Now that Apple has revealed the lineup of new products right before the holidays, the next big question on everyone’s mind is what the costs will be. There is some good news for people who already own Apple products – its new updated operating system OS X Mavericks will now be free to everyone. The new iPad Air and iPad Mini will be sold at premium prices. To make room for them, the original iPad mini will drop from $399 to $299, although the iPad 2 will still sell for $399. Want to make those prices come down? Here’s how you do it:
If you are a faculty member, staff, student, or parent of a college student, you are eligible to shop from the Apple Store for Education Individuals. Members who satisfy Apple’s eligibility requirements can purchase limited numbers of computers, monitors, laptops and software per academic year at a discount of up to $200.
Recycle your old Apple computer products at Apple stores in exchange for an Apple Store gift card. You can use the Apple store’s website to specify which devices you have. Apple contracts with PowerON, which will provide an estimate for your devices. Once you have the estimate, you can ship the devices with PowerON’s prepaid package and shipping options to their location, where they will evaluate the actual value of your devices. Once that process has been completed, then your Apple Store gift card will be sent to you, which you can use online or in an Apple retail store.
Go for the refurbished options at the Apple store. The Apple store website has a section called “Special Deals”, where refurbished Macs, iPods, and Apple TVs are sold at discounted rates. Currently, a 32 GB iPad Mini with Wi-Fi is selling at $339, discounted from the original price of $429 for a new one. The refurbished products come with a one year limited warranty. There is also a small clearance section for new, unopened products from Apple and other manufacturers.
If you are purchasing an iPhone or iPad, the data plan that comes with it can be pretty expensive. If you work for the carrier, such as Sprint, Virgin Mobile, or Straight Talk, you might qualify for an employee discount. In addition, Sprint also has the Everything Plus Referral program, which lets Sprint employees offer discounted rate plans to anyone they know who is not already a Sprint customer.
Look to other stores for the best bargains. The Apple Store is not the only place to get Apple products. If you are amenable to older software and hardware, which are often in great condition and can now be upgraded to OS X Mavericks for free, check out stores like MacMall and MacConnection, which often offer older models at discounts of up to twenty percent.
Wait for Black Friday – or other – sales at other stores. While Apple historically has run Black Friday sales, the discounts are usually not that high. Other stores, such as Best Buy and Target often run better sales, and will throw in gift cards as well if you buy certain items.
By Allison Preston. Allison is an avid shopper and an experienced writer with a passion for deals and coupons and for saving her readers money. She currently writes for leading coupon and online promo code site bluepromocode.com based in Santa Monica, California.
