New MacPro - buy online or brick & mortar store?

[n2mpujack]

Am looking to pop for a new MacPro (this is irrespective of possible new machines maybe coming out today) and was wondering is it better to buy from a brick and mortar store - there's a couple of Mac stores equidistant from me in NJ or from an online source, whether that's the Apple Store or another like B&H in NYC. I have had good service from B&H so they are a known entity. Never brought from the Apple Store; the Powerbook G4 I have I got from CompUSA when they still existed as a brick & mortar store years ago.

Given that what I want would be a build-to-order and not a stock machine throws a monkey wrench into the works. I'd be looking at a dual-cpu machine with the current high-speed 2.93 GHz chips. And the 4870 graphics card. Supplying my own monitor and aftermarket ram and drives except for the boot drive. Apple doesn't say what carrier they use for shipping. UPS has the unfortunate nickname of 'Oops' around the area for the amount of shipping damage claims they have for mechanical items. FEDEX has been excellent. With B&H I can specify the shipper I want.

So some questions arise: does anybody know what shippers Apple uses and what's the reliability of said shipper? I'm talking here on the East Coast in NJ. And given all the above what would be the best way to go - physical Apple Store or an online entity?

Yeah, I know it's Tuesday and the Apple Store is down as I type this.

[michkhol]

I've had an excellent experience with MacMall and they have a choice of shippers.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Apple generally uses Fedex.

[n2mpujack]

Apple generally uses Fedex.

Nice to know but 'generally' doesn't give me concrete hope. There's no apparent way in the online store to specify shipper.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Is the shipper that important? Apple is not going to use a lame shipping company to send you a $5k machine. OTOH, I like to support brick and mortar stores for a number of reasons, including the local economy! After post production tax breaks, I pay less in a brick and mortar store (even the Apple store) than if I had to have it shipped.

[bkshepard]

Generally, I prefer to buy things in a local, brick-n-mortar store as well. However, Apple has so tightly integrated their online and B-n-M stores that there doesn't seem to be much of a difference in the purchase vs. service issue anymore. Even if you buy it online, you will still take it to the store for repairs, and the purchase price at the two is identical. You do have shipping if you buy online, but if you are getting a custom rig, you are probably going to have shipping anyway. (BTW, MLC is correct, Apple uses FedEx for their shipping.)

Apple seems to be pushing the B-n-M stores into being more of the spur-of-the-minute and accessories purchase kind of stores, while the main computer purchases are done online. I would go ahead and configure the machine you want at the online Apple store and have it shipped to you. You won't be treated any differently if you need to take it into the local store for service.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Hey Brian!

One thing to think about... if you do have a problem with an Apple product under the Applecare program, the call in guys are much more 'powerful' than the geniuses at the b/m store. The stores only will replace (for example) a defective iphone with a refurb unless you bought it at an Apple store. I bought mine from ATT as an upgrade and the Apple store wouldn't replace it with a new one after just 3 days.

The call in Applecare guys Fedex'd me a NEW iphone replacement overnight. A few "questions asked" but they can make much more effective decisions. The store HAS TO give you a refurb and while they are great in many cases, they don't have the autonomy of the call in center.

On the same subject, I've found the store geniuses to be somewhat lacking in the genius dept by and large. For the average moe, they're fine, but for power users like some of us on this forum, we actually know more about the OS and it's quirks. I usually leave the Apple store with two or three employees scratching their heads saying they didn't know an Mac could do that, or more ofter, they didn't know a Mac couldn't do that! I suspect it's a pretty boring job after a while, so you gotta cut 'em some slack. Overall, they do try to be helpful and friendly and if I had to buy a new Mac today, it would be at the Apple store in Glendale - except they don't stock higher end Mac Pros, only the entry level machines.

W-T-F?

[bkshepard]

Hmm, that hasn't been my experience with computers that I bought online (covered under Applecare) and then taken into the store for service. They've been great in getting me fixed up. Granted, I haven't done it with an iPod or iPhone, so that may be handled different. I do agree that most of the "Geniuses" just ain't!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Well, this was kind of a special case in that I bought the iphone at the ATT store and Apple's b/m store essentially wouldn't replace the defective phone. To compound matters, they gave me a refurb which was also defective. Just my luck! They told me if I wanted a "new" replacement, I'd have to take the phone to an ATT store, but since Apple had exchanged the phone and couldn't (wouldn't) give me the original ATT purchased phone back, I was kind of dead in the water. ATT wouldn't take the Apple phone in exchange for a new phone.

I called Applecare and they made the exchange after a little testing to make sure the phone was defective. Clearly, they both were. The ATT phone was not shrink wrapped when I got it and I should have insisted then and there for a factory sealed model. Lesson learned.

FWIW, the phone would not connect to my Mac after the initial installation and then wouldn't connect to the charger or my wife's MacBook. But now we're 'sort of' off topic.

Bottom line for me is that if I buy a new Mac and the online stores aren't offering some nice expensive perk (not just a $70 printer) I'll but it from Apple direct - preferable the b/m store. That way the employees will get paid and come to one of my shows and keep my clients in business- so they can all buy PCs...

[HCMarkus]

If you have a college student in the family, check out the Apple education discounts online. OTOH, tax breaks using vendors other than Apple can be equally (or more) significant if shipping from another state...

[n2mpujack]

Is the shipper that important? Apple is not going to use a lame shipping company to send you a $5k machine. OTOH, I like to support brick and mortar stores for a number of reasons, including the local economy! After post production tax breaks, I pay less in a brick and mortar store (even the Apple store) than if I had to have it shipped.

Yes, the shipper is THAT important for reasons outlined in my first post. UPS has a very poor track record in delivering undamaged merchandise in the Trenton area, especially when said merchandise is mechanical or electronic in nature. I've had boxes thrown over the backyard fence (which is 8 feet high from the sidewalk) rather than the driver leaving a notice of failed delivery. FEDEX has never done such a thing - if they can't safely deliver a package they will leave a note and I can call and pickup the package at their local depot. Try and get that same level of service from UPS - ain't happening. The only thing I'll buy that I'll let UPS ship are books.

Expense isn't a part of the equation as that's pretty much a wash when all things are considered - shipping costs versus paying tax and gas costs to purchase something.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Wow! Our UPS guys are great but I guess Burbank is somewhat more suburban than Trenton (at least last time I was in trenton circa 1981).

The thing about the Ed. discount is you still have 9.75% tax in LA County while the post discount is just 3.1%. Applecare is about $50 cheaper for academics. I'd do the math but not until I'm ready to plunk down the coin.

[mhschmieder]

Shipping services have changed over the year. It's a shame we lost DHL last year, which had become our preferred shipper at work due to policies, prices, shipping time, and being careful with packages.

My preferred shipper by far is USPS, with FedEx way at the bottom of the list ever since they changed their ground service a few years ago (air service is too pricey). UPS at least doesn't leave packages when no one is home like FedEx tends to do (regardless of "signature required"), but you're better off not letting it go for another round in the truck and staying home the day you expect it to arrive.

I didn't realise many shippers provide a choice anymore. I'll have to remember to keep that in mind when picking a vendor for my new Mac. I sure hope someone offers USPS as an option! I've never had USPS damage anything, over many years and many locations.

[n2mpujack]

Shipping services have changed over the year. It's a shame we lost DHL last year, which had become our preferred shipper at work due to policies, prices, shipping time, and being careful with packages.

My preferred shipper by far is USPS, with FedEx way at the bottom of the list ever since they changed their ground service a few years ago (air service is too pricey). UPS at least doesn't leave packages when no one is home like FedEx tends to do (regardless of "signature required"), but you're better off not letting it go for another round in the truck and staying home the day you expect it to arrive.

I didn't realise many shippers provide a choice anymore. I'll have to remember to keep that in mind when picking a vendor for my new Mac. I sure hope someone offers USPS as an option! I've never had USPS damage anything, over many years and many locations.

Interesting about your experiences vis-a-vis UPS and FEDEX. Here it's completely the opposite as UPS will leave a package, no matter the weather, size or whatever, whether someone is at home or not. Several times with a certain music equipment vendor when I have them use FEDEX, even though I have a signature card on file with FEDEX, if no one is at home the package will not be left at my home. It goes back to the depot and I either have to pick it up in person or call and re-schedule it for home delivery. The local depot is only a couple of miles from my house so pickup there is no problem. I've called the vendor about this several times and they used to have a policy that purposely ignored whether a signature card was on file with a shipping company or not. The way it was explained to me was that this was due to the expense of products they send and that's cool - I just wish they would put that up on their website and have the sales engineers tell customers when they call.

I know US Postal used to have a weight limit as to what would ship via them. Now with the new 'if it fit it ships - no weigh' campaign for certain box sizes I wonder if the limit has gone by the wayside? Like MH I've never had anything damaged when shipping via the Post Office.

[mikehalloran]

I just bought a refurb Macbook, refurb Time Capsule and AppleCare. In my case, it was for my daughter in college.

Since there is no edu discount on the refurbs, it was difficult to figure out how to place order and still get the correct discount on AppleCare all on the same invoice. If I started with the refurb, I couldn't add AppleCare from the Edu store. Hmmmm...

Eventually, I figured out to go through the Education Store and order AppleCare first ($66 savings). Next, I was able to go to Refurb and order the current Macbook ($849 instead of $949 edu) and the current Time Capsule (another $50 savings over edu; $80 under list). By getting AppleCare at the same time, the TimeCapsule is covered as an accessory for three years rather than two if I ordered TC w/ AC separately.

Shipping, FedEx ground was free. The order came in three boxes on three days but all came within a week. Yea, I pay California sales tax but I am ok with the result. I saved about $200 (factoring in the tax) over buying out of state and everything is covered for three years - even in Denmark where my kid is going to school next month.