Best Buy, Amazon knock 10% off Apple's MacBook Airs & iMacs for Mother's Day

AppleInsider · May 11, 2013 10:17AM

Weekend discounts on Apple's personal computer family continue this month, as Apple works with partners like big-box retailer Best Buy to push sales of Macs in the face of weak global demand, and a bearish outlook for the consumer PC business in general.

Both Best Buy and Amazon have cut MacBook Air prices by $100 and iMac prices by $150 for Mother's Day. They represent the lowest prices ever on the new 21-inch iMac models, and the lowest overall prices on MacBook Airs since January. Both deals are expected to end late Saturday and are valid on Apple's standard retail SKUs.

For custom configurations with more memory and storage, MacMall is offering AppleInsider readers an addition 3% off its already reduced pricing when you use the links in our Apple Price Guides and then apply Promo code APPINSDRMWB38717 on the MacMall product page. The same coupon code works on all MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros sold by MacMall, with the exception of some closeout models. It's also worth noting that B&H, which resumes taking orders at 9:15 PM EDT this evening, has joined Best Buy and Amazon in further discounting some models and therefore currently offers the best pricing for all MacBook Airs that are bundled with 3-years of Apple Care, according to our AppleCare Price Guide.

solipsismx · May 11, 2013 10:44AM

I was curious if BB was selling the new iMacs at this point (I seem to remember them woefully behind on getting the new kit). I ended up seeing the high satisfaction rate of buyers so I read some of the reviews. I don't come across too many switcher stories these days so those reviews were refreshing. Still, I think Apple is dropping the ball with marketing the Mac, especially since the Windows 8 fiasco gave them a great in.

suddenly newton · May 11, 2013 11:19AM

That headline would be more interesting if you omit the "10%" part and it simply read [B]Best Buy, Amazon knock off Apple's MacBook Airs & iMacs for Mother's Day[/B]

And yet it's only an "unhealthy obsession with thinness" when Apple does it.

saarek · May 11, 2013 11:40AM

I wish that Apple would occasionally give lower prices in the UK.

They could give 10% off here & still make the same amount that they sell the equipment for in the US

paxman · May 11, 2013 3:44PM

solipsismx wrote: »

I think Apple is dropping the ball with marketing the Mac, especially since the Windows 8 fiasco gave them a great in.

THIS - is a mystery to me. Maybe they are waiting for next OS, but now is the time, really. Maybe they'll ramp it up towards end of summer.

solipsismx · May 11, 2013 4:07PM

paxman wrote: »

THIS - is a mystery to me. Maybe they are waiting for next OS, but now is the time, really. Maybe they'll ramp it up towards end of summer.

I'd also like to see Apple leverage their OS by making Mac OS X free for all Mac users until the HW is too old to get the new OS. This would b a value added to all Mac purchases but it would also allow Apple to save money by having to support to fewer older OSes by getting more people updating more quickly. I can be completely sure but it seems to me this would be a win-win for Apple.

scprofessor · May 11, 2013 5:54PM

Ha, ha, ha (lame 99.999% BS j/k). you aint going to discount chain to get some overweight, overpriced, Alienware. Only the best students deserve such a grade.(Trying to be the best troll as possible since you think it's an insult).

paxman · May 11, 2013 7:41PM

solipsismx wrote: »

I'd also like to see Apple leverage their OS by making Mac OS X free for all Mac users until the HW is too old to get the new OS. This would b a value added to all Mac purchases but it would also allow Apple to save money by having to support to fewer older OSes by getting more people updating more quickly. I can be completely sure but it seems to me this would be a win-win for Apple.

This is an interesting idea. Any hardware you buy will effectively stay OS current for free. It would be a great selling point and would not cost Apple that much. I wonder how many Macs are not upgraded because the users simply don't realize that there is a new version out there. I think many (most?) uses just don't see the point in upgrading. For a great many it truly is an unnecessary distraction. My mother is still on SL, and I would not want her to upgrade. There would be little value by quite possibly a great deal of pain.

solipsismx · May 11, 2013 7:45PM

paxman wrote: »

This is an interesting idea. Any hardware you buy will effectively stay OS current for free. It would be a great selling point and would not cost Apple that much. I wonder how many Macs are not upgraded because the users simply don't realize that there is a new version out there. I think many (most?) uses just don't see the point in upgrading. For a great many it truly is an unnecessary distraction. My mother is still on SL, and I would not want her to upgrade. There would be little value by quite possibly plenty pain.

Anecdotally, I have many friends and family who love their Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs. They will update the ones with free updates right away but they don't see the value in updating their Macs for $19.99, even after I've told them about it. To them it's the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy, but that's only because it wouldn't cost money as this is not a problem with the free iOS updates.

macky the macky · May 11, 2013 8:25PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

I'd also like to see Apple leverage their OS by making Mac OS X free for all Mac users until the HW is too old to get the new OS. This would b a value added to all Mac purchases but it would also allow Apple to save money by having to support to fewer older OSes by getting more people updating more quickly. I can be completely sure but it seems to me this would be a win-win for Apple.

Back in the early years of Apple. free OS updates were normal. However, I don't mind a $20 update cost; it beats the heck out of Microsoft's current update cost.

I don't think Apple is really supporting the older OSes. I know people still using G4 CPU Macs, and for myself, I have an Intel MBP and 10.4.11 is as far as it can be upgraded. My MBP runs perfectly and quickly and does what I want it to do.

solipsismx · May 11, 2013 8:29PM

macky the macky wrote: »

I have an Intel MBP and 10.4.11 is as far as it can be upgraded.

This isn't correct. The original MBP can take Mac OS X 10.6.8.

This stood out to me as I have an original flatscreen G4 iMac with one of those swivel heads that has Mac OS X 10.5.8 installed.

hmm · May 12, 2013 12:41AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCProfessor

Ha, ha, ha (lame 99.999% BS j/k). you aint going to discount chain to get some overweight, overpriced, Alienware. Only the best students deserve such a grade.(Trying to be the best troll as possible since you think it's an insult).

I've never purchased an Alienware, nor do I want one. You're exaggerating somewhat though. You can get a 14" with a quad cpu and 650m 2GB DDR5 + caching ssd for $1300. In terms of specs to price, I'm not sure how much cheaper they could go without folding the line into one of Dell's other lines. If you just don't like them or have concerns over reliability (I have no data on that), that is a different matter.

scprofessor · May 12, 2013 5:56AM

well I kick started all that BS to about $2300. Can we communicate? Idiot number 2 responding in, but I can't tell if you are posting from a Nexus tablet, iPhone, a large Dell laptop or a Mac. My point being that certain peeps think what they have is a creation from God. In fact Apple has quality issues that the fans often make fun of.

Marvin · May 12, 2013 7:18AM

I'm not sure why they have these promotions at such odd times. I didn't think laptops and iMacs were impulse buys nor that people would buy them on Mother's Day. Are people buying their mother's computers? Even at Christmas, $1000+ is a pretty hefty gift.

solipsismx wrote: »

I'd also like to see Apple leverage their OS by making Mac OS X free for all Mac users until the HW is too old to get the new OS. This would b a value added to all Mac purchases but it would also allow Apple to save money by having to support to fewer older OSes by getting more people updating more quickly. I can be completely sure but it seems to me this would be a win-win for Apple.

They'd lose out on a decent amount of money though. They sold 7 million ML upgrades in 2 months. Say they sell 20 million in a year at $20, that's $400m per year. I don't think it would encourage people to buy more Macs to offset that loss so it would just be a yearly $400m loss.

btracy713 · May 12, 2013 7:49AM

I smell a refresh coming....

Marvin · May 12, 2013 8:31AM

btracy713 wrote: »

I smell a refresh coming....

When Intel releases the chips in about 3 weeks:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57581633-92/intel-confirms-haswell-chip-intro-at-computex/

solipsismx · May 12, 2013 9:19AM

Marvin wrote: »

They'd lose out on a decent amount of money though. They sold 7 million ML upgrades in 2 months. Say they sell 20 million in a year at $20, that's $400m per year. I don't think it would encourage people to buy more Macs to offset that loss so it would just be a yearly $400m loss.

I think it could increase Mac sales as they could leverage this is a value added service, but they could also save money on support as they'd have more devices using the latest version of Mac OS X. To me, that seems like it's worth $400 million per year.

tallest skil · May 12, 2013 9:34AM

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

I think it could increase Mac sales…

I think that it should, but I also think that it won't. People are morons. They'd respond more to "Windows 8 sucks; here's why; here's why we're better" than "While you're paying for crap, we're giving away gold."

I'm not saying Apple should do the former, though.

Best Buy, Amazon knock 10% off Apple's MacBook Airs & iMacs for Mother's Day

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