DawnM Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I converted to Mac this past year with a MacBookPro for ME. The kids still used the two old PC desktops. My intention was to wait until summer to get a Mac desktop as a replacement for one of them. Now a PC has died and the other one has issues, so am considering getting one now. I would LOVE the fancy 27" monitor, but honestly, I can't justify the price increase for it! The 21" inch is sufficient. OR, should I get the mini mac and buy a larger screen and use it? In fact, if I got the mini mac I could use the PC monitor for now with it until I could save up for a larger screen. Thoughts? SECOND QUESTION: I am able to get the education discount (I think hsers can get it but they let me put in my last school of employment when I went in.) and in the summer they give freebies out......ipod touch has been the freebie the last couple of years. Do they give out the freebie with a mac mini or only with the full imac or macbook? Anyone know? My plan was to go in during tax free weekend in Aug and get the Education discount, the freebie, and no tax. Anyway, looking forward to thoughts. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofkhm Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I converted to Mac this past year with a MacBookPro for ME. The kids still used the two old PC desktops. My intention was to wait until summer to get a Mac desktop as a replacement for one of them. Now a PC has died and the other one has issues, so am considering getting one now. I would LOVE the fancy 27" monitor, but honestly, I can't justify the price increase for it! The 21" inch is sufficient. OR, should I get the mini mac and buy a larger screen and use it? In fact, if I got the mini mac I could use the PC monitor for now with it until I could save up for a larger screen. Thoughts? I can only answer the first part. We use trickle down in our house. DH gets the new computer, I get the old one, kids get the really old one. Well, the kids Mac died this summer so they were using mine. (Macbook) It was working but getting old. I couldn't always get on my computer when I needed/wanted to. The girls were on it. DH found a great price on a Mac Mini. We had an old keyboard. I can't remember what we did about a monitor. But the upshot is, it works great! They don't have internet access on the mini, but everything else they do on their machine. So I'd say go for it if that's what's in the budget. I never pay attention to the give-aways cause we're never in the market for a new computer on their schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shea Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I'm not a MAC user, but I have been researching the IMAC and Macbook Pro also. You have some of the same questions I do. I hope someone gives you some good advice so that I might benefit from it also. One thing to consider is that on the Apple website they do have a page announcing a new operating system, the MAC OS X Lion, due to be released this summer. It might be another reason to put off a purchase until the August tax-free weekend and back-to-school offers. Sue http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Sue, I didn't know they were coming out with something new....but I have been quite happy with Snow Leopard and I have heard that if you get the refurbished ones they are quite often the ones that are last season's models. I am trying to research that right now. I have Office '08 on my MacBookPro and I see they have come out with an '11 version. I have NO idea what the differences are but the '08 version is selling for dirt cheap right now. I am fairly easy to please in this area, as long as I don't look at the newest, biggest, latest and compare first! :lol: Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 How do you find a great price on a Mac Mini? Amazon.com has the lower end one for $668 with no tax and free shipping. Is that pretty good or can I do better? Dawn I can only answer the first part. We use trickle down in our house. DH gets the new computer, I get the old one, kids get the really old one. Well, the kids Mac died this summer so they were using mine. (Macbook) It was working but getting old. I couldn't always get on my computer when I needed/wanted to. The girls were on it. DH found a great price on a Mac Mini. We had an old keyboard. I can't remember what we did about a monitor. But the upshot is, it works great! They don't have internet access on the mini, but everything else they do on their machine. So I'd say go for it if that's what's in the budget. I never pay attention to the give-aways cause we're never in the market for a new computer on their schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristinaBreece Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I got an education price on a Mini directly from the Apple Store online. They just ask if you're affiliated with a school. I think it knocks $50 off of the price. And you can use your old monitor if you would rather. I got a bug one as a Christmas gift from my mom, but before that I just used the 21" from her PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Amazon is cheaper if you have free shipping and no tax. How do you like it? Is the picture just based on the quality of your monitor? Did you get the lower end one? Has it been sufficient? What do you use it for? Dawn I got an education price on a Mini directly from the Apple Store online. They just ask if you're affiliated with a school. I think it knocks $50 off of the price. And you can use your old monitor if you would rather. I got a bug one as a Christmas gift from my mom, but before that I just used the 21" from her PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Apparently if you have a Discover card, and use it to purchase a Mac, you get a 5% rebate! There are a couple other credit cards (all of which I dont' have) that do this as well. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofkhm Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 How do you find a great price on a Mac Mini? Amazon.com has the lower end one for $668 with no tax and free shipping. Is that pretty good or can I do better? Dawn It was posted on Craig's list. Dh found it and told me it was a good deal. I just kind of believe him on things like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Ah, nice. I have found some things on CL as well but am leery of buying used computers. Dawn It was posted on Craig's list. Dh found it and told me it was a good deal. I just kind of believe him on things like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 First-the free iPod with their back to school sales isn't actually a "free" item it is a rebate worth up to a particular amount-possibly depending on what you buy. It was enough to get you a small iPod or the lowest end Touch last summer but not a Classic. You choose the model you want-pay first, rebate later. Price out what you want because with the mini you still need a monitor, keyboard and mouse. You might find the cost equals a 21" in the end. If you are going to use an old monitor be sure to check the mini's requirements first. New Mac operating systems cost significantly less that a Windows Update. Just check out the prices on Amazon. Snow Leopard is apx $30 while Windows 7 is $70+ depending on the version. When you go looking for software such as the Mac Office Suite or Microsoft Office do one of two things-if you have multiple Macs and are buying new-price out the family pack of licenses vs. multiple individual. If you already have something on your Mac look at the cost of upgrading to a family pack. Third-check new new App Store for Mac because you can buy some programs stand alone-ie just Pages and not Numbers, KeyNote etc. The new Microsoft Office '11 for Mac has some nice new features but nothing earth shattering unless you are a power user. It does have Outlook now though. Microsoft does offer a student discount as well. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I just bought and IMAC 27" and I did consider getting a mini mac and buying a large monitor but...one of the reasons I wanted a MAc was for ease of use, for simplicity, no hassles. So I went for a refurbished recent model from the apple website. I have a friend who has the minimac connected to a large monitor in his loungeroom, so I did consider it. It could work well for you...but its still a fair amount of money, so I would scrape up the extra for the full computer if I could...but either would be ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thanks. I have the Mac Office on my laptop but I got it free because a friend had purchased it for her two daughters and had one more download she wasn't going to use! YOu can get Mac Office 2008 pretty cheap right now, and I wondered if it would be worth upgrading or not....I DO want it in the next computer. I also do want the Touch. I looked up the rebate today. It looks like it is a $199 rebate and the one I want is $299 plus tax at the store.....the same thing is $274 with no tax at Amazon. I priced things out a bit today. I think I will be better off with a full Mac computer rather than a mini mac as you said. late Spring is the time frame given for the next generation to come out with Apple, at least that is the rumor I am hearing. I am also hearing there may be a 3rd option for size as so many have said they want the 24" brought back. Dawn First-the free iPod with their back to school sales isn't actually a "free" item it is a rebate worth up to a particular amount-possibly depending on what you buy. It was enough to get you a small iPod or the lowest end Touch last summer but not a Classic. You choose the model you want-pay first, rebate later. Price out what you want because with the mini you still need a monitor, keyboard and mouse. You might find the cost equals a 21" in the end. If you are going to use an old monitor be sure to check the mini's requirements first. New Mac operating systems cost significantly less that a Windows Update. Just check out the prices on Amazon. Snow Leopard is apx $30 while Windows 7 is $70+ depending on the version. When you go looking for software such as the Mac Office Suite or Microsoft Office do one of two things-if you have multiple Macs and are buying new-price out the family pack of licenses vs. multiple individual. If you already have something on your Mac look at the cost of upgrading to a family pack. Third-check new new App Store for Mac because you can buy some programs stand alone-ie just Pages and not Numbers, KeyNote etc. The new Microsoft Office '11 for Mac has some nice new features but nothing earth shattering unless you are a power user. It does have Outlook now though. Microsoft does offer a student discount as well. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Oh, how do you like it? I am in love with the 27" monitors! Can I ask how much you saved ordering from the refurb site and did you get an educator discount in addition to that? Thanks, Dawn I just bought and IMAC 27" and I did consider getting a mini mac and buying a large monitor but...one of the reasons I wanted a MAc was for ease of use, for simplicity, no hassles. So I went for a refurbished recent model from the apple website. I have a friend who has the minimac connected to a large monitor in his loungeroom, so I did consider it. It could work well for you...but its still a fair amount of money, so I would scrape up the extra for the full computer if I could...but either would be ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Oh, how do you like it? I am in love with the 27" monitors! Can I ask how much you saved ordering from the refurb site and did you get an educator discount in addition to that? Thanks, Dawn HI Dawn, I am in Australia so take that into account. I think I saved $300- $400 getting the refubished one that I did- I have friends who have bought refurbished and its all been good, wheras our experience of buying off ebay has not been good. It was $2049 (its a quad core- the dual cores are cheaper) and new it was getting up to $2400. But this is Au$ and I am pretty sure we pay more over here than you do. And we also get an educational discount supposedly but when it went through there was no discount. That would be different over there though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Thanks. I have the Mac Office on my laptop but I got it free because a friend had purchased it for her two daughters and had one more download she wasn't going to use! YOu can get Mac Office 2008 pretty cheap right now, and I wondered if it would be worth upgrading or not....I DO want it in the next computer. I also do want the Touch. I looked up the rebate today. It looks like it is a $199 rebate and the one I want is $299 plus tax at the store.....the same thing is $274 with no tax at Amazon. I priced things out a bit today. I think I will be better off with a full Mac computer rather than a mini mac as you said. late Spring is the time frame given for the next generation to come out with Apple, at least that is the rumor I am hearing. I am also hearing there may be a 3rd option for size as so many have said they want the 24" brought back. Dawn Be careful when pricing out that rebate on the ipod. There were conditions and you might have to purchase it at the same time as the computer and buy both from Apple (online or at the store). I don't think other stores honored the "free" ipod offer. Read the details before you buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fulytymewyfe Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 We have bought Macs for the last 2 years on tax free weekend in NC. We haven't had any problems getting our free ipod (8G) and even got the free wireless printer last year, too. They have been very quick to send the checks after you complete the online rebate. I had to show my card from the DNPE at the store the first year, but when I purchased online the 2nd year, they took my word for it. The educator discount was even better than my husband's work discount. :0) I have a 21" screen and find it sufficient. I will say that my husband has used a "pc" screen for his macbook pro and the graphics are just NOT the same. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 The "free" iPod was a back to school special in the Fall of 2010, that expired on October 5th, 2010. It is no longer valid. And yes, it was not "free" upfront. You paid for it and then got a rebate. Not to mention, the newest iPod touch 4th gen did not qualify for that rebate. Refurbished products do not qualify for further discounting so the Education discount does not apply to refurbished Apple products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 We love our iMac. Dh does graphic design, so the larger screen works better for him. His is 24". We are still on Leopard (before Snow Leopard). Unless you need to have several pages open at once, the 21" would probably be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 The "free" iPod was a back to school special in the Fall of 2010, that expired on October 5th, 2010. It is no longer valid. And yes, it was not "free" upfront. You paid for it and then got a rebate. Not to mention, the newest iPod touch 4th gen did not qualify for that rebate. Refurbished products do not qualify for further discounting so the Education discount does not apply to refurbished Apple products. The "free" ipod does seem to be becoming a yearly back to school event though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esavvymom Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I converted to Mac this past year with a MacBookPro for ME. The kids still used the two old PC desktops. My intention was to wait until summer to get a Mac desktop as a replacement for one of them. Now a PC has died and the other one has issues, so am considering getting one now. I would LOVE the fancy 27" monitor, but honestly, I can't justify the price increase for it! The 21" inch is sufficient. OR, should I get the mini mac and buy a larger screen and use it? In fact, if I got the mini mac I could use the PC monitor for now with it until I could save up for a larger screen. Thoughts? SECOND QUESTION: I am able to get the education discount (I think hsers can get it but they let me put in my last school of employment when I went in.) and in the summer they give freebies out......ipod touch has been the freebie the last couple of years. Do they give out the freebie with a mac mini or only with the full imac or macbook? Anyone know? My plan was to go in during tax free weekend in Aug and get the Education discount, the freebie, and no tax. Anyway, looking forward to thoughts. Dawn I haven't read through the replies to see if anyone already answered this, but I am in NC, so I know what we did in this state. YES- you can get an education discount as a Homeschooler. If you use it online, you just have to register your "school" on their education site. I forget where, but you'd see it. ANd YES - if you buy during the tax-free weekend in August (if you can wait that long), you still get the "free" stuff they often offer. We've gotten two iTouch players that way in the last two years. But, I heard rumors last year that they may not do it again this fall because of budget shortfalls, etc. We'll see. We own the 21" iMac for our school room, but we've also purchased mac-mini's for both of our parents. They love them and are easy to use. So if you are trying to be cost-efficient, then go with the mac-mini with the memory upgrades, etc. Use your existing monitor/keyboard, etc. The only thing is you do end up with a lot more cables, but it's a very small box! Our parents both love theirs. I would at least try ONE mac mini- just be sure to order one with the memory upgraded - it makes it so much nicer to have lots of memory, and then later in the year if you decided you wanted an iMac, you can get it in the Tax-free weekend? (and don't forget your Apple Care plans!) Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Thanks all. I have been doing research! The Apple folks told me to just put in my last school of employment since I have worked as a teacher and a counselor in the past. They said it is easier as I can order online if I want to. I hope they will offer the ipod touch again this summer, but in looking, it seems that the deals don't start until late May and I can wait for a computer until then, but really want to go ahead and get an ipod touch. Most likely we can use the 2nd touch anyway within the family. If we could get a data plan on our phone with an iphone for less than the money they want per month, we would, but it just isn't in our budget. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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