So, my daughter wants to buy herself an Apple Mac laptop and iPad (reasons only she can explain) and has turned to her father (me) for advice. I told her to let me think about options and have doubled back onto here for advice from you learned lot.

Is it best to buy on Apples credit deal or credit card? Can I expect to get any kind of discount for buying both iPad and MacBook from an Apple shop or do they not do discounts? What software comes with a MacBook? Does she need to buy apple office as well? Where’s the best place for Apple deals?

Thanks for the help!

Is she a student? They get the best deals

Apple deals good luck with that but on the rare occasion they come up.

It comes with Pages and Numbers now as standard on the newer iOS if I remember rightly. That’s like Word and Excel but much better.

Use Open Office for all desktop publishing related needs. (its free)(and works with all common MS Office file types)

Be worth buying from John Lewis for the Extra year warranty.

If she’s a student then use the student discount. Otherwise there is very little discounting (some small discounts through corporates, duty free (but often tend to be old models)).

John Lewis offer longer warranty than Apple do themselves.

student/nhs/bluelight/MOD discount worth having (about 9% IIRC). if getting credit, 0% is available online, not in shops. Open office as above is great, plenty of older versions of software available for free download, however, updates to OS can cause problems

As said – student deals are a good bet. If not, official Apple Refurb (http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals) is a good way of saving some cash. Don’t forget Quidco/similar for cashback too if buying online.

Laptop and iPad?…. iPad + BT keyboard not do the job?

She’s a physio with the nhs so I’ll ask her to try for that discount, failing that John Lewis sounds good. Thanks for the tips

I get a discount through work. I think I’d have to purchase it though, not sure how it works. Will have a rea.
Have you got an email address?

Thanks ska but I want her to buy it/ own it etc. email in profile though if you can get a really good deal!

Student deals +1

My macbook was from apple’s refurbished section, worth keeping an eye on.

You can usually buy through the education store and get th discounts without ever having to prove that you’re a student. You get a discount on the Macbook of about 9-10% and the Applecare extended warranty which is usually about £250 you get for £50 😉

NHS means she can get a Blue Light Card.

– iPad – 2% off
– iPod – 6% off
– MacBook Air – 6% 0ff
– MacBook Pro – 6-8% off
– Mac Pro – 8% + 6% off
– Cinema Display – 8% off
– Apple Accessories – 6% off

http://store.apple.com/uk_edu_5000751

It comes with Pages and Numbers now as standard on the newer iOS if I remember rightly. That’s like Word and Excel but much better.

Heh.

Also worth checking the apple refurb store online.

Some great bargains can be had.

Why exactly does she need two devices ?

Why not? I’ve got an iMac, iPad and iPhone. I use them all for different things pretty much constantly. They all synch perfectly together with little hassle. Makes sense to get all Apple kit IMO. No sense mixing OSs

Asda are offering £20 off tablets over £200 at the moment and WEX have small discounts on MacBooks http://www.wexphotographic.com/search/?q=macbook

I would get John Lewis to price match these (they should do this online but not in store) and buy them on a 0% credit card if I didn’t have the cash to pay upfront.

But to go from none to needing to buy the two together? Not getting it.

BTW, I have an Air, 5S and iPad.

John Lewis offer longer warranty than Apple do themselves.

True, though if you do manage to get a student deal, they come with a three year warranty from Apple according to *cough* a lecturer I know.

If you are going on holiday to the US buy it there – price often same value, just swap the £/$ so is quite a lot cheaper with the £-$ exchange rate. Apple warranties are global, so no worries if it goes wrong over here.

Only helps if you’re off to the US!

Thanks all – as for why she needs an iPad and a Macbook – who knows – she is of the female type so normal reasoning doesn’t apply! She’s buying with her money, so it isn’t for me to reason why (even though my raised eyebrows may have given my views away to her!).

And if you know where all the keys are on a UK keyboard as they won’t be the same as on the US keyboard!

NHS deal then (for discount); refurb (could pick up a older (not that old) model for maybe 10% less; or as above John Lewis for the 3 year warranty..

know where all the keys are on a UK keyboard as they won’t be the same as on the US

“UK” mac keyboards are just US ones with a £ on them. Same layout otherwise, not a “proper” UK layout.

I remap my macs to a “proper” UK layout as that’s what I’m used to from years of computer (ab)use, so even on a UK mac for me the keys don’t match up anyhow.

If flying somewhere could get duty free discount. PC World at Heathrow T5 got me £100+ off a Macbook.

NHS deal then (for discount); refurb (could pick up a older (not that old) model for maybe 10% less; or as above John Lewis for the 3 year warranty..

The John Lewis one is two years on all electricals; Apple’s is one year at retail, three years through education sales (only available to students and lecturers).

I suggest not bothering with Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote. All are well below MS Office for Mac in terms of what you can really do with them. And frankly you can’t do very much with them at all. MS Office is pretty cheap if you shop around and works better than it every does on Windows.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about the perceived higher cost vs. Windows. In my experience Apple stuff last much longer than Windows so it works out cheaper in the long run. I got 6 years out of my last Apple iBook (home) but only 3 years out of my high end Dell laptop (work)

My wife has just bought a new mac book pro retina.

Lovely bit of kit. Totally quiet and really fast. I’ve had my MacBook Pro for 4 years, used 8 hours a day and it’s been great.

All our paper sheets we have to fill in at work have all been converted with Numbers. Saves a lot of hassle and emailing them in to the office with our iPads saves having to go their.

Have a look at this link. It says you have to be a student but as long as you don’t mention you’re not, apple will never ask. I used to be a student at Leeds and so i had an alumni library card, which in my mind i thought i’d play if they ever asked for proof, but they didn’t. I got a £200 discount on an iMac. The best thing about buying it from a ‘student’ perspective is that you get 3 years of apple care for free. A couple of numbers on my keyboard stopped working and they offered for me to just walk into an apple store with my serial number and replace it with a new one. And if the computer broke they would do the same, as long as i hadn’t damaged it myself. No student i.d required.

http://www.mikewilson.cc/2010/08/18/how-to-get-a-15-discount-at-the-apple-online-store-from-your-own-home-youve-got-to-be-a-student-though/

It gives you a suffix to add onto the URL in the address bar to make Apple think you’re logging on from that university campus, which opens up a whole host of juicy student discounts. I got the tip from a surgeon at a hospital i was working at.

The way i see it is, i went to university (which your daughter probably did too if she’s a physio) so i’m entitled to a discount.

There’s a list of suffixes for various universities at the bottom of the article, read the whole thing first and then give it it a try. You can tell it has worked because the store front page will have the logo of whichever university you made it think you’re logging in from.

I also went as far as to opt for the Barclay’s Partner Finance option which let me spread the cost over 10 monthly payments but i’m not sure that deal’s still on.

Happy shopping.

EDIT: it now says “apple store for education” at the top instead of displaying a university logo**