Hi,

I have a friend that is interested in getting his niece an iBook - she is starting university in the fall. (Not a bad gift, eh?) What is the Education Discount and how does it work? As I understand it, the discount is only available through Apple Stores and apple.ca - is that right? I tried to poke around the Apple site, but I needed a student ID number to get anywhere.

A few questions...

1. How much is the 12" iBook with the Education Discount?
2. Does any additional software come bundled with it? Example: Microsoft Office, if not, is there an Education Discount or student edition at a reduced price for MS Office?
3. If he can get her Student ID number, can he purchase it for her? (He wants to surprise her.)

Thanks in advance.

yo paully, I received my iBook with the Memorial Computer Purchasing Center, that is authorized to sell Apple products at the educational discount. All I had to do was show my faculty ID, which is all a student has to do as well with their student ID. Since I was buying this with grant money, I was not eligible to get any special offers (e.g., buy an iBook and get an iPod mini, etc).

yep, u can just punch in her number and that will work. the verification process is pretty lax.
no MS office. it's compatible tho'. do a search in this forum re: software/compatibilty for more info.
i recommend buying instore - u can order online, but you might score (like i did) a cheaper applecare warranty if you buy instore (Yorkdale)
total price, you're looking at about $1500 ($1700 if you get the ipod mini, but it's still only 1500 when u factor in rebate)

The education price of an iBook 12" is $1199. Best Buy is selling the iBook to anyone for $1199 plus you get a $50 iTunes card free

$200 for student version of MS Office. $99 for iWork which is Word and Powerpoint compatible, but if you need Excel I recommend just getting MS Office as iWork does not have a spreadsheet program and the one that comes with Appleworks (free with iBook) does not support sheets.

Check out the deal at Compusmart. The iBook is $1249, but you get Mac Office, a modest printer and a carry case for free after rebates.
www.compusmart.com

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone!

Cheers.

That would have been a great deal. BUT The mail in rebate for MS Office is ONLY on Win32 versions, not OSX, according to the form I just looked at. Maybe you can get away with it, but those rebates are usually pretty specific. And you're stuck with paying for it if they don't send you the money back.

Just thought I'd warn people before they rush out and buy without reading the fine print.

A7

We bought a 12" iBook there last week and got the MS Mac Office, MacAlly bag and Lexmark printer as part of a back to school bundle - pay $1249 for the iBook, $389 for the bundle and get $389 back in mail-in rebates.

You're right - the website only showed the Windows version, but the store coupon and the flyer showed the Mac version as well.

See the back page of:

http://www.compusmart.com/Flyer/pdfs/August-25_En.pdf

for details.

It's worth pointing out that this deal is available to *everyone*, not just students.

Buy your copy of Office 2004 at your Campus Reseller. It'll cost you less. It should run about $100.