Best place to buy iPad?

[altiain]

So my wife is hinting around (rather loudly) that she would like an iPad for her birthday this month. Don't need a 3G one, wifi is just fine. Preferably a 64GB. Where is the best (cheapest) place to buy a legit one with a warranty?

[jeff_man]

pawn shop, just never register it with apple as then they can prove you have a stolen ipad.

Could get her a windrod that does everything a ipad does and more for less.

[Flyin96M]

I think all the legit ones are the same price new. I bought mine at Best Buy since it was close.

[POS Racing]

I've got a few Apple items direct from Apple with free shipping and free engraving.

Try to come up with something nice for the engraving.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/hom...cid=AOS-US-KWG

[OZMDD]

+1 for buying from apple. Simplest and best service. If you do want to save a few $$, they sell refurbs on their website that are truly good as new. I saw they had iPad 1's for under $400, and iPad 2's also.

They also give an educators discount on new merch.

[Kestrel]

Yeah, as I understand it, pricing for all Apple electronics are "controlled" by Apple -- no discounts anywhere that I've ever heard of. As a test, I checked 3 websites -- Best Buy, Frye's, and Sam's Club. A 64GB non-3G was $699.99 on all three sites, same as ordering/buying from Apple.

Sounds like monopoly price fixing to me...

[Rob®]

I don't know about prices being "controlled" by Apple, but I know if you ask any BestBuy employee what their discount on an Apple product is, they will tell you 0%. A friend of mine was some mid-level manager of one and he said they consider Apple stuff (namely iPods and iPads) as leaders, so they don't make money on them at all themselves, i.e. they sell at the store's cost (I'm sure corporate gets a deal though). They make their money on the accessories and service plans.

So all the major stores need to sell at the same cost to get the customers in the door, which is apparently all the stores' cost. So yeah, in essence you could say the costs are controlled. But I have never heard that Apple insists a store sell at a specific retail price.

[redmenace]

Micro Center periodically advertises them for $50 off per model. Don't remember the details, and you may need to be on their e-mailing list.

[motorollow]

If you can't find a deal on one, I would get it at Best Buy and at least get their Reward Zone points. I know a few years ago when Ipods were hot Best Buy did not discount them on Black Friday but they did give a $25 gift card which was equal to 10% off.

[trickyrix]

Yeah you're not gonna find a deal on Apple products, especially something like an iPad. So if it's gotta be an iPad, do yourself a favor and just go to the Apple store - no fuss, no muss, and you don't have to deal with the pushy-ass mouth-breathers at Fry's...

As for the Droid tablet, I'm enjoying mine so far, but it's a far cry from an iPad/iPhone. I spent about an hour monkeying with it, trying to figure out how to set everything up so it was usable. However, it's not nearly as slick as an Apple - I knew this going in. Android just isn't intuitive right out of the box, but it sure is a hell of a lot cheaper.

[altiain]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Guess it's off to the Apple or Best Buy.

pawn shop, just never register it with apple as then they can prove you have a stolen ipad.

Could get her a windrod that does everything a ipad does and more for less.

Lol. I can see why you aren't married. When your significant other says "I want (insert specific product here)", you don't give her something else and say "See? I know this isn't what you want or asked for, but it's cheaper."

[POS Racing]

Altiain since you are a bit gullible you may want to not buy your Ipad in a Gas Station.

[Rob®]

When your significant other says "I want (insert specific product here)", you don't give her something else and say "See? I know this isn't what you want or asked for, but it's cheaper."

I would normally 100% agree with this statement. In fact, I usually promote getting your significant other exactly what she wants just to avoid "that" conversation. However, one recent instance - involving an iPad no less - I went against my usual stance. My fiance is a full-time OT student at TWU. Most of her friends had laptops of some sort. One got an iPad, so of course all the other girls were all about it. My fiance has never asked about getting a laptop for school ever...until she saw the iPad and played with it. She suddenly had to have one. I'm not an Apple fan to begin with, so I said I'm not buying her one instantly. I told her I'd get her a netbook since it's much more practical for her purposes. You could tell she agreed but still wanted the iPad because it was "so cute" and all that. But I "knew" better since I actually know about those sorts of things.

Long story medium-length: I ended up buying her a netbook...And an iPhone. She is actually perfectly happy with that, which is awesome. But I highly doubt I will ever do something like that again.

[jeff_man]

"See? I know this isn't what you want or asked for, but it's cheaper."

Not cheaper, better. Same way as your wife asked for a ipad and if there was not a better non apple option on the market I would buy her a ipad2 even though she asked for a ipad.

[altiain]

Jeff, the point is it's not what she asked for (and since you're being pedantic - yes, it will be an iPad2). I have not survived fourteen years of marriage by second guessing my wife's desires.

Rob - we both already own iPhones, along with several non-Apple devices. Apple's intuitive interface and ease of use for "non-techy" people is precisely why she wants an iPad over some other device.

[altiain]

Altiain since you are a bit gullible you may want to not buy your Ipad in a Gas Station.

Lol... thanks for the warning Mick. I'll keep that in mind when I'm filling up on the way home tonight.

[Rob®]

Rob - we both already own iPhones, along with several non-Apple devices. Apple's intuitive interface and ease of use for "non-techy" people is precisely why she wants an iPad over some other device.

Oh I know. I wasn't suggesting you get her anything else, sorry if it came across that way. If my fiance wanted an iPad for any other reason than "school" I would have gotten her one. I only got her the netbook since I know it'd suit her school purposes better, and got her an iPhone since I knew she only really wanted the iPad for the apps, and it was time to renew our contract anyway. So consider my post just a random semi-related rant out loud.

[ckearns]

My wife asked for an iPad, so in return I asked for a Def-n-der, which is out of production and only available from a supplier in Canada.

That'll teach her.

If she keeps it up, next year will be a set of tires. And yes I'll want them gift wrapped.

:)

Chris

[OZMDD]

People try so hard to talk Apple-lovers out of buying apple products. Its just like flatoutnolifttrackjunkies, they can't tolerate people being happy with something besides what THEY prefer. You guys are lucky Steve Jobs was no Chuck Norris, or you'd be walking with iCrutch!

[tailchaser]

Whereas I have an android phone and an android tablet, I'm pretty well convinced the apple equivalents are superior for most users. There are certainly some cool toys out for android whatnots, but 'droid stuff is still more TOY than reliable device.