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Hello All, I don't mean to keep beating a dead horse, but Gary Stager posts his very interesting take on the video at The Pulse Blog: http://www.districtadministration.com/pulse/commentpost.aspx?news=no&postid=48655 The comments section is also worth checking out. Sorry ... I'll stop now ... :-) dave Dave Wee, Librarian Harvard-Westlake Middle School 700 North Faring Road Los Angeles, CA 90077 dwee@hw dot com "The fact that she had a nut for a head made it hard for her mind to grasp new ideas." ~~ Miss Hickory, Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, 1946 ~~ ________________________________ From: School Library Media & Network Communications on behalf of Theresa Gonzalez Sent: Tue 11/6/2007 4:53 PM To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU Subject: [LM_NET] OT Hit: Advice for buying a MacBook (long) Thanks for all of your responses you are a great group. Below is a list of some of the responses I received. One point to remember with Apple is that they offer an educator discount both online and in the store (with school ID). The original question was: I am thinking about buying an Apple MacBook. Is there a difference between buying from the Apple store or the online store? Thanks, Theresa Theresa Gonzalez M.W. Downing Library Malverne, NY 11565 My husband and I have been buying Macs for a long time... since the Apple IIGS and we always used the Apple stores until I began teaching... now it is much easier to get the teaching discount using the online store. -- Janice Conger All I can tell you about this is that they tell me the "refurbished(?)" models online are just as good as the brand new ones and they are a couple of hundred dollars cheaper. I just bought one myself online (since I am overseas it is hard to get into an Apple Store) and it was delivered to a friend in CA within a week. The computer person who has looked at the machine says that it is in great shape and the people who have bought refurbished before tell me that they have lasted forever. Don't know if that is helpful but thought I would pass it on. Carol Van Brocklin The biggest difference is probably that you can get a teacher discount from the Apple Store (you have to order online though). You can also customize the laptop through the Apple Store whereas other online retailers usually have them preassembled. Gypsy Notov-Lew I believe one the main differences is ability to have info transferred from your current computer, etc. I do love my MacBook, although I wish the screen was bigger, but you may not have that challenge if you're buying the Pro. Paula Joseph-Johnson Linnie, when buying Mac's you never know where the best deal is. I'd check the store, online and MacWorld.com. I've never bought from a store because of my location, but once from Apple online and one time from Mac World. This Spring I bought a new iMac and online was the BEST deal. They gave away free iPods-generation 5 with purchase, free shipping, etc. great price also. Time before that MacWorld offered the best deal. Generally these products are free shipping and arrive quickly. Good luck with your choice. Catherine Bright I bought online because there wasn't a store that was convenient to my home, but as long as the store knows you have an educator's discount, it probably won't make much difference. I love my Mac! The other day I was at a training session and I had my Mac and my friends all had IBM's. To connect to the wireless, a message popped up saying "none of yur trusted networks are available. Would you like to connect to this open network?" All I had to do was click yes. My friends had to go to the control panel, drag up to Connections, select Internet, search for the network and apply. It took them about 5 minutes to get online and me about 30 seconds. Also, if you have a store near you, it is really worthwhile to do the One-on-One class. It is just you and an instructor for 45 minutes a week for a year (times are flexible and you tell them what you want to work on). The cost with the educator's discount is only $84. Really worthwhile! Good luck and enjoy! Debbie I just purchased a iMac in mid July. I am the sole user and it has only been used at home; in other words, it hast not been abused in any way. It totally broke down Thursday. I have their extended warranty plan and have NO IDEA when it will be fixed. (Since I am to do presentations out of state in a few days, I let them know that the timing is critical. Still have no idea when it will be fixed. They won't even tell me WHO is going to fix it.) Check in to service options in your area before purchasing. To answer your original question: If you want extensive customization, you will want to order online or through the 1-800 number. If you just want to pick one up, the store is fine. (They can add ram in the store.) Our area Apple store did not give me the education tax break, but the 1-800 order did. Deb Logan See where you get the best price. Remember to get your educator's discount! I think at the Apple store here they have you order online there at the store for your educator's discount. I have purchased desktops two directly from Apple online and have had wonderful success with both. When a monitor was delivered which did not work, they over-nighted me another with directions on how to mail back the defective one. Quick response with no questions asked. Great tech support too. As a librarian you can receive the educator's discount...look on the website. Laurie I have bought all my Mac products on-line and have been very pleased. I would, however, suggest buying the Apple Care support service with your MacBook. It's a 24 hour phone number you can call to get help night or day with any problems you might encounter. I use it once in a while and my problem always gets solved. I think it lasts for five years and costs about 100 bucks, but it is well worth it. Kathleen Dunbar I bought a MacBook Pro this past July. I used the web site to look over the information on the different models and then went into the store to see all the options in person. I think if you know what you really want you're fine with ordering it online. I wanted to see the difference between the glossy and mate finish for the computer screen, so I'm glad I went into the store to see it first hand. Going to the store, there is also a person there to whom you can direct any question. I've never ordered anything on the Apple online store, so I can't comment on the service. The stores I've gone into have always had pretty decent service. If you go at a busy time though, you may have to wait for help. Heather Neidenbach With the exception of certain factory installed options (i.e. hard drive and possibly wireless, memory and software configurations) there is generally no difference between purchasing online and at the store. A major advantage is that you receive your machine right in the store and can use it right away. The warranty begins from date of purchase (pick-up or shipping date) which can differ by several days. Please note that Apple periodically offers specials (i.e. free printers, discounts on mac accounts (e-mail, group communications, external storage, etc.) - Usually around the holidays, for the new year, at the end of the current school year and before the new school year. Just one note - The apple educator agreement restricts the purchase quantity for each item per academic year (July - June). The details are available at http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/salespoliciesEdIndividual.html From my experience, and those of my colleagues, Apple's new Intel Duo Core chip sets allow you to have the best of both worlds (OS-X and Windows) with either boot cam (included in Leopard) or Parallels - a non-apple product. Martin H. F. Gonser Some specific configurations need to be ordered via the online store, because they are not among the "most common" configs that you will find in retail stores. The other difference... if you order something online, vs. buy in-store, you are likely to end up with newer software, so there are fewer updates to run when you start it up. The updates work just as well, but it's one less thing to do. I bought at a store just because I had a window of free time to make sure that everything was up and running, and waiting a few days for my online purchase to be delivered would have put me past that convenient window. ;) Have fun! - Amy Goldsmith Good luck with your decision. I bought my MacBook in a store, but I think that online is about the same (possibly more shipping.) But - as you look at the white, black and silver models (increasing in price) I will tell you that the black (which I have) shows fingerprints like nobody's business. I think if I did it again, I'd get the souped-up white one. Otherwise, I've been very happy. Alisen I don't have an apple store in my town. And in fact the one dealer who does deal with Mac's said that he has stopped trying to sell them as you could get them faster by going online. AND in fact I just purchased a new Macbook. I ordered it one Saturday at around midnight and by Sunday I got notification that it had left China. It went from China to Anchorage Alaska, to Ohio, and to my doorstep in Iowa by 9:30 Tuesday a.m. One thing to consider. I often travel with my laptop and use it for PPT programs using a LCD projector. Apple changed connections so my power cords for my former ibook do not work the connector is a magnetic one (comes with the MACBook) but also the connector that adapts the connection from the LCD projector to the smaller MAC one is different. So if you intend to hook your MACBook to a LCD projector you will want to order a Mini DVI-to-VGA adapter. Dynex makes a model that will work (DX-AP110) ordered from BestBuy SKU#8424378 -- or just order from Apple when you order your laptop. I actually did not do that because I did not know enough to do it but luckily the repair store did have an apple one in stock and they let me have it (despite the fact that it had been ordered for someone else as I needed one to go to AASL). Between $18.00 - $21.00 Sharron My 20 year old daughter bought herself a MacBook Pro this summer. We went to the store to ask questions and then, after she did some research and thinking, went back to the store to buy one. They were out of stock. The salesperson that helped us told us that they would be getting more in and my daughter would be able to buy one in the store when that happened, or she could order it online for the same price - which is the option she picked. Because she is a college student, she got a discount. Perhaps educators qualify too, but I'm not sure. Anyhow, if you know exactly what you want, you can skip the trip to the store and just order it online. Diane P.S. My daughter is an art student and absolutely LOVES her MacBook Pro and can't imagine how she managed to use a PC her first 2 years at college _________________________________________________________________ Climb to the top of the charts! 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