Last week, unexpected tragedy struck. Okay, before you worry, it’s not real tragedy — it’s just that my laptop decided to stop working. Out of nowhere, in the middle of a mundane task, it just froze up. Then, upon starting it back up, I got an error indicating something was wrong with my startup disk. After several trials, yada yada yada, I can’t seem to fix it. Making matters worse, there’s no Apple Store in my area I can take it to. After thinking about it for a while, my wife and I decided to look at replacement options instead. Incidentally, this is where my luck turned around as I was able to find what I think is a pretty good deal on a laptop option while saving even more thanks to some stars aligning.
Initially, I was filled with dread when considering replacing my MacBook, knowing that the most recent MacBook Pro models start at $2,000! However, I then realized that the significantly cheaper (starting at $1,299) MacBook Pros released last year were still available. While I came close to buying one of these, I decided to take a closer look at the MacBook Air instead — a machine I’ve never owned before and had kind of lost track of. To my surprise, it seemed as though the latest M1 MacBooks Airs were fairly comparable to the 2020 Pro models spec wise, aside from some nominal enhancements on the latter. So, for a $300 savings, I decided I’d go with the Air and make due of it.
This is where the more fun savings come in. Due to some timing restraints (that I’ll explain a bit more in a moment), ordering directly from Apple wasn’t gonna work out. So, I headed to Best Buy’s site next. There, I saw that they had open box MacBooks Airs in “Excellent” condition for a discount. Oddly, the price difference for the open box Gold and Space Grey models was only about $50, while the Silver open box bore a $150 discount! Plus, the delivery would arrive within my necessary window.
Now we get to the biggest coup yet. A few weeks ago, my mother asked that I come to visit her since it’s been a while. Care to guess what state my mother lives in? Delaware — as in one of the few American states that don’t charge sales tax. Therefore, I was able to have my new laptop shipped to her condo while I’m there and save the approximately $70 in tax I’d have to pay if I purchased it here.
In the end, I was able to get my new MacBook Air for $850 all in. Considering I was bracing for a $2,200+ expense, I think this is a major money win. As for the question of whether the Air will meet my needs, after doing some research (which I did before buying, of course), I think I’ll be just fine as long as my YouTube videos don’t suddenly become 20 minutes long and shot in 8k. Speaking of my YouTube videos, you may recall that I actually purchased my new camera open box as well, and that worked out great too. So Merry Almost Christmas to me and thank you, Best Buy.