Isn't Micro Center considered to be a good brick & mortar retailer for Apple products? I'm not part of the Apple culture myself...but I've seen their ads and they're about the only place I've ever seen that sells new Macbooks at any kind of discount to MSRP. (That said, I'm sure it's like anything else: it will always be truly cheapest online.)

I don't think the state will matter much. If you're talking Chicago, San Francisco, and Honolulu, they're all going to have the major retailers that sell electronics. As djk7 says, a lot of stuff is more expensive in Hawaii.