Apple's 'Black Friday' deals drop Mac prices by $101
But resellers like Amazon and MacConnections beat Apple's offers
Computerworld - As expected, Apple cut prices for its MacBook Pro and iMac lines up to 8% for its annual "Black Friday" sale, although several authorized resellers priced Apple's hardware even more aggressively.
Apple's one-day sale dropped the price on all MacBook Pro and iMac models by an across-the-board $101, a cut that represented an 8% reduction for the lowest-priced 13-in. MacBook Pro and the 21.5-in. iMac. On the quad-core i5-based iMac, however, the $101 discount represented a 5% reduction, while the discount on the top-end 15-in. MacBook Pro was an even smaller 4%.
The discounts leaked earlier in the week, when the Boy Genius Report blog reported the $101 one-day-only price cuts.
Several online sellers, however, continued to beat Apple's prices, sometimes by wide margins.
Amazon.com, for example, was selling the least-expensive 13-in. MacBook Pro for $1,050, a 13% discount of $149.
MacConnection.com's sale beat both Apple and Amazon by wide margins in many cases. On Friday, the online-only seller was selling the 15-in. MacBook Pro for $200 to $300 under list price, and the 27-in. iMac for $170-$180 below the regular price. MacConnection also dropped the price of the plastic-cased MacBook -- a model Apple didn't discount -- by $150 or 15%, and was selling the notebook for $850.
MacConnection's prices, which are good through Dec. 2, included hefty mail-in rebates, however, something neither Apple or Amazon required. For example, the $300 savings on the top-end 15-in. MacBook Pro included a $150 mail-in rebate.
Apple also discounted all three iPod touch models by slightly more than 10%, all iPod nanos by 6 to 7%, and the Apple TV by approximately 9%.
Among Apple's other Black Friday specials was Microsoft's Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student, which was discounted 35% to $98. However, other outlets again beat Apple's sales price: On Friday, Amazon sold the same suite for $90.
Read more about Macintosh in Computerworld's Macintosh Topic Center.



- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
- As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
- Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
- Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
- Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
- Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
- Streamline Compliance and Increase ROI
- Streamline, simplify, and automate compliance related activities; especially those that impact multiple business units. This white paper from NetIQ, outlines solutions that will...
- X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps
- This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into... All Macintosh White Papers
- Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
- Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
- Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
- Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn...
- Virtualize Business-Critical Applications with Confidence
- Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere®... All Macintosh Webcasts