Black Friday Mac pricing matrix (find the best prices)

[AppleInsider]

While Apple on Friday announced modest price cuts on a handful of Macs for its 24 hour sale, several of the company's authorized resellers have stepped up to offer much steeper discounts, including OnSale.com and ClubMac, which have cut $200 off some unibody MacBooks and $300 off some unibody MacBook Pros. Our pricing matrix (below) highlights the best deals on each of the 16 current Mac models.

With Best Buy's 4-day Mac sale coming to a close Thursday at midnight, both OnSale.com and ClubMac have moved in to fill the void, offering the lowest prices we've seen on 13 of the 16 current Mac models. MacMall's own Black Friday deals match those from OnSale and Club Mac on 9 models, while Amazon.com offers the best deal on the 8-Core Mac Pro.

We've laid out the below Black Friday Mac Pricing Matrix to make it easy for readers to locate the lowest price on the Mac model of their choice. The best prices are highlighted in bold. The "Discount" column to the far right reflects the amount of savings between Apple's suggested retail price and the lowest price offered Friday for that respective model.

Each price is a link that will take you to the retailer's product page for that specific Mac model.

Update: Pricing matrix updated Monday, December 8th with the latest pricing changes.

Product Retail Apple Amazon MacMall Best Buy On Sale ClubMac Discount 2.40GHz 15" MacBook Pro $1,999.00 $1,999.00 $1,879.00 $1,798.97 $1999.99 $1,748.97 $1,748.97 $250.03 2.53GHz 15" MacBook Pro $2,499.00 $2,499.00 $2,248.98 $2,248.99 $2499.99 $2,198.99 $2,198.99 $300.01 2.50GHz 17" MacBook Pro $2,799.00 $2,799.00 $2,568.98 $2,548.99 $2799.99 $2,499.99 $2,499.99 $299.01 2.1GHz 13" MacBook (white) $999.00 $999.00 $909.99 $909.99 $999.99 $899.99 $899.99 $99.01 2.0GHz 13" MacBook $1,299.00 $1,299.00 $1,218.98 $1,199.99 $1299.99 $1,149.00 $1,149.00 $150.00 2.4GHz 13" MacBook $1,599.00 $1,599.00 $1,468.98 $1,468.97 $1599.99 $1,399.99 $1,399.99 $199.01 1.6GHz 13" MacBook Air $1,799.00 $1,799.00 $1,744.00 $1,679.99 $1799.99 $1,699.00 $1,699.00 $110.01 1.8GHz 13" MacBook Air $2,499.00 $2,499.00 $2,368.98 $2,339.99 $2499.99 $2,349.99 $2,349.99 $159.10 2.40GHz 20" iMac $1,199.00 $1,199.00 $1,099.99 $1,099.99 $1199.99 $1,099.99 $1,099.99 $99.01 2.66GHz 20" iMac $1,499.00 $1,499.00 $1,374.99 $1,374.99 $1499.99 $1,349.99 $1,349.99 $149.01 2.80GHz 24" iMac $1,799.00 $1,799.00 $1,618.98 $1,649.99 $1799.99 $1,599.99 $1,599.99 $199.01 3.06GHz 24" iMac $2,199.00 $2,199.00 $2,199.00 $2,094.00 N/A $2,094.00 $2,094.00 $105.00 1.83GHz Mac mini $599.00 $599.00 $543.99 $543.99 $599.00 $543.99 $543.99 $55.01 2.00GHz Mac mini $799.00 $799.00 $734.98 $734.98 $799.00 $759.99 $759.99 $64.02 2.8GHz Mac Pro 8-Core $2,799.00 $2,799.00 $2,458.98 $2,453.97 $2,799.99 $2,599.99 $2,599.99 $345.03

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[tyler82]

$20 discount on a Mac Mini, or $100 off of a $2,000 macbook? This does not even cover the sales tax in my state. They market it like it's such a big secret on their web site, something that needs anticipation, instead it is very disappointing for what is supposed to be the one day of the year for big discounts, and especially in a depression you would think Apple Inc. would want to kick start sales.

[soundsgoodtome]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

The best prices are highlighted in bold.

They are? All looks like the same font over here....

[Shogun]

To see the bold go to the main article page:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...st_prices.html

[Timon]

You have the wrong numbers on 3Ghz iMacs, it's $2,098.

Edit:

Also, MacMall and OnSale are the same company. MacMall, OnSale and ClubMac all all in California, which does not help us in CA to skip the tax, and all require a mail in rebate. You would think one of the Non-CA retailers would have buys.

CrapBuy, sorry BestBuy, has crap on Mac Sales.

[Wiggin]

So much for the 15% discounts analysts were predicting.

[KD86]

Originally Posted by tyler82

$20 discount on a Mac Mini, or $100 off of a $2,000 macbook? This does not even cover the sales tax in my state. They market it like it's such a big secret on their web site, something that needs anticipation, instead it is very disappointing for what is supposed to be the one day of the year for big discounts, and especially in a depression you would think Apple Inc. would want to kick start sales.

Tell me about it. I think what's most insulting is $11 off a Nano and I wasn't even looking to buy one. It's like why bother discounting it at all? If $11 means that much to you, you're probably not an Apple customer anyway.

[robb01]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

So much for the 15% discounts analysts were predicting.

Crappy BF all around

________________

[PiCASSO]

Can someone tell me why I am to pay 6.25% sales tax here in Illinois from purchasing an MacBook Pro from a retailer in California (onSale.com) or in New Hampshire (PC Connection)???

[amac4me]

NIce to see a discount on the Apple TV

[Virgil-TB2]

Let me chime in with the rest in saying this is the lamest of lame "sales." I was going to buy an AppleTV but 6% off??? Really?

Up here in Canada, that's roughly half the normal sales taxes. Given how much this site and others have been hyping the whole "Black Friday" thing, this is a bit of a joke.

In Canada, anything less than the sales tax is called a simple "discount" and not only doesn't deserve a special day, it hardly deserves mentioning to a friend. A "Sale" is where things are sold at a substantially reduced price, (not the same price but slightly less tax.) Pretty much anything over 10% or 15% off is therefore (technically) a "sale", but it has to be 20 before anyone would make such a big deal out of it.

Why call it "Black Friday" anyway? Sounds more like a name for a day of disaster than a day of good shopping. Does everyone get gunned down at the mall after their purchase by teenagers with assault rifles?

[kim kap sol]

Perhaps Apple is aiming for a real Black Friday.

[olddog]

Indeed I too was disappointed in the weak promotional offerings from Apple. Nonetheless, I printed pages from the best-priced Web site for what I wanted to buy (MB Pro) and wandered into my local Apple store this morning (Austin, Domain location).

They were willing to match the price - but not including a rebate - as long as the manufacturer numbers matched up. Saved $150 off the 2.53 MBP. So do your comparison pricing and take in documentation on competing prices.

[chirokitsune]

Don't know if this has been reported anywhere but you can apply the Black Friday Discount to the EPP store as well at Apple.

The price drops the base EPP price to:

• Macbook 2.0Ghz $1120
• Macbook 2.4Ghz $1402
• iMac 20in. 2.4Ghz $1,076.00
• iMac 20in. 2.66Ghz $1,308.00
• iMac 24in. 2.8Ghz $1,590.00
• iMac 24in. 3.06Ghz $1,966.00

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by chirokitsune

Don't know if this has been reported anywhere but you can apply the Black Friday Discount to the EPP store as well at Apple.

The price drops the base EPP price to:

• Macbook 2.0Ghz $1120
• Macbook 2.4Ghz $1402
• iMac 20in. 2.4Ghz $1,076.00
• iMac 20in. 2.66Ghz $1,308.00
• iMac 24in. 2.8Ghz $1,590.00
• iMac 24in. 3.06Ghz $1,966.00

Can you point to some links?

The Education Store in apple.com, for instance, does not seem to offer such double-dipping. The only option seems to be to click on the "Shop Now" under "TODAY ONLY" and that takes one to their regular BF sales!?

[mdcat]

Originally Posted by PiCASSO

Can someone tell me why I am to pay 6.25% sales tax here in Illinois from purchasing an MacBook Pro from a retailer in California (onSale.com) or in New Hampshire (PC Connection)???

Because you take possession of it in IL, just as if you bought it from a store there.

Stores in states with sales tax were tired of losing sales to businesses located in other states, so a federal law was passed a few years ago imposing the sales tax of the customer's state.

[1984]

Originally Posted by mdcat

Because you take possession of it in IL, just as if you bought it from a store there.

Stores in states with sales tax were tired of losing sales to businesses located in other states, so a federal law was passed a few years ago imposing the sales tax of the customer's state.

I live in Illinois and Amazon (among many others) doesn't charge sales tax. I don't think online retailers are required to charge your state's sales tax unless they have a retail presence or other business in your state. At least that's how it used to be. Maybe certain states now require sales tax to be charged on items shipped to other states but clearly not all do.

[1984]

I think it's clear from the chart that Onsale and ClubMac are one and the same.

[gwarf420]

Originally Posted by Shogun

To see the bold go to the main article page:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...st_prices.html

Every single row, with its corresponding discounted amount, is bolded.

[chirokitsune]

This is the state government link. I don't have the normal Apple EPP link though I have seen it before. http://www.apple.com/r/store/government/state/epp.html

[sikras]

Days before, some websites were getting us excited that it would be Apple's most aggressive Black Friday. It will be a better deal for me to wait for the back to school special, when they will include an Ipod with a new laptop. I'll just wait until next summer.

[dasein]

Originally Posted by mdcat

Because you take possession of it in IL, just as if you bought it from a store there.

Stores in states with sales tax were tired of losing sales to businesses located in other states, so a federal law was passed a few years ago imposing the sales tax of the customer's state.

There is no federal law governing this, even though states have been pushing for it. California expects everyone to "fess up" and voluntarily pay for purchases made from out of state vendors (right!). The federal courts have ruled that if you have a physical presence in a particular state for sales, then that state may tax an out of state sale through that same company. Amazon has no physical sales presence anywhere, hence, no sales tax (states fume). Some companies have tried to set up a parallel company modeled on this to elude taxes...no such luck, they were called on it. There are decent arguments on both sides, but for now, while the politicians have yet to find more money while shaking you upside down, enjoy it when and where you can. Since Apple probably has a store in the Chicago area, you're fair game for the taxman.

[quinney]

Originally Posted by PiCASSO

Can someone tell me why I am to pay 6.25% sales tax here in Illinois from purchasing an MacBook Pro from a retailer in California (onSale.com) or in New Hampshire (PC Connection)???

check out powermax.com. They are located in Oregon and have never charged me
sales tax for purchases I had shipped to California. They have good customer service,
trade-ins, and Thanksgiving week discounts.

[zinfella]

Originally Posted by quinney

check out powermax.com. They are located in Oregon and have never charged me
sales tax for purchases I had shipped to California. They have good customer service,
trade-ins, and Thanksgiving week discounts.

Oregon has NO sales tax.

[Adjei]

If Apple had made any deep discounts, you would see these same analysts saying Apple is doomed because they did this.

[TBaggins]

Originally Posted by Adjei

If Apple had made any deep discounts, you would see these same analysts saying Apple is doomed because they did this.

There are a zillion analysts out there, you can always find a few to say something about anything for any reason.

Sometimes what they say makes sense, sometimes it doesn't.


...

[ALBIM]

I don't think I'm going to listen to any discount or pricing 'predicitions' anymore. First, before the new macbooks came out, there was supposed to be an $800 low-end macbook, but instead it comes in $500 more. Now 'analysts' predict that there will be 15% discounts at Apple, and instead you basically get the educational discount, which I was going to get anyway. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that Apple doesn't 'do' sales. $11 of an iPod?! That's not a sale.

[zinfella]

Originally Posted by ALBIM

I don't think I'm going to listen to any discount or pricing 'predicitions' anymore. First, before the new macbooks came out, there was supposed to be an $800 low-end macbook, but instead it comes in $500 more. Now 'analysts' predict that there will be 15% discounts at Apple, and instead you basically get the educational discount, which I was going to get anyway. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that Apple doesn't 'do' sales. $11 of an iPod?! That's not a sale.

I didn't realize that Apple owed anyone a "sale". They sell for what they sell for, take it or leave it, but quit whining about it. Sheesh!

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/pre-h...ource=mwb15579

[tyler82]

Originally Posted by zinfella

I didn't realize that Apple owed anyone a "sale". They sell for what they sell for, take it or leave it, but quit whining about it. Sheesh!

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/pre-h...ource=mwb15579

What else are comment boards supposed to be used for, if not to "comment?"

[bsenka]

Originally Posted by zinfella

I didn't realize that Apple owed anyone a "sale". They sell for what they sell for, take it or leave it, but quit whining about it. Sheesh!

If they didn't promote it as a super secret big deal, you'd have a point. The real point is they DID promote black friday as the day to wait for, building anticipation for the big deals they were going to offer. Then the "deals" turned out to be less than what I can find on my own anyway any day of the year. People are understandably disappointed.

[zinfella]

Originally Posted by bsenka

If they didn't promote it as a super secret big deal, you'd have a point. The real point is they DID promote black friday as the day to wait for, building anticipation for the big deals they were going to offer. Then the "deals" turned out to be less than what I can find on my own anyway any day of the year. People are understandably disappointed.

Well, they didn't say it was a super secret big deal. What they did say was "Get the season's best prices on Mac, iPod, and iPhone gifts. Friday, November 28th." What part of that did they not fulfill?

If you were mislead by the hype put out by non-Apple sources, that's not Apple's fault. There is no free lunch, and the sooner you quit looking for it, the sooner you will stop being disappointed.

[TBaggins]

Originally Posted by tyler82

What else are comment boards supposed to be used for, if not to "comment?"

Some of them make interesting (if often tonedeaf to reality) Apple fanboi support groups.


...

[aplnub]

The sale prices were disappointing and embarrasing in a weird way. I did pick up a new MB 2.4 due to the fact I needed one and today I would save money so everything worked out for a change in my favor.

Nice to see Apple not try to bend you over, take the Vaseline from you, and stick a tree trunk in you for the RAM. I payed about $20 or so more for Apple to max out the ram instead of using Crucial. Close enough for me to let Apple do it this time.

I think 20% discounts for today only would have been received well. I might have picked up a mini if that would have been the case. But Apple knows what they are doing since they have a few more dollars in their pockets than me.

[Inside_line]

Not 1 piece of apple software on sale.... kind of harsh.

[zinfella]

Originally Posted by Inside_line

Not 1 piece of apple software on sale.... kind of harsh.

I continue to be amazed at some of the attitudes here over this day. It must be the me generation, or is it the instant gratification generation? If you don't get what you consider a bargain then you've been treated harshly?

Do you want cheese with that whine?

[TBaggins]

Originally Posted by aplnub

Nice to see Apple not try to bend you over, take the Vaseline from you, and stick a tree trunk in you for the RAM.

They still do... just not on the MB and MB Pro. But on everything else? Yep, Vaseline city.

A partial step forward, if you will. I don't think Apple's capable of quitting RAM-gouging cold turkey.


...

[Inside_line]

Originally Posted by zinfella

I continue to be amazed at some of the attitudes here over this day. It must be the me generation, or is it the instant gratification generation? If you don't get what you consider a bargain then you've been treated harshly?

Do you want cheese with that whine?

What would you have our attitudes be? Like yours? If this truly amazes you I believe Harvard is still looking for volunteers for the public genome project... perhaps you have higher sequence homology with Rattus than Homo sapiens.

[cogitos]

I was looking at picking up one of the new aluminum Macbooks from Macmall, with nice deals on software and accessories, but after putting together an order I noticed I'd have to send in 5 separate mail-in rebates for a total savings of $200. I did a little googling, and came up with a lot of negative criticism:

• http://www.rebatereportcard.com/reba...nyname=macmall
• http://www.macintouch.com/readerrepo...topic2979.html
• http://www.resellerratings.com/store/MacMall
• http://www.complaintsboard.com/compl...com-c6497.html

Anyone else have good/bad experiences with them?

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by zinfella

Oregon has NO sales tax.

It's a moot point, as long as the store doesn't have a building in your state, you're not going to get charged sales tax, whether or not the remote store is in a state with sales tax.

That may change, but so far, the states are simultaneously trying to do what they can to get sites to charge tax while refusing to do what is required of them to earn that privilege.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by mdcat

Because you take possession of it in IL, just as if you bought it from a store there.

Stores in states with sales tax were tired of losing sales to businesses located in other states, so a federal law was passed a few years ago imposing the sales tax of the customer's state.

That's not true.