Buy Apple MacBook Pro Online?

Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop is used in this example of price comparison because it is the model of MacBook I am most interested in purchasing, due to it’s light weight and lower price point.

$1,138.99 includes free shipping and no sales tax to most states.

The following Stores prices on this model searched the same day and time including shipping handling and taxes – out the door pricing.

• Best Buy $1214.98
• B&H photo $1139 (I’ll never buy from them again!)
• The Apple store $1199
• Buy.com $1179 (I’ll never buy from Buy.com again either)
• MacMall $1138.99
• Computer Discount Warehouse $1198

So as you can see Amazon has the lowest price matched only by MacMall.

If you've read any of my articles before you'll know that I'm a big fan of Costco. Unfortunately Costello does not sell Apple Macintosh laptop computers. Costco has recently stopped selling Apple iPods because Apple refused to allow them to sell the Apple iPad. This is odd because Apple allows Costco's competitors to sell the iPad.Apple has traditionally done very strange things with their marketing plans. At one point the arrogance of the company about put them out of business. If not for the innovation and the lack of innovation from competing PC makers Apple would've died years ago. But the Apple Macintosh laptops and desktop computers are not the reason Apple is been profitable.

Apple has been profitable because of the iPhone the iPad the iPod and online services. Steve Jobs recent health problems and rumors of impending death Apple's stock price has been subject to above normal fluctuations. What's jobs is no longer driving the company who knows what will happen with the marketing department. It seems juvenile if not downright stupid to not allow the third largest retailer in the United States (Costco) to carry your product after such a successful track record. This will ultimately likely backfire on Costco... not! This will backfire on Apple.

In an interview with The Seattle Times earlier today, Costco's Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti confirmed the company is in the process of phasing out Apple products from its shelves.

Back on point. While I'm not a big fan of Apple as a company I've always been a fan of the Macintosh computer operating system. This is why I am currently in the market for an Apple Macintosh Mac book Pro.

There is a rumor that there is problems with the new Intel "Sandy Bridge" it sets that are expected to ship with the new Mac book Pro laptops. Intel has already recalled many computers using this chipset from PC manufacturers. I would expect the new machines to be a little bit faster as I've read good things about the Sandy Bridge chipset however if it truly is now much faster I would also expect the current inventories of Mac book Pro to not sell well. Only time will tell. In the mean time I'm preparing to buy so that as soon as I know that this issue has been resolved I'll be ready to make my decision.

Below are user comments about the Apple Mac book Pro. Feel free to make your own comments at the end of this article.

The pros of the Apple Macintosh MacBook Pro line

• This machine is far and away the most solidly built. It feels like it would stop a bullet, and it probably could. It's reassuring rigidity gives it a feeling of quality and sturdiness second to none. For someone who man handles his laptop all day every day, this is very important.

• Just thought I'd share that full startup, not just wake from sleep, takes less than fifteen seconds and full shutdown takes less than five - much faster than any Windows PC I've had. This laptop has a lot of wow factor going on for it. I buffed the ram up to 8GB and the hard-drive up to 500GB (7200rpm) using tools from iFixIt, some gear from amazon, and backup software (time machine and winclone). Starcraft2, left4dead 2, and other games that are not seriously taxing on the graphics chip are running flawlessly at the native resolution. I put XP in a virtual machine and it runs fantastic, which I use for VPN to my job. This laptop looks great and performs great as well.

• The MacBookPro is a solid laptop which is definitely worth owning. As an alternative to Windows PCs I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the MacBookPro to anyone. Yes the Mac operating system will take some getting used to but for simple every day use it's not difficult to learn. My problems with the MBP are small and few, I haven't regretted buying it at all.

• Separate volume levels for speaker and headphone: Really helps if I am in a public place (like a coffee shop) and listening to my favorite music and just plug the headphone out to leave. Rest of the folks dont end up cursing me as my speaker level is set to zero.

It was tough to decide between this and a best buy selection that had asus laptops in abundance, the reviews werent great for the vaio thats around the same price. I have used Macs in the past but never owned one. I have to say this is probably my 4th laptop in about 7 years. And all I have to say to apple is WOW this thing is built like a brick house. The one piece is really cool it feels so rugged. I was psyched when everything seem to work okay, including the wireless, right out of the box.

The Cons of the Apple Macintosh MacBook Pro line

• About the battery, Apple advertises it as lasting for 9 to 10 hours of use. In reality, it allows you to be mobile for 3 to 6 hours - depending on what task you're using the computer for. Also, it's an inbuilt battery so once it's exhausted, you will have to take your machine back to an Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for replacement. However, Apple states that the battery will hold 80% of it's charge for up to a 1000 charges which means approximately 3 to 4 years of daily use. So it should be a while before you have to go in for that battery replacement.

• I just don't feel any of the iLife apps, iMovie in particular, and Final Cut both of which up to this date are still 32-bit to be at home to OS X's 64-bit architecture. It's quite an anomaly actually. Quicktime is 64-bit, I don't see any reason why the other important bunch of apps are not.

• A big problem is also that this machine only has two usb ports.

• I have owned several Macs in the past and also in PCs. My preference is to work on the Macintosh-based computers as they're just easier to use. Unfortunately in the world of online marketing there are lesser known software applications that simply will not run on the Macintosh platform. So I'm left to use both. While I understand you can run Windows XP on a Macintosh with emulation software, XP is now a dated product and with the emergence of 64-bit operating systems it just doesn't make sense to go backwards.

For the average user who just wants to go online and download music, post images or videos, retouch photographs, make home videos, etc., the Macbook Pro would be an excellent choice.Again let me know what you think, and let me know about your experiences purchasing from Amazon.com. I have purchased several items from Amazon.com and so far none of them have been defective and the prices have been good. Many of the complaints about the Mac book Pro gasoline nothing to do with the computer itself, rather they have everything to do with defective units being shipped and the problems and hassles of giving those units repaired and/or replaced.