Getting Cheap Apple Products in Australia
Any Apple users here? Anyone got an iPod? Any Mac zealot reading this bargain blog? To be honest, I have never owned an iPod. I did have a Mac though, a 4 year old second generation iBook G3 that runs Panther, and my wife still uses it as her main computer.
However I do recognise that an Apple is probably the hottest property a geek can possess. After all, who wants to use a PC anyway? As Apple has just released the latest MacBook Pro with Santa Rosa platform, maybe it would be good to evaluate where one can buy cheap Macs.
MoneyBackCo 3% MoneyBack
MoneyBackCo is having 3% moneyback on Apple products. Well, not exactly on Apple products, but everything you buy from the Australian Apple Store.
I know Steve has been chasing up these deals for a while so congratulation! It is offered through DGMAustralia to approved publishers. To get the 3% moneyback, you need to:
- Get yourself a MoneyBackCo account if you haven’t.
- Go to Apple’s page on MBC.
- Click on the link at the bottom of page to go to Apple Australia.
- You will get 3% moneyback in your MBC account on the amount you spend at Apple Store – GST.
Cheap Resellers
Apparently Apple is not the only one in town that can sell Apple products, as there are many authorised resellers. Many simply set the same price as Apple’s RRP, but some are passing on good discount to consumers.
Price comparison engine would be useful here, and a bit of search on Shopbot reveals quite a few resellers doing big savings over Apple’s RRP. For example,
- iPod Nano 4GB (from $259 vs. $299 from Apple)
- MacBook 2GHz (from $1,572 vs. $1,599 from Apple)
- iMac 24″ 2.16GHz (from $2,750 vs. $2,999 from Apple)
Do note that many resellers don’t include delivery cost, whereas Apple’s price includes delivery. Also you need to be careful with deals listed on these price comparison sites — some dodgy shops might not have stock at that price and want to sell you the same thing at a higher price.
Education Discount
samsoft24 posted a link on Apple education discount at OzBargain. I am fully aware of Apple’s education discount to students, teachers and academic staffs in K-12 schools, universities or TAFE colleges, and it is about the only reason for me if I ever want to go back to school (argh I hate exams and assignments).
Basically you enter into Apple Store using a special landing page, select the school/university/colleage that you are in, and you will be bounced to your school-branded Apple store with discount on almost every Apple product — well, except for iPod and Apple TV and some accessories. For example:
| Product | Apple Store | Apple Store EDU | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacBook 13.1″ 2GHz | $1,599 | $1,449 | 6.25% off |
| MacBook Pro 15″ 2.2GHz | $2,899 | $2,599 | 10.35% off |
| iMac 24″ 2.16GHz | $2,999 | $2,699.40 | 9.99% off |
| Mac Pro 2.66Ghz | $3,999 | $3,518,90 | 12.01% off |
As you can see, there is quite a lot of discount which really makes Apple computers “affordable”. You need to be either a student or a staff member in order to qualify the EDU discount. Or, you are buying on behalf of your kids who is currently attending higher education.
Apple Certified Refurbished Products
If you don’t mind something “as good as new”, then Apple Certified Refurbished Products store, posted by John last week, might be a good alternative. They run clearance sales every now and then, and they are very cheap — to a point that you felt you are buying from that dodgy seller on eBay. But don’t you worry! All products sold at Apple, even refurbished ones, carry Apple’s 1 year warranty.
However, the obvious problems are
- They don’t usually have the model you want.
- Sometimes they are at least one generation behind.
- The RRP price listed is when the product was sold “as new”, maybe 6 months to 1 year ago.
- Refurbished is not new.
There are bargains to grab, and refurbished iPod can be substantially cheaper. You do need to be quick though, as the quantity is limited.
Shop Overseas
And guess what — the best way to save on Apple products is probably buying overseas. Duncan was wondering about the same thing as well — Mac Pro was so much cheaper in US than here, even if you factor in the GST. There are probably a billion reasons for the price differences (tax, hedging, economy of scale, etc). However the end result is the same — it sucks to be an Aussie shoppers.
Two cheapest Apple online stores are probably the US and Hong Kong stores, and I know Apple has international warranty on notebooks. Maybe put that into your overseas trip agenda. Or maybe you can ask your uncle in the States. Or you can use many services that let you shop in stores that only deliver to US addresses, and they will handle the delivery to Australia for you at a cost.
Summary
There is only one thing to remember — DON’T just browse into Apple Store (or walk into your local Apple Centre or Next Byte) and pay the recommended retail price. I did that when I bought my first iBook, but I don’t think I will repeat it again. Shop around, and there are many legitimate ways to get a cheaper Mac.
Wow, just out of curiosity I checked out the price difference for a Mac Mini 1.66GHz here and on the HK Apple store:
- Australia: $949.00
- Australia (education): $853.60
- HK: $4700 HKD = $719.83 AUD according to Google.
Full price in HK is over 100 bucks cheaper than Australia with the education discount! Even with a slightly higher exchange rate, plus delivery to here, it would still be less that buying it here. Plus I know you can bargain down prices in HK too.
I know where I’m getting Apple products if I can get there.
For comparison’s sake, at the US Apple store it costs,
599 U.S. dollars = 716.250149 Australian dollars.
Hey Sam! Yes you are absolutely correct. Although I am not sure whether you can bargain down the price on Apple products in Hong Kong as Apple does dictate on price, but I am pretty sure they will give you freebies (like a free mighty mouse).
The problem with Mac Mini is,
1. I think Apple might have lost interest in Mac Mini — everything is on Core 2 Duo now except for the mini.
2. You don’t get the international warranty on desktop computers.
However if you are getting an Apple lappy, then US or HK will give you much better price.
Certain stores allow you to bargain down the price on Apple products – they’re reluctant, but they’ll do it when pushed. I got it for a MacBook for a relative. Of course, your invoice will have the official price on it. Yeh, sometimes they’ll give you freebies instead, and sometimes that maybe be worth more to you as a consumer.
I’ve heard rumours around about Apple’s lack of committment to the mini, and I think it’s disappointing because I don’t want another monitor on my table, and I’ve got a tablet notebook already, something Apple doesn’t have at all. I just want a Mac to complete my stable of all 3 major OSs, so I can run any app I want, run all 3 computers at the same time, plus I can dabble with programming on all 3. And the big Mac Pro is way too expensive and bulky.
Then again, I guess my situation is fairly rare by comparison :P
Thanks for the heads up about the lack of international warranty on desktop computers though.
Sam,
Sounds like virtualisation would be answer to your problem.
- Get a beefy PC with lots of RAM from MSY or other cheap shops
- Get Ubuntu (or my preferred distro, Gentoo) running on it
- Get VMware Player/Server
- Get Vista running inside VMWare (relatively trivial)
- Get Mac OS X running inside VMWare (check osx86project)
Well, now go and program on all 3 :)
The apple store offers discounts to businesses. If you work in a corporate environment, it may be worth checking whether you have an employee purchase program for apple products. I buy my apple laptops that way and received a noticeable discount.
Anyone got any recommendations for: “services that let you shop in stores that only deliver to US addresses”, I’ve had a few cases where one would have come in handy, but so far I haven’t taken that step.
The refurbished site is constantly updated.. everytime they have refurbished item, they put it there.. and the price is not always the same.. So if you’re hunting for it, keep an eye until you found the right one, then don’t hestitate and buy straight away! It qualifies free shipping, free engraving (I assume), and 1 year limited warranty. So it’s not a bad deal, really.
Macbook is expensive indeed, the only chance I could have it was last night in an event.. my friend, who sat next to me, won a doorprize with a Macbook prize.. it could’ve been me!!! ’til now, I still wished it was me. T____T
Scott:
Not that big on virtualisation because I like my fancy graphics and animations, and plan to do some programming involving them. The osx86project does look interesting though, maybe as an interim solution.
Alright, back to the topic of this post :)
Hi Scott! Thanks for the post. I will refer to it when I buy my next Mac! (who knows when that will be??)
I know someone already said this, but If you want a cheaper Mac, become an American.
Apple Australia is trying to tell me that the iMac I want will cost $A 2739 and the US site is telling me that it will cost $1919, implying that $A1 is equal to $US 0.70.
Given that the $A is currently buying about $US 0.9, you would expect that it should cost about $A2135, meaning that Apple Australia are trying to gouge an extra $600 or about 30 per cent from me.
most resellers can go a bit lower on the price but because the margin is quite low on apple products the online store are they way to go… they keep the prices low becouse thier overheads are low (only a webstore not a phisical store…. )
you can check out htttp://store.mactofront.com.au/ as an example…
My husband got an email saying 24inch now from $1499!!! Yes we were excited when we went in the guy goes go to the bottom of your message it’s in American dollars! Der… The Aussie price is 1000 more!!! How does that work out. Not happy!