Deals: Free $50 Target Gift Cards with iPads, 2TB WD Portable Drive for $99, more [u]
Target is currently offering free Gift Cards to customers who purchase WiFi iPad minis, iPad 4s with Retina display, or Apple TVs. Meanwhile, a 48-hour deal offers Western Digital's 2-terabyte Passport Drive for just $99, and there are now a dozen and a half MacBook Air configs in stock at the lowest prices anywhere.
For those who missed out on the earlier deal, Newegg via eBay is blowing through a physically larger desktop-style 2TB Western Digital external drive for just $69 with Free Shipping, which is $20 lower than the next best price we could find. eBay via 1SaleADay also has new 2GB iPod shuffles for just $37.99 with free shipping -- that's 24% off and the lowest price we could find.
AppleInsider readers who choose to purchase from MacMall can use the links in our Price Guides or in the Price Guide inserts in this article to activate the Promo Code field on MacMall's product pages for all MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and iMacs that they stock. Entering Promo Code APPLEINSIDER01 and then clicking "Apply" will knock an additional 3% off MacMall's already discounted pricing on these Macs.
The 3% discount is available only when ordering online and online orders are processed in the order they are received. It's also worth noting that unlike stores like Apple, Wal-Mart, and Target, MacMall only collects sales tax in CA, IL, NY, TN, MN, GA, NC, WI.
Meanwhile, readers who looking to bundle their new MacBook Air with 3-years of AppleCare Extended Warranty Protection can also use the links in our New Macs + AppleCare Price Guide for exclusive pricing on MacBook Air+AppleCare bundles from B&H, which only charges sales tax to NY residents.
Free Target Gift Cards with iPad Purchase
Discount department store chain Target this week kicked off a "Bonus Black Friday" (in July?) promotion that offers a $10 Target Gift Card with each Apple TV purchase, a $40 Target Gift Card with each WiFi iPad mini purchase, and a $50 Target Gift Card with any iPad 4 with Retina display purchase. Assuming you're a Target customer and actually use your Gift Card reward, these deals equate to the lowest prices for these iPad models we could find. The promotion runs through Saturday, July 13th. Gift Cards are automatically added to your shopping cart with the qualifying product.2TB My Passport Portable Western Digital Drive for $99
We apologize but this deal is SOLD OUT as of 6:12 PM ET. Separately, MacMall is offering AppleInsider readers Western Digital's 2TB USB 3.0 My Passport Portable External Hard Drive for just $99 when using this specific link and then manually applying Promo Code MWB41928. The deal, which runs until 11:59 PM PST on Friday, is the lowest price we can find by $46, comes with Free Shipping and is limited to 2 per customer while supplies last.For those who missed out on the earlier deal, Newegg via eBay is blowing through a physically larger desktop-style 2TB Western Digital external drive for just $69 with Free Shipping, which is $20 lower than the next best price we could find. eBay via 1SaleADay also has new 2GB iPod shuffles for just $37.99 with free shipping -- that's 24% off and the lowest price we could find.
Unbeatable MacBook Air Prices on 18 In-Stock Configurations
Also, it appears that Apple is nearing a supply/demand balance on its new MacBook Airs, with all but 1 of the 19 custom configurations listed in our MacPriceGuide ready to ship immediately as of press time.AppleInsider readers who choose to purchase from MacMall can use the links in our Price Guides or in the Price Guide inserts in this article to activate the Promo Code field on MacMall's product pages for all MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and iMacs that they stock. Entering Promo Code APPLEINSIDER01 and then clicking "Apply" will knock an additional 3% off MacMall's already discounted pricing on these Macs.
The 3% discount is available only when ordering online and online orders are processed in the order they are received. It's also worth noting that unlike stores like Apple, Wal-Mart, and Target, MacMall only collects sales tax in CA, IL, NY, TN, MN, GA, NC, WI.
Meanwhile, readers who looking to bundle their new MacBook Air with 3-years of AppleCare Extended Warranty Protection can also use the links in our New Macs + AppleCare Price Guide for exclusive pricing on MacBook Air+AppleCare bundles from B&H, which only charges sales tax to NY residents.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin Huber
Maybe it's just me but I've had terrible luck with WD hard drives as my backup. Since switching to Seagate I've had no issues. Anyone else?
I've had great luck with both. Of course, I only ever use them as backup targets. Are you using encryption on your time machine target?
It's a terrific companion to my MacBook Air: fast internal SSD with the important stuff; tons of external storage that I attach only when I need it (games and video storage mainly).
I like the short but heavy USB3 cord mine came with too. (Works fine with my old USB2 Mac.)
If you go for the Target deal and use a Red Card (Debit or Credit) you can walk out with an iPad Mini for around $270. Not too shabby if you don't worry about the new release coming in a few months.
Maybe it's just me but I've had terrible luck with WD hard drives as my backup. Since switching to Seagate I've had no issues. Anyone else?
I have several older WD Studio drives, including some used for Time Machine, and more current internal drives. But I stopped buying the Studio drives when WD's software and firmware became too intrusive. My basic philosophy...I shouldn't need to install any software to use an external hard drive. Especially what was sometimes flaky software just get get eye candy indictor lights on the enclosure to work. When WD started including hidden partitions and messing with the firmware so the drive couldn't act as a boot drive, all so their superflous functionality would work, I stopped buying them.That said, I've never had any issues with the drive mechanisms themselves and don't hesitate to purchase WD internal drives. I don't know what the current state is for WD external drives, if they still include the instrusive, heavy-handed software/firmware I'd stay away from them. If they've gone back to a more sensible design where all that extra crap is 100% optional, then I'd give them another look.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin Huber
Maybe it's just me but I've had terrible luck with WD hard drives as my backup. Since switching to Seagate I've had no issues. Anyone else?
Really? I bought the WD Passport 2TB, Firewire. I decided on the Firewire because my Mac Pro doesn't have TB. I backup data from that machine when I go on the road and I use the TB->FW adapter on my MBP. So far so good. One thing people should be aware of with typical FW/USB externals is that the brick power supplies are the weakest part. You may think your drive is going bad when in fact it is the power supply.
I've had great luck with WD Caviar Black drives in the servers. Some of those machines have been running under heavy usage for about 8 years or more. I'd say their enterprise drives are really reliable. Not sure about the externals. We used to use Seagate HDs for servers but they seem to fail more often than other brands. For enterprise you can look for the MTF rating. Hitachi makes excellent drives as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiggin
That said, I've never had any issues with the drive mechanisms themselves and don't hesitate to purchase WD internal drives. I don't know what the current state is for WD external drives, if they still include the instrusive, heavy-handed software/firmware I'd stay away from them. If they've gone back to a more sensible design where all that extra crap is 100% optional, then I'd give them another look.
The new WD Passport external I recently bought required nothing in the way of software. Just plugged it in and it mounts. I'm not sure why this say "for Mac"... it should just work on any PC.
that deal lasted about 3 1/2 hours ... ending more than 53 hours ahead of schedule. they must have had about seven of the drives available for "supplies on hand"? what was appleinsider's cut?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
The new WD Passport external I recently bought required nothing in the way of software. Just plugged it in and it mounts. I'm not sure why this say "for Mac"... it should just work on any PC.
I think the only difference between the "for Mac" drives and the rest of WDs lineup is that the for Mac drives come formatted for HFS+. I think the software bundles include both Windows and Mac software no matter which drive you get. It kinda makes sense. There's a risk that a Mac user might buy a Windows formatted disk and never realize it and then wonder why their disk is slower than expected.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pooch
that deal lasted about 3 1/2 hours ... ending more than 53 hours ahead of schedule. they must have had about seven of the drives available for "supplies on hand"? what was appleinsider's cut?
There was no cause to be mean.
These drives have the USB controller soldered directly onto the board. Drives not user replaceable, no SATA connection offered. If something besides the drive on it breaks you have to toss it, can't replace the drive without ridiculous surgery.
(http://www.wizgifter.com)