Decided to buy an ibook

[Cahill]

Ok so i have been looking around all over and i have decided to get an ibook, and i have been hearing about the student discount thing and also if you sign up for some student developer program for a 100$ you get even more of a discount, can anyone tell me how much of a discount i would get on the 12" ibook, the one thats like 1000$

 

[TJ69]

Student Developer Discounts on the ibooks are pretty weak. The 12" iBook is $990 at the ADC store.

http://developer.apple.com/membership/usa.html
Open the "HARDWARE PURCHASE PROGRAM STORE (U.S.)" link.

You will see much larger savings ($1-300 less than edu) on the Powerbook. Also with ADC membership, you should recieve a free copy of Tiger when its released.

 

[Cahill]

So is it worth it to pay 100$ to join the student developement thing, or should i just do the regular student discount??

 

[frazzled]

I'm pretty sure that the student developer's discount is (literally) a one-time deal. TJ69 is correct that the discount is much better on higher-priced items.

Your best approach would be to grab an iBook with the regular student's discount (add extra RAM via Crucial, not Apple to save a few bucks) at this point. That way, if you decide you want a big , loaded PowerMac or larger Powerbook for a graduation gift to yourself , you can save a bundle at that point.

Great, rugged machine that iBook...use one in my lab and just got one for my daughter for school.

Enjoy,

JT

 

[Wuzup101]

I personally am a member of the ADC and couldn't see buying an iBook via ADC. I would do what frazzled said and get your iBook through the normal EDU store and after market ram. If you have the money get an iPod now too. You can get a 4th gen 20gb iPod for $269 through apple and then use the cram and jam rebate (good with a purchase of a mobile mac + iPod). This rebate is $200 and will significantly offset the cost of the iPod (yeah you're getting the most popular mp3 player around for $70. If you don't want the iPod but still could feasibly pay for one... get it and sell it on ebay for $260-270 new and in the box... and save yourself some more cash.

Cram and jam is valid with every portable besides the bottom of the line iBook (the one that's only made for edu and only has a cd rom drive not the cdrw/DVD combo drive) and all the full sized iPods (no mini). It ends Sept 25th I believe. Also, they have to be purchased together I think.

Frazzled is also correct in saying that the student ADC purchase is a once in a lifetime thing. You only get one purchase in your lifetime w/ the student ADC. The $99 is definitely worth it w/ higher end machines b/c the discount easily outweights the $99. Pluss you have to figure that you get a new copy of the OS after every major update. A copy of OSX 10.3.4 came with my initial ADC purchase in July, and now that 10.3.5 was released as an update I got a full retail copy of that again. You also get the major releases... so you'd get Tiger (10.4) when it comes out. I personally would only consider using my ADC purchase for a more expensive machine though. If you were going to go for a 12" Powerbook w/ a superdrive it might be a good idea to go for that. Also note that cram and jam is NOT VALID w/ ADC purchases!

 

[trikster2]

I love the look of the ibook, but a lot of the reviews (maybe for the G3s?) say it is slugish with OSX.

Is that true?

 

[James3shin]

the newer ibooks are running with the g4's and help a bit, but a lil memory is needed for OSX to shine, the stock 256MB on the ibooks aren't enough.

 

[trikster2]

how much memory James3shin? I was looking at crucial and a 256mb sodimm is only $57.

 

[Wuzup101]

I would go with a 512mb stick at the minimum. If you want a 256mb stick email me and I'll hook you up with one cheaper than that crucial price. I happen to have one from my powerbook (pc2700 but will work fine at pc2100).... only used it for 2 weeks until I bought a 1gb sodimm...

 

[frazzled]

Definitely go with the 512.

I must say that whenever I use my daughter's 1 Ghz iBook I am pleasantly surprised, my 1.5 17" PB doesn't blow it away by any means.

I think the current 12" iBook is one of the best deals in laptop computing at present.

Fraz

 

[RichieZ]

920 at SJSU store

click

scroll down a few posts and the logon/pw is in that thread

 

[Cahill]

yeh thats what i think i'll do use the edu discount then get a 512 stick, i think thats the max amt of ram u can get anyway a 512 + the stock 256. Thanks for the help guys

 

[Wuzup101]

I'm fairly certain that you can get away with using a 1gb sodimm in the current ibooks for a total of 1.25gb of memory. Do a search on the macnn.com forums, but I think apple says it only accepts a 512mb stick... yet 1gb still works.

 

[imported_Woody]

I have a 256MB PC2700 SODIMM that I've had a hard time giving away. I figure it will end up like the 64MB PC100 notebook stick I still have in my closet. This is part of the problem of upgrading, figuring out what do do with the old parts.

 

[arsbanned]

"but I think apple says it only accepts a 512mb stick... yet 1gb still works. "

Careful with the warranty.

 

[imported_theEman]

Yeah, I read somewhere that a 1GB stick of RAM has been tested to work with the iBooks so you should be fine. The iBooks are pretty speedy running OS X with the G4 CPUs.