MacPrices.net

CompUSA was having a Summer / Back-to-School sale and a "no interest for X number of months on all products including Apple." I figured let's try that out and see what happens. I went in to get a 15" PowerBook, but standing there for an hour, got attracted to the small 12" one. Okay, price was a factor too. Staring me in the face were two options. A 12" iBook G4, and a 12" PowerBook G4.

Then there was the almost marginal price difference between the two making it even harder to decide which one to buy. Add a little more, you get a top of the line PowerBook laptop. Take a way some to get the low-end model iBook, and you save a good amount of money. The employee there said either one would be good for what I wanted and needed to do.

The guy went in back and told me that there were no new ones left, and that the display models were it, plus another open box unit in back. Both 12" PowerBook G4s were "discounted" at $1099.98. The iBook display unit was really scratched up (surprised?), so that got out of the picture and left me with the 12" PowerBooks to choose from.

I looked at both PowerBooks, which were cosmetically affected, and I didn't like the way they looked. I switched back over to the 15" model before the employee convinced me to go with a MacBook Pro first generation leftover. (Oops. Didn't we decide to not go with an Intel-powered Mac notebook? It was that "spur-of-the-moment" decision making again).

As luck would have it, I got turned down by CompUSA on the offer. I wasn't surprised, because the particular bank associated with the CompUSA card was a bank that never ever approves me for anything. I bet if I applied for a $1 loan, they'd turn me down.

Three weeks later, I walked back in with a feather in my hat. It was a special e-mail coupon for subscribers to CompUSA's e-mail list. 25% off all discontinued products in stock. You can probably guess where this is going now!

I walked in to find one display unit left on the shelf, and this one--very surprisingly--was one that was just recently put out on display. This was not the one that I had seen three weeks earlier nor the one pulled out from the back (remember, I was shown two). And this one was even lower in price at $999.98

I tried to make a deal with the CompUSA employee since this was the last one in stock, and I was taking it off their hands. The best they could do for me was take $100 off since it was already going for below retail. The catch was that I would have to buy a CompUSA warranty on the product since it was a display unit. They're not allowed to sell display units as is, since, the product is actually used by a lot of people as opposed to an "open box" one.

The CompUSA store Apple employee then informed me that there was a lower-priced deal they could work out with me, but was only valid if I had a special coupon, but the manager was willing to do it anyway. I pulled out my coupon and said, "This one??" The document sealed the deal and made it real. The $999.98 price tag went down to? (Prepare yourself for this one...)

$749.98. My new $750 Mac notebook, a price you'll never find unless you bought a PC laptop!! (Are you dying yet? Of course, I still had to buy a CompUSA warranty. But it was still a steal. With the 3-year warranty, I still paid less than what I would have at "full price" plus that).

So, since September, I've been the proud owner of a 12" PowerBook G4, to which I've written many articles in reference to it. How it's the best notebook Apple's ever made. How I wish they'd bring it back. Why on earth they decided to get rid of it in favor of the 13" form factor of a MacBook. How we thought we might be seeing its return with the possible announcement of a 12" MacBook Pro at Macworld 2007.

I have no complaints. I barely look back at the old PowerBook. (Though I did pull it out the other week because I missed it). The two machines really can't compare-- they're both great! I've been thinking of selling it on eBay or to anyone interested, but it was such a great model that I still can't bear to part with it, even with this new G4. Though, both are now classified as vintage and obsolete. Go figure. (Correction: the Pismo model isn't, according to that MacMerc.com article!).

I chose to think different and seemingly ended up a winner in the end. By purchasing a G4 notebook, I gained more processing power and speed above that of my "Pismo" PowerBook. At the same time, I saved myself the headache of having a new product off the assembly, a "rev A/B" model MacBook or MacBook Pro, which when more mature, I'll eventually get. Like my "Pismo" was before the G4s came out. Like this 12" G4 before the Intel era of Mac notebooks.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by..."

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