Quibbles with advice

["Arlen P. Walker" <arlen -dot- walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

>All Apple
>computers come with the same standard warranty whether you buy it mail order
>or at a store, so ignore that sales ploy.

Actually, that's not quite true. While it doesn't matter *where* you bought
the machine, Apple only honors warranties on machines with the serial
number intact. Apple has disenfranchised many dealers for supplying
machines to mail order resellers that are not Apple-certified, so the
standard self-protection tactic for dealers doing this is to remove or
otherwise render unreadable the serial number on the machine so it can't be
traced back to them. Therefore many of these "grey market" mail order Macs
will not have their warranties honored. Get a commitment from the seller
that the machine has a legible serial number first. Even then, they've been
known to lie (check Deb Branscum's column for details - she's had quite a
few tales like this).

>Are you in education at all. Apple gives incredible educational discounts? Do
>you live near a Mac University? Call Apple for a list. Examples are Darmouth,
>Wellesley, etc. Sign up for one course for the fall and buy your computer
>through the University program (just a little above cost).

Before you do that, check with the University. Some require you to carry a
minimum credit load (half time, one around here requires full-time) before
they will sell you a computer at the discounted price.

Have Fun,
Arlen

arlen -dot- walker -at- jci -dot- com
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