Best Buy cuts prices on Apple's Mac line for 4-day sale [u]
The specialty electronics reseller is said to have brought in "huge stock" over the weekend to support the promotion, which runs through Wednesday evening, and will be receiving additional stock sometime later today. In addition, Apple employees will be on hand at most Best Buy locations to interact with customers and help seal the deal.
The sale is also in effect through Best Buy online. In both cases, the retailer is offering no interest financing for 18 months. Anyone who purchases an Apple notebook will also qualify for two additional promotions, one which offers $39 - $70 off select printers, and another that offers 15% - 20% off notebook accessories.
Among the Mac offerings in stock and on sale are the following (prices after discount in parenthesis):
$100 off 2.0GHz Unibody MacBook ($1199.99)
$150 off 2.4GHz Unibody MacBook ($1449.99)
$100 off 2.1GHz White MacBook ($899.99)
$100 off 2.4GHz Unibody MacBook Pro ($1899.99)
$100 off 2.53GHz Unibody MacBook Pro ($2399.99)
$100 off 2.5GHz Aluminum 17-inch MacBook Pro ($2699.99)
$150 off 1.6GHz NVIDIA-baed MacBook Air ($1649.99)
$150 off 1.86GHz NVIDIA-baed MacBook Air ($2349.99)
$100 off 2.4GHz 20-inch iMac ($1099.99)
$100 off 2.66GHz 20-inch iMac ($1399.99)
$150 off 2.8GHz 24-inch iMac ($1649.99)
$50 off 1.83GHz Mac mini ($549.00)
$50 off 2.0GHz Mac mini ($749.00)
$150 off 2.8GH Mac Pro ($2649.99)
Best Buy is also offering the original 1.6GHz MacBook Air for $1299.
Update: According to one reader, some Apple retail stores may be willing to price-match Best Buy for the next three days. "If you bring in a flyer or ad to an Apple Store, they will match the price after getting it approved through the manager," the reader said. Readers may be best suited to call their local Apple retail store ahead of time to inquire about their price-matching policies.
28 Comments
Honestly, I can't say that Apple's "slashing" of prices are anything short of a joke. I mean, I just can't see 1199 being that much more affordable than 1299. When we see prices of TV's being dropped like 30-40% and apple drops about 5% while we all know they are making 30% plus on it I just don't get the big draw... You want to sell a massive # of Macs in a few days? Do what the other guys do and have a Black Friday sale on about 50 units which'll get people in the door and when you sell out you can convince them to buy a full priced unit instead
Slashes? More like 'trims'.
$100 off a $2400 laptop is not going to be much of an incentive other than to those who had planned to buy one.
Honestly, I can't say that Apple's "slashing" of prices are anything short of a joke. I mean, I just can't see 1199 being that much more affordable than 1299. When we see prices of TV's being dropped like 30-40% and apple drops about 5% while we all know they are making 30% plus on it I just don't get the big draw... You want to sell a massive # of Macs in a few days? Do what the other guys do and have a Black Friday sale on about 50 units which'll get people in the door and when you sell out you can convince them to buy a full priced unit instead
Having worked retail myself, you would be very surprised how little of a price break is needed to grab people's interest. 32" TV for under $200? Did you read the pre-sale price, which was only $220? Yet people will wait in line and fight over saving a measly $20 on a crappy TV.
Honestly, I can't say that Apple's "slashing" of prices are anything short of a joke. I mean, I just can't see 1199 being that much more affordable than 1299. When we see prices of TV's being dropped like 30-40% and apple drops about 5% while we all know they are making 30% plus on it I just don't get the big draw... You want to sell a massive # of Macs in a few days? Do what the other guys do and have a Black Friday sale on about 50 units which'll get people in the door and when you sell out you can convince them to buy a full priced unit instead
$1299.00 to $1199.00 is more like 11.55% price break and hey, this is Apple, and "Price Breaks" of any kind are rare outside of events like this. So take 'em when you can get 'em.
At least these machines are new (hopefully) versus the 13%, 15%, 17%, or 20% price breaks for "refurbished" Macs found at the Apple Store Online!
Having worked retail myself, you would be very surprised how little of a price break is needed to grab people's interest. 32" TV for under $200? Did you read the pre-sale price, which was only $220? Yet people will wait in line and fight over saving a measly $20 on a crappy TV.
You probably have some horror stories to tell. My brother-in-law is a cameraman for a local news station. Worst assignment of the year? Covering black Friday insanity. Fights over $30 toys.