Best Buy $100 computer discount for college students

[disneysteve]

I took DD to Best Buy yesterday to buy her laptop for college. When we got there, we discovered that there is a $100 discount coupon you can get if you are a college student with a .edu email account. So she signed up and they email you the coupon. It was a very nice and unexpected $100 discount off her shiny new MacBook Air. They said it can take up to 24 hours to get the coupon and when we get it, to just come back with the receipt and they'll issue the credit.

So if you have a kid in college and need a new computer, keep this in mind. I suppose it doesn't even need to be the kid who is the one getting the computer as long as you take them along to get the credit.

ETA: This might just be on Apple products. I'm not sure since that's the only thing we looked at.

[Spiffster]

I think Apple offers discounts to college students directly too.

Also, good choice on getting the Apple. I am a systems admin and I can tell you that Apple laptops are much, MUCH higher quality than any consumer line PC that Best Buy typically sells. People complain that they are too expensive, but in reality they are much less expensive in the long run. Also, there is almost no resale market on PCs... but I have found that an Apple will hold up to 70% of its original value after a few years if you decide to upgrade and sell your old Apple on eBay or Craigslist.

People always ask me what PC they should buy after their last one breaks, I always suggest they spend the money and get an Apple... saves everyone involved a lot of time and headaches.

[LizfromtheBronx]

Apple has long has an educational discount, so you can also buy directly through them if you like. I haven't used it but I believe it's similar. I usually buy my Apple products directly from their refurbished store, usually at a really discounted price, and I've never had an issue.

[purplish]

I think Apple offers discounts to college students directly too.

Also, good choice on getting the Apple. I am a systems admin and I can tell you that Apple laptops are much, MUCH higher quality than any consumer line PC that Best Buy typically sells. People complain that they are too expensive, but in reality they are much less expensive in the long run. Also, there is almost no resale market on PCs... but I have found that an Apple will hold up to 70% of its original value after a few years if you decide to upgrade and sell your old Apple on eBay or Craigslist.

People always ask me what PC they should buy after their last one breaks, I always suggest they spend the money and get an Apple... saves everyone involved a lot of time and headaches.

Thanks for pointing this out. I have a friend who made the mistake of getting a cheap PC laptop from Best Buy on Black Friday. The PC laptops are already crappy enough, but I'm convinced that they deliberately sell cheap crap during the frenzy that is black friday. My next computer will definitely be a mac. The only thing I'm concerned about is the potential lack of compatibility with external harddrives, etc.

[disneysteve]

We've been an Apple familiy since our first "real" computer in 1994 (not counting prior things like the VIC-20 or Commodore 64). We have been through multiple iPods and all have iPhones (I'm on my 2nd). Our current desktop is a 21" iMac. We've had several others before that as well as an old Apple laptop.

All of that said, to be fair, my everyday work/personal laptop is a Toshiba Satellite. It is my 2nd Toshiba and I have absolutely zero complaints about it. It was $389 at Best Buy a few years ago and I would gladly recommend it to anyone. I use it every day at work. I use it at home. I have traveled around the country with it and haven't had a moment's trouble. And it cost about 1/3 of the price of the cheapest Apple laptop.

So Apples are great and I'm a big supporter but they aren't the only ones worth buying and not every cheap laptop is crap.

[Spiffster]

No, not every cheap PC is crap, just most of them IMO. I have actually not heard anything bad about Toshiba, and I used to even recommend Sony and Dell. BTW, Dell has gone WAY down hill lately, and HP has always been terrible. (Dell still makes the best servers though).

As a computer guy, I see a lot of computers so I get a feel for what is sub-par. Apples are expensive, but they use top shelf components and almost never break, while many PCs are practically designed to be disposable. The biggest advantage to Apple is the fact that they hold their value and there is a huge market for them on eBay.

My only gripe with Apple is they dont make 17" Macbooks anymore, so someone is going to have to pry mine from my cold, dead, hands before I give this baby up.

As a side note, I work primarily within Windows 7 from a virtual machine on my Macbook... so I am not necessarily anti windows, just anti PC.

[disneysteve]

No, not every cheap PC is crap, just most of them IMO.

LOL. Probably true.

I was just making the point that for many people, spending $1,000 or more just isn't feasible. For under $400, you can get a perfectly good computer if you know what to look for.

Money being no object, I'd pick the Apple product every time.