Mac noob needs gift advice.

[UnGreat]

First of I am a complete dunce when it comes to Mac so please forgive my simple PC brain.

My brother has started a media design course at College and is using mostly Macs. As a surprise Christmas present I was considering buying him a Mac based system so he could easily do work at home. My budget isn't massive (£500ish) but i'm hoping I can get discounts.

Are there ways of getting a good Mac for cheap such as discount codes or good refurbished models?

Are the refurbished models of good quality, do they have scratches and marks?

I'm being a little vague on the specific Mac I would like but thats mainly because I don't know Macs. I think he would probably like a notebook style like a Macbook but looking at the Apple store they seem a little expensive. I also looked at Mac-Mini but the add-ons (screen, keyboard) would take it up to Macbook cost making it pointless.

Any help or advice to a noob would be appreciated.

If this was a PC I could think of thirty ways of getting a good setup for next to no cost but with Apple i'm lost.

 

[jont]

If you can share the 'surprise' your brother will be able to get a Higher Education discount (around 15-20% I think) if he orders it himself - this will certainly make your money go further !!

To add to that there are sometimes refurb models in the educational store which will be even cheaper - Apple refurb products are usually of the highest quality, often new or unsold, they just come in plain packaging ...

Take a look at the details here: http://www.apple.com/uk/education/shop/ and look at the HE National Contract Store details ... IIRC the actual store can only be accessed through a computer within the UK-academical network ...

Hope that helps a bit

Jon

 

[alanrob]

Get a Mac Mini, keyboard, mouse and a cheapish TFT monitor and you'll have a great system. Might just push your £500 budget, but then again you can get any USB keyboard/mouse combo instead of paying over £50 for the Apple ones

 

[UnGreat]

Get a Mac Mini, keyboard, mouse and a cheapish TFT monitor and you'll have a great system. Might just push your £500 budget, but then again you can get any USB keyboard/mouse combo instead of paying over £50 for the Apple ones

Mac Mini was an Idea but with add-ons I'd have to buy I may as well just pay the extra and get a Macbook. The only way I could get a Mac Mini would be if I got a new TV (with 1:1) and gave my 19" Acer monitor to my brother.

My cousin is currently at Uni and says he can get an education discount which would take the Macbook to around £600 (still a little high). Can you use quidco with an education discount?

 

[jont]

Not sure but you can get quadruple nectar points if you a) go through nectar to the education store and b)pay on a sainsburys credit card if that helps ...

Did get an email from them yesterday saying they have refurb products in the education store so possibly even cheaper ...

Jon

Jon

 

[amardilo]

You could sign up to http://www.quidco.com and you can see if you can get a educational discount and you could also look at getting a refurb from Apple's refurb store (although not sure if refurbs are included in the educational discount).