How would you even get 7x? Is there a Staple's portal that pays 2x on top of the office supply 5x?

Yes, UR Mall is 2 points which stacks with 5x bold.

If I recall, the Ink cards also have extended warranty. The warranty manager is a pain to deal with but they do reimburse you for legitimate warranty claims.

Love the term "near future," so it could be March 2013 or March 2014.

and will the small print say "no Apple products" ? I hope not but it is really hard to get Apple stuff at a discount :(

Arrgh-just buy discounted RadioShack gift cards and use them to buy Apple products.

Didn't you wonder why the Apple stock tanked?:D

I was on the brink of buying a MacBook Pro. Guess it's better to wait . . . and get a new credit card to run up spend for a bonus.

Buying Apple and getting points
 

Hi,

I was just wondering if buying from online apple store via discover network and 5% cash back is more rewarding than using ultimate rewards mall and get an extra 1 point.

any advice?

It's kinda up to you. I don't really care about 5% cashback with Discover, but I do really care about URs so I'd pick that.

What are your goals?

Might get a better deal by avoiding sales tax.

For example, use the UR shopping mall to buy via jr.com

-Sales tax only in NY
-3 bonus points/dollar
-2% JR Loyalty rewards (store credit to use after 30 days)

And the math for a 13" MBA/6% tax because I'm bored:

APPLE $1199 + 6% tax = $1270.94 - 5% Discover = $1207.39

JR $1159.95 - 2% JR = $1136.75 - min value of 4640 UR points @ 1 cent each = $1090.35

Discover has a stackable cash back system. I bought my son's iPad last fall on a 2% cashback day, using Shop Discover Apple store 5%, and paid online during the 5% cashback for shopping online. I got an iPad 4th Gen with 12% cashback, 2% + 5% +5% = 12%. That was almost $60 for a single purchase.

Existing thread here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...tal-apple.html

Thanks a lot guys for the direction.

My goal is flight travel in the end. And that is the reason URs hold a good value but sometimes that 5% does attract me :P

I will be able to make a better judgement with your suggestions.

How about at 22-28% off ANY apple products?
 

Personally I find the double/triple dip buying gift cards at Kroger better than any points/ miles earned out there.

The ingredients:

4x fuel points on gift card purchases promo
$100 visa gift cards
Best buy gift cards
Maxing out the $1 off per gallon per fill up when redeeming fuel points

Drawbacks:

No extended warranty on your purchase.

Hint: Kroger enters your driver license info and match it with your credit card info if your gift card purchase more than $75 ,which means that some cashiers will not allow you to purchase best buy gift card with the visa gift card so stay under and you will be fine ( self checkout lanes ?).

AMEX cards works well here ...

This is what I did when I recently bought my MacBook Air. Went to Staples and bought Visa gift cards. Then went to Apple Store and converted those Visa GCs into an Apple gift card. Then went to Apple.com via Chase UR mall, and bought with gift card. The latter is YMMV but you're at least guaranteed the 5x from the Staples GC purchase.