Does Apple ever have any sales?

I will be looking to buy a new MBP when the ivy bridge updates are out and had a question regarding pricing.

I have used and own an older pre unibody MBP that was purchased through my school (required for my professional school) and had a love/hate relationship with the thing. Used the out of the warranty and it was certainly not capable of running windows full time. Not to mention the dolts at macrumors.

Regardless, I understand a new MBP will cost more than your run of the mill consumer grade dell and since HP and Samsung have botched their Envy and series 7 laptops with terrible launch issues, the MBP is where I'm heading next.

I see the student discount (will be a student for 4 months here - don't know how long the email will continue to forward) and afterwards will be active duty military. The Fed/Mil discount appears to be the same as the student discount. Is there anywhere else I should be looking or a time of year to be looking at?

I would have to custom order the laptop since places like amazon seemingly don't ever carry anything without the glossy screens anyways.

 

Apple doesn't really have sales per say. They might mark things down every blue moon (i.e. black friday) but it is always by an extremely small amount. For example, I think they were selling MBPs with a $45 discount on black friday. They do have promotions though that normally happen in the summer around the time when schools go into session for their Autumn quarters/Fall semesters. Last year's promotion was boring as Apple was simply giving away a $100 credit through the Mac App Store but they had previously given away iPod minis, iPod nanos, and entry level iPod touch models with the purchase of certain Macs (all MBPs were on the list).

That is about it from Apple. There are some stores that will either match or even beat Apple's student discount rates. For example, Microcenters are selling the entry level 13" MBP for $999. I also purchased my 13" entry level MBA for $1250 through Best Buy, that was the same price as if I drove to the Apple Store and shows them by university ID.

The best thing to do would be to wait it out and see what happens. Apparently some stores do offer non-standard MBPs. I know my local Microcenter offers up a 15" MBP with a matte display. I never looked at the price but they do offer it.

 

You sound more resigned than excited about a MBP, and it sounds like you prefer Win 7 to OSX. Is that correct? And given the price point, I can't agree with someone buying one just because one or two competitors fell on their faces.

If you're not dead-set on a MBP and you prefer OSX to Win 7, if you fill this out, I might be able to help you find something that's a better fit (staying away from the Series 7 and Envy, as you've already said you don't want them):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...ould-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html

 

I've seen sales during black fridays and oddly enough I don't work for apple but my company ID gets me 10% off their products.

 

My resignation is not as bad as it seems to be honest. It would be great to have all my games up front and not have to reboot to play - I am not a huge gamer but do enjoy games like civ 5, anno series, and skyrim.

But, I know I will enjoy going back to the excellent form factor, screen, trackpad, etc. The keyboard - eh it would be nice to have the home/pgupdown/end/delete keys without a second keypress but even some new dells have the smaller keyboards, stupid trend imho.