Black Friday sale delivers first Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display under $1000
While most Apple-related Black Friday 2014 door busters to launch thus far have been positioned around iPads and Apple's more premium priced Macs, one particular offer stands out in offering the first ever MacBook Pro with Retina display that can be had for less than a grand.
The deal, which is part of MacMall's Black Friday Sale, slashes the price of Apple's 2013 2.4GHz 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display (4GB,128GB) by $229 to $1,069.99. However, a $70 mail-in-rebate [PDF] drops the price down to $999.99, which is the lowest price we can ever recall seeing for a MacBook Pro with Apple's premium Retina display. It's also the lowest price listed in our Price Guides by $60.
The Apple Authorized Reseller also only collects sales tax on orders that are shipped to CA, CO, GA, IL, MN, NC, NY, TN, and WI. That makes $999.99 the final net price for all other customers outside those states, as shipping on the MacBook Pro is also free. A second rebate [PDF] is also available that will refund the $49.99 cost of Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac if purchased on the same order.
The rebates require that customers submit the signed, completed rebate forms with a complete photocopy of the sales receipt or packing slip(s) & photocopy or original UPC labels, within 20 calendar days of shipping.
It's also worth noting that while this model is from last year, no major architectural changes were made to the MacBook Pro with Retina family this year, largely due to Intel's lacking in delivering the next-generation of its micro-architecture to PC makers on time. The only noticeable changes were speed bumps to the primary CPU, making all 2013 MacBook Pro closeout models listed in our Mac Price Guides an exceptional value.
Stay tuned to AppleInsider -- it's Apple Price Guides (prices.appleinsider.com) & Apple Deal Tracker (deals.appleinsider.com) -- throughout the week and weekend as we continue to announce unbeatable, exclusive deals for our readers.
The deal, which is part of MacMall's Black Friday Sale, slashes the price of Apple's 2013 2.4GHz 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display (4GB,128GB) by $229 to $1,069.99. However, a $70 mail-in-rebate [PDF] drops the price down to $999.99, which is the lowest price we can ever recall seeing for a MacBook Pro with Apple's premium Retina display. It's also the lowest price listed in our Price Guides by $60.
The Apple Authorized Reseller also only collects sales tax on orders that are shipped to CA, CO, GA, IL, MN, NC, NY, TN, and WI. That makes $999.99 the final net price for all other customers outside those states, as shipping on the MacBook Pro is also free. A second rebate [PDF] is also available that will refund the $49.99 cost of Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac if purchased on the same order.
The rebates require that customers submit the signed, completed rebate forms with a complete photocopy of the sales receipt or packing slip(s) & photocopy or original UPC labels, within 20 calendar days of shipping.
It's also worth noting that while this model is from last year, no major architectural changes were made to the MacBook Pro with Retina family this year, largely due to Intel's lacking in delivering the next-generation of its micro-architecture to PC makers on time. The only noticeable changes were speed bumps to the primary CPU, making all 2013 MacBook Pro closeout models listed in our Mac Price Guides an exceptional value.
Stay tuned to AppleInsider -- it's Apple Price Guides (prices.appleinsider.com) & Apple Deal Tracker (deals.appleinsider.com) -- throughout the week and weekend as we continue to announce unbeatable, exclusive deals for our readers.
Comments
Anybody happen to see ASUS’ Strix GTX 970 discounted?
This is an Apple-relevant question; I’m putting it in my Mac Pro, so...
Anybody happen to see ASUS’ Strix GTX 970 discounted?
This is an Apple-relevant question; I’m putting it in my Mac Pro, so...
Where can you find drivers for it? And how does it fit? I want to buy TWO of them for my Mac Pro too. Good things come in pairs
nVidia has their own driver for the Maxwell series cards. Seems to work fine all the way up to Yosemite and they’re improving it all the time.
That’s really my only concern. I haven’t found or measured dimensions for that model, but, what, they’d make something that didn’t fit a standard double height slot? How is that legal? How would they expect to sell any doing that? Standards exist for a reason. I’ll still measure it before I pull the trigger, though. And there’s always a return policy.
Can’t. You can’t get enough power down to the PCIe slots to do that. Well, you could get an adapter for SATA power to 8-pin molex. Then you’d take the side door off, run the power cable down from the optical drive bays, and plug it into the second card. Of course, you’d have to run your Mac Pro with the door off, which is the dry equivalent of peeing on an electrified fence.
I’ve seen people do it, but they’re not intelligent people.
Where can you find drivers for it? And how does it fit? I want to buy TWO of them for my Mac Pro too. Good things come in pairs
You've been able to run pretty much any nVidia card you want in a Mac Pro since 10.7.5. I replaced the X1900XT in mine with a 550Ti (the first gen maxes out at a 560 or so, realistically, given the fact it's a PCI-e 1.0 bus and the TDP requirements). Just the drop in heat production was worth the cost.
You do lose the Apple logo boot screen, though, so if you use Boot Camp you'll want to install a third-party utility like Boot Champ. And I believe SLI has some issues as well, not to mention the aforementioned power draw, it's smart not to go too high.
Just measured the inside of my Mac Pro. The ASUS Strix GTX 970 will fit. The heatsink pipes will come pretty close to the side door, but there’s still clearance, and it’s not as though the Mac Pro is designed poorly under anyone’s definition. It’s slightly shorter than the Radeon 4870’s card frame (that little black thing that sticks out the back of the regular card to make it long enough to slide into the fan assembly), but since I’m installing it in the bottom slot anyway, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Unless... this thing needs bottom airflow. Would it? The 4870 uses the reference cooler, but this is ASUS’ custom thing. It doesn’t look like it needs bottom air...
But geez, regular cards are getting big these days, aren’t they? I remember a decade or more ago laughing at “full length” cards. “Who would need that big a card?” I’d think.
Well, me. At least it’s not a footlong like the really old ones.
If I understand that correctly, it’s not that the EFI loader isn’t visible anymore, it’s just not there at all, right? So you couldn’t navigate the selection blindly because it just doesn’t exist, right?
Oh, and Boot Champ doesn’t work with Windows 10. So if I’m going to do this, I’ll need to go back to 8...
If I understand that correctly, it’s not that the EFI loader isn’t visible anymore, it’s just not there at all, right? So you couldn’t navigate the selection blindly because it just doesn’t exist, right?
Oh, and Boot Champ doesn’t work with Windows 10. So if I’m going to do this, I’ll need to go back to 8...
I'm pretty sure you're correct on that, it basically doesn't load because the card isn't EFI based.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1440150
That's kind of the all-purpose FAQ for MP GPU upgrades.
Guess I’ll just use the SysPrefs option. Because who am I kidding; I don’t want to go back to Windows 8! I want the ABSOLUTE WORST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE with Windows, and that can only be achieved by Windows 10 Technical Preview.
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Hang on, that guide says the cards will only run at PCIe 1.0 speeds... I know GPUs don’t saturate a 2.0 16x bus yet, but do they a 1? Will there be a bottleneck?
And yep, there goes my fear about converting two 6-pin molex to 8-pin again. I knew I had a reason for thinking there would be voltage issues. And no, I don’t want to run an external PSU. Honestly, why can’t everyone just standardize on dual 6-pin cards? Are there any 2x6-pin 970s? I want the ASUS Strix specifically because I trust the heatsink...
What happens if a card tries to pull more power than the PCIe slot and external cabling allows? The Strix tops off under load at 173, so that should be okay...
The deal, which is part of MacMall's Black Friday Sale, slashes the price of Apple's 2013 2.4GHz 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display (4GB,128GB) by $229 to $1,069.99.
Early or late 2013 I wonder?...probably no important differences? Except 2 hours less battery if it's "early" 2013.
**** 4GB of RAM.
and 2.4 instead of 2.6 i5...
Lots of folks qualify for Apple discounts. For instance, the Education discount means
you'd only pay $200+ more for a brand new laptop with more RAM & better processor.
It'd be worth the extra, at least to me, were I in the market for a nice starter.
Of course, you’d have to run your Mac Pro with the door off, which is the dry equivalent of peeing on an electrified fence.
I’ve seen people do it, but they’re not intelligent people.
Well, what exactly is the point of peeing on it if it isn't electrified???
But geez, regular cards are getting big these days, aren’t they? I remember a decade or more ago laughing at “full length” cards. “Who would need that big a card?” I’d think.
I'm personally looking forward to an elegant TB2-based external graphics adapter solution (this is a start). It just feels so 1970s to still be plugging in expansion cards.
Guess I’ll just use the SysPrefs option. Because who am I kidding; I don’t want to go back to Windows 8! I want the ABSOLUTE WORST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE with Windows, and that can only be achieved by Windows 10 Technical Preview.
" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />
Hang on, that guide says the cards will only run at PCIe 1.0 speeds... I know GPUs don’t saturate a 2.0 16x bus yet, but do they a 1? Will there be a bottleneck?
And yep, there goes my fear about converting two 6-pin molex to 8-pin again. I knew I had a reason for thinking there would be voltage issues. And no, I don’t want to run an external PSU. Honestly, why can’t everyone just standardize on dual 6-pin cards? Are there any 2x6-pin 970s? I want the ASUS Strix specifically because I trust the heatsink...
Not sure on that. The power requirements are precisely why I went with the 550Ti, it only needed one six-pin unit, but it's still a 2GB Fermi card, and that handles everything I need more than adequately (apart from running Aero in Vista Enterprise, that pig of an OS is so unoptimized it makes Mac OS 9 look like a finely crafted OS).
I believe it says that it runs in PCI-e 2.0 if your Mac supports it, but I think it wasn't until Nehalem that the MP's supported that anyway.
I think I’d be in favor of that if my machine had Thunderbolt ports. As it stands, I just want the most elegant solution possible that is also 1. safe and 2. works.
I believe it says that it runs in PCI-e 2.0 if your Mac supports it, but I think it wasn't until Nehalem that the MP's supported that anyway.
Right, but I mean in Windows. It’s a gaming card; I don’t want the experience wrecked by an artificial data bottleneck. The card is PCIe 3 and my slot is PCIe 2; makes no sense that it would kick down to 1.0.
I'm personally looking forward to an elegant TB2-based external graphics adapter solution (this is a start). It just feels so 1970s to still be plugging in expansion cards.
I think there still isn't quite enough bandwidth to handle that over TB, I think it'll take TB3 to compensate for the latency issues. They're close with TB2 though.
Right, but I mean in Windows. It’s a gaming card; I don’t want the experience wrecked by an artificial data bottleneck. The card is PCIe 3 and my slot is PCIe 2; makes no sense that it would kick down to 1.0.
You may have better luck running Windows in a VM in that case, as I don't think Apple's ever bothered to extend full functionality to a Boot Camped OS. You'd still be throttled to PCIe 1.x.
At least the Pro has the horsepower and RAM expansion capabilities to do that happily.
4GB instead of 8GB is about $100 not including the time spent ordering and installing it.
I think I’d be in favor of that if my machine had Thunderbolt ports. As it stands, I just want the most elegant solution possible that is also 1. safe and 2. works.
Oh yeah, I have an 8 year old Mac Pro in my basement here too, so I know that this is the only option. I just find it funny that not much has changed as far as using expansion cards goes in the 30 or so years I've been working with computers (and well beyond that).
Oh, and running a computer with the side panel off isn't really dangerous unless it's sitting right beside you. I've run plenty of server machines that way. They do tend to get pretty dusty over time though...
Guess I’ll just use the SysPrefs option. Because who am I kidding; I don’t want to go back to Windows 8! I want the ABSOLUTE WORST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE with Windows, and that can only be achieved by Windows 10 Technical Preview.
" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />
What happens if a card tries to pull more power than the PCIe slot and external cabling allows? The Strix tops off under load at 173, so that should be okay...
225 is the max, you should be okay. If it overloaded it, the best you could hope for is that the PSU'd blow a fuse.
Windows 10 isn't that bad, last I checked. I had it on a spare HP junker I got from work, but I haven't had that hooked up in a few weeks because my Quadra 700 took precedence over it on my desk...
" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />
It’s... 8 with all the wrong changes made. That’s how I’d describe it. Hopefully the release is better.
*stifled laughter*
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