So I was planning on getting one within the next two weeks before I graduate so I can get the discount but I found out that mac is coming out with the OS 10.5 in October. Should I wait and get it? Or can I get the apple care protection plan and when it comes out I can upgrade?

4/25/2007 3:58:12 PM

I personallywould wait, because there also might be a HW bump for the new OS release.

It's also possible that your unity iD might still be valid then, or at the least, you may be able to go to the Apple Store and buy it there with your student ID.

And the Apple Care plan doesn't work like that, the computer would have to irreperably break for them to give you a new one.

4/25/2007 4:04:35 PM

its only going to be ~$100 when it drops

apple care wont cover the upgrade

4/25/2007 4:04:38 PM

we just bought a imac and 2 powerbooks and got the educational discount w/o an university ID. you just choose what city/state and what school. it also gave us the discount on everything we ordered, even though it's only supposed to for 1 desktop, 1 notebook, 1 ipod, etc.

4/25/2007 4:32:45 PM

i've been buying mac products for years without a ID. you either order it online or go in the store and just give them your school name, they look it up to make sure its a real school and thats it. so long as you don;'t look 40 they will still think you are a student.

'however NC States library has additional discounts sometimes

[Edited on April 25, 2007 at 4:46 PM. Reason : fda]

4/25/2007 4:46:03 PM

My Unity ID worked until almost Christmas. I would recommend combining the student discount with the August tax holiday.

4/26/2007 12:19:52 AM

SMART idea...but I dont know if I should wait till Oct.

4/26/2007 12:40:32 AM

You can buy the operating system separately. Even better, get someone you know that's still in school to pick it up for you at student price in the bookstore. You will save more by getting the computer tax free.

Yeah, they might upgrade the hardware, but that's an inevitability. Your specs will only be current for a few months, and that's if you are lucky.

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 12:49 AM. Reason : ]

4/26/2007 12:48:07 AM

Quote :

"I personallywould wait, because there also might be a HW bump for the new OS release."

this happened to me, i got screwed with my macbook pro - 2 months after i bought mine, they came out with the core 2 duo ones to coincide with 10.4.

4/26/2007 8:39:35 AM

Quote :

"we just bought a imac and 2 powerbooks and got the educational discount w/o an university ID. "

Quote :

"you either order it online or go in the store and just give them your school name, they look it up to make sure its a real school and thats it. so long as you don;'t look 40 they will still think you are a student."

you do not need your unity ID. you can get the educational discount regardless of student status.

4/26/2007 8:46:38 AM

some schools have better discounts than others. i know at maryland you need to use your student ID to even access the discount page because its a bigger discount than most schools.

4/26/2007 8:50:38 AM

bump

1/18/2011 12:11:28 AM

...so, any guesses as to when the iMac will get another refresh/redesign? Think it'll get Blu-Ray, at least as an option?

How tough would it be to have a Blu-Ray equipped computer in one room display movies/audio on an HDTV & stereo in another room, transmitted via bluetooth?

1/18/2011 12:13:03 AM

Quote :

"Think it'll get Blu-Ray, at least as an option?"

It won't.

The second part is fairly easy with Windows and just normal wireless networking. Get a media extender (like an XBox 360 or a WDTV Live) and you can just "Play To" using Windows 7. No bluetooth required.

1/18/2011 12:25:56 AM

I doubt they'll put a blu-ray player in any macs

1/18/2011 12:26:43 AM

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

July ish for the next one possible.

OS 10.7 is slated for the second half of this year, and I anticipate they'll offer blu-ray as an option when that is released.

1/18/2011 1:12:06 AM

^ what makes you believe that?

1/18/2011 11:24:05 AM

Quote :

"I doubt they'll put a blu-ray player in any macs"

1/18/2011 11:44:45 AM

Jobs is big on digital distribution. I doubt bluray ever makes it in.

1/18/2011 11:51:48 AM

^^^ it's just a hunch... it just makes the most business sense.

Apple can't just not put bluray in Macs, and they wouldn't just keep not putting them just to help out iTunes.

10.7 is a good opportunity for them to put the Protected Video Pathway that bluray movies require to play back video, and is the right time in terms of component costs and marketing to add it in.

[Edited on January 18, 2011 at 2:20 PM. Reason : ]

1/18/2011 2:19:11 PM

digital distribution is the future, everybody knows this. apple has been at the forefront of that movement for years. why would they take a step back from that momentum? blu-ray won the nextgen disc format war 3 years ago and its household penetration is still only in the teens. meanwhile, consumers are becoming much more comfortable with the benefits of digital-only distribution. apple has much more to gain by continuing to embrace the download only mentality

1/18/2011 4:43:52 PM

command c
command v

1/18/2011 4:45:08 PM

^^ but they're not going to be sticking DVD drives in computers forever.

And the average Best Buy shopper looks at specs, even if they don't know what they mean or if they'll never use it. If the component costs are cheap enough, and it adds some value, they're going to stick it in there.

And just because you can download music from iTunes doesn't mean iTunes can't rip music from a CD, or manage music you downloaded with Napster.

There's a line between encouraging consumers to do something, and obstinately blocking them, and not putting blurays just for iTunes is a little obstinate.

1/19/2011 4:16:49 PM

Quote :

"If the component costs are cheap enough, and it adds some value, they're going to stick it in there."

This is why Apple computers came with one button mice for years.

And only started offering SD card slots on their computers in 2009 and even then, not in the MacBook.

BUT OTHER THAN THAT!

1/19/2011 5:08:53 PM

Quote :

"^^ but they're not going to be sticking DVD drives in computers forever."

You're right. In a couple more years no one will bother with an optical drive of any kind.

1/19/2011 6:22:04 PM

Quote :

"There's a line between encouraging consumers to do something, and obstinately blocking them, and not putting blurays just for iTunes is a little obstinate."

we are talking about steve jobs here.

1/19/2011 6:36:30 PM

yeah, that's my concern.

I love Steve Jobs in that I have a good bit of AAPL and he's made me a lot of money, but he is a stubborn rat bastard who thinks the whole world should work according to his own preferences.

1/19/2011 7:10:35 PM

Quote :

"This is why Apple computers came with one button mice for years. "

They haven't come with 1 button mice for at least 6 years now.

^^ Steve Jobs is dying of cancer.

I'd bet anyone here bluray becomes an option, if not standard, after 10.7 is relased.

[Edited on January 19, 2011 at 7:21 PM. Reason : ]

1/19/2011 7:21:42 PM

and before 10.8? i'll throw $10 into that wager

1/19/2011 9:52:36 PM

^ deal

[Edited on January 19, 2011 at 10:09 PM. Reason : ]

1/19/2011 10:08:46 PM

Quote :

"I'd bet anyone here bluray becomes an option, if not standard, after 10.7 is relased. Steve Jobs passes away"

1/20/2011 8:32:25 AM

^ hehe that's a bet i won't take. while i do believe that steve jobs' stubbornness accounts for a hefty portion of Apple's decision to spurn blu-ray, i'd have to think that he's thoroughly convinced his senior execs of the same strategy, that even if Jobs died, it'd be at least a year or two before any successor would be convinced to make that change

1/20/2011 10:29:53 AM

It's either that or his successors become even more zealotous because "it's what Steve would have wanted".

1/20/2011 10:43:54 AM