot with an Apple. I watched a Thinkpad model for months until a new version came out then found stock on the recently outdated one for well over $1500 less than it had been selling for. That wont happen with a Mac. All of these tricks will save in the hundred dollar or a bit more range each. It helps, but there isnt a big savings to be had Im afraid unless you look on Ebay or another source for used machines.

Thanks for all the advice.

She is an artist/musician, who is on tour most of the time, so she must have a laptop. Her research has led her to believe that she needs this particular machine to accomplish her work--but I have no idea what that really means.

Is it safe to buy used electronic equipment on E-bay? Wouldn't that then be a warranty-free item as well?

She is checking out her friends who are students in states without sales tax. Good ideas.

I would NOT buy any used items on ebay... who knows what REAL condition the device is in. Considering what abuse a notebook can go through I would stick with seeing the device up front or getting a refurb from Apple. You could also try the clearance area of a CompUSA?

I'll second the advice not to buy used electronics on eBay, especially laptops and anything with moving parts.

I've purchased non-mobile electronics on eBay with success, when the price differential with new equipment was substantial, or for specific out-of-production items.

Check the refurbs by clicking on the "Special Deals" button at the Apple Online Store. They still come with a warranty and will save you a couple hundred bucks.

Yes, the online Apple Store's "Special Deals" section is one place to look. There you will find factory refurbished models that come with the same one-year warranty as new units. They don't have any stock right now on 15" PowerBooks, but you have to keep checking. Stock goes in and out with regularity. Buying from the Apple Store ensures you pay sales tax in all states that have it, though. For burning DVDs you are looking for a model with "SuperDrive" (noted on some sites as DVD-R drive).

Other sources for some deals and factory refurbs include these authorized Apple dealers:

Small Dog (Vermont) http://www.smalldog.com/
PowerMax (Oregon) http://www.powermax.com/
ExperCom (Utah) http://www.expercom.com/

Approrpriately for FT, ExperCom gives one FF mile on AA or UA for each dollar spent. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/biggrin.gif

Used is touchy. I personally wouldn't do it. But if it's still under a factory warranty, the first year of it, maybe it wouldn't be too bad. Any Mac still under its original one-year warranty (whether it was brand new or factory refurbished) qualifies for their AppleCare plan that extends the warranty to 3 years from original date of registration. This of course would add to the price, but for anyone with a laptop on the go it's likely a good investment anyway, even if you've bought it brand new.

The discounts are another avenue. Sometimes they can be significant, depending upon model, etc. In addition to the education discount, there is also a government employee online store. The definition of who can use that is fairly broad. You can check the pricing for either by going to the online store and choosing one of them. You may have to choose a school for the education store. Some schools may have special deals available only at the school or other such things. If you're stuck paying the sales tax though, that often eats up most of any discount available from these online stores compared to the regular price without tax.

Unfortunately the refresh for the 15" PowerBook was long enough ago that older (unused) ones aren't hanging around as discontinued models but recent enough that we probably can't expect another refresh of that product line for a couple months. Not sure.

Also keep an eye on the deal tracking sites:

http://www.dealmac.com/
http://www.dealsontheweb.com/

[This message has been edited by CrazyOne (edited Dec 30, 2003).]

Excellent advice, CrazyOne.

Here's another value dealer:
http://www.macresq.com/

Give Small Dog and PowerMax about a week, and they should have some new supply come in. You might could go ahead and start checking now.

We cleared out some old stuff at the end of the quarter to these guys. (quarter ended 12/27)

DoveBid used to do surplus auctions of Apple equipment. Haven't seen a Dove order in quite some time though, but that could be they they just haven't needed any special attention lately.

In particular, if you go used, I think it'd be smart to look at machines with AppleCare. AppleCare is the name of Apple's 3 year extended warranty. I'm kind of a tightwad, and so I'm not too fond of extended warranties in general, but I think it can be an okay thing to get for portables, especially if she's on the road constantly. Also, AppleCare extends free phone support from 90 days to 3 years. So if she ever has a problem she can't solve, and there's not a guru handy, she can call Apple without missing a step.

Oh, another place to look: http://www.craigslist.com
This is a site that contains listings for all sorts of stuff, listed by all the major metropolitain areas, with the more "wired" cities seeing the most traffic. It's a bit less known about, and, I would say, utilized by a crowd that is probably a bit more computer savvy and probably less likely to have abused or misused their technology. Also since you can look for listings in a certain area, you could actually meet offline with the seller to check out the merchandise prior to purchase.

You've got just about every bargain hunter's place to find Mac hardware now. Her powerbook should be able to be found among them.

Good luck in the search!

Eastwest thinks that everyone has the bases covered:

1. Don't buy used electronic equipment on eBay.
2. You can save a few bucks by shopping apple's refurb store or using the educational store.
3. There really aren't any super deals on Apple equipment unless someone has old stock that they are blowing out in a hurry.

I think your best bet is http://store.apple.com


Good luck. I'm sure your daughter will love her Mac! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

Join a Macintosh User Group (MUG)

As a MUG member, you get access to slightly more discounted refurb and excess inventory at the Apple MUG store run by powermax (I think).

http://www.applemugstore.com/

I did a quick web search for passwords and came up with User ID: yao / Password: ming

You DO have to belong to a MUG when ordering, so the $20 or so is a good deal. They also offer free shipping. Try to have it shipped to a pal in a tax free state if you can to save the $160 or so in taxes.

I bought my last two powerbooks through the MUG and figured that I saved $1500 on the first one, and $2000 on the second one and had them for over 8 months before "public" pricing approched what I paid for them.

Other than that, try to get an art grant for necessary equipment.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by modernbeat:
I bought my last two powerbooks through the MUG and figured that I saved $1500 on the first one, and $2000 on the second one and had them for over 8 months before "public" pricing approched what I paid for them.</font>

Hm. I was worried I had missed out on something great, but right now there doesn't seem to be a single deal of that caliber on the store (unless I'm seeing more typical prices because of an old login or something). Maybe when products are about to be EOL they turn up there first. Dunno. I'll have to remember that for the future, though.

My recent purchase was a 12" PowerBook G4, first generation (these had been discontinued a couple months ago in favor of a slight revision). Apparently Amazon had or acquired a notable stock of these, and a few weeks ago they started blowing them out at iBook-like prices. I got it for $1094, $100 less than the going price for a refurb was at the time. Plus, it qualified for their free iSight promo, so I got one of those too, all for the $1094. Free shipping, no tax. Helluva deal IMO.

Again, thank you for all the input.

I talked to her again and it would appear that she wants to use the machine to record audio, edit video and burn CDs. Is this the best equipment to accomplish her goals?

There are a couple of other methods of getting cheaper Apple hardware:

a) have an Apple employee get it for you; if I recall correctly, they get one system per year at a really big discount, and possibilities on others at a reasonable (if not quite as big) saving;

b) be an Apple Developer Connection member at the Select or Premier level, and get 12-20% off the price of the machine, depending on configuration.

Option b) is what I'm going to do next time they speedbump the G5s http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NickW:
b) be an Apple Developer Connection member at the Select or Premier level, and get 12-20% off the price of the machine, depending on configuration.</font>

If you are a full time higher education student, you can sign up for the Developer Connection for $99/year and you will receive a one-per-lifetime 20% discount on an Apple system.

As a member of the 'club' you'll also get all of Apple's dev tools and software on DVD and copies of their system software releases when they become available.

Punki, I have the same model that your daughter is looking at, and I can totally understand why she wants it. It totally rocks. However, if all she needs is the Mac platform and DVD burner, perhaps a 12" would be a less expensive option? BTW, there is a TON of image-editing/processing and audio software that is only available on the Mac platform. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

I will add these links to the list:

www.powerbookcentral.com (http://www.powerbookcentral.com)
www.macprices.com (http://www.macprices.com)

Recently, macconnection has had the refurbished 1.25ghz 15" ai powerbook for $1999. No tax in most states.