Apple running student promotion on Monday?

This MacBook Air might come with a rebate for students next week, or perhaps a free iPod.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

If you were contemplating the purchase of a new MacBook to take back to school in the fall, take the weekend to think about it.

AppleInsider thinks Apple is about to launch a new educational promotion in the coming days, perhaps as soon as Monday. The report says hefty incentives will be offered to those eligible for Apple's educational discount program, which includes students, teachers and faculty members.

Last year Apple offered a rebate on the cost of an 4GB iPod Nano to any student who purchased both a Mac and a iPod Nano or video iPod, and it did something similar in 2006. AppleInsider says this year's promotion is going to be Apple's biggest ever, but offered no details on what exactly the promotion might involve.

The current quarter, which ends in June, is a big one for Apple's K-12 educational buyers, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said on the company's last earnings call in April. But otherwise, it's generally the slowest period of the year: the real educational buying action tends to happen in the third calendar quarter of the year, when college students gear up for another year.

[ibm_hater]

I have a friend who actually works for Apple doing rebates. She said that she has been meeting some pretty "high up there" people and they have told her that on Monday, she will have a lot of rebates to fill out. I know this might not be the most reliable source but I think this blog might be right!

[MaLvaDo39]

Confirmed. I may actually know a thing or two sometimes. ;)

[nicmart]

Beware of Apple rebates. I sent mine in on time, but Apple said it never arrived and refused to accept the copies I had kept of all the required items. $200 rip-off.

[dtbrummelljr]

My $200 came just fine

[pfletcher]

and with a $200 rebate a Mac Book Pro will still be more expensive than the same spec machine from Dell or HP - but hey students will look cool :-)

[rhett121]

What a completely uneducated, unsubstantiated knee-jerk comment. One must be a complete moron to actually believe that. Have you actually compared "SAME SPEC" machines? I have and I know that is NOT true. Not even a little bit.

Maybe you're just sore because you didn't go to school but that is no reason to insult the intelligence of others with your ridiculous claims.

If nothing else, show me a Dell or HP that will run OSX "and" Windows! Then find one with a nice solid Aluminum enclosure. Then find one with all the same specs, right down to the Firewire 800. I'll tell you right now, it's not going to happen.

[purcell429]

Uh huh. Right. Go to dell.com, spec out a XPS M1530:

Tuxedo Black
Intel® Core? 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® Vista Ultimate Edition SP1
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2.0 M
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Size: 160GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
High Definition Audio 2.0
Finger Print Reader XPS M1530

All for only $1852! So, assuming a $200 rebate... your actually wrong! But I admit there are some differences, The apple does not have a finger print scanner and an extra usb port, and the dell doesn't have a backlit keyboard, it weighs more, the battery life is worse, its bigger, no multitouch trackpad, the harddrive is bigger (200 vs 160), no magsafe power adapter (its saved my laptop a time or two), and yeah, the software. No photo, video, music, or webpage editing software included. And I'll tell you what, I won't even bring up the whole Vista thing, k?

[bcas400e]

pfletcher - you forgot to add back the 200 for the Dell and HP to get XP and virus software.

[sciontcya]

Every Apple rebate we've sent in (three kids and a wife in school) have all come back quickly and without issue.
For Wintel trolls, please spare us.

[johnericanderson]

A good deal on a toy computer. Oh boy.
Can you say "Etch-O-Sketch"?

[Seaspray0]

As far as rebates are concerned, I've not seen one that didn't give someone an issue. Let's face it; unless it's an instant "in the store" rebate, you take your chances by mail. I've had my successes and failures. Whether you are likely to have an issue depends on the company providing it and if you properly provide the form with all the required information. So far, I've seen posts from 1 who had issues and many who didn't. That's a better record than most, in my book.

[jjbraunius]

Apple actually has a student discount, at least the one I bought did - something along 10% on IBook. I bought it from the university store.

[RedJac101]

If you are into the arts, this is good news. I hope Apple doesn't sucker in kids want wanting to be in the business world.