Finally upgraded from 2008 unibody macbook

[Idelgado782]

As the title states, I have a unibody 2008 macbook. I bought it back in 2009. Paid 999 for it. It was my first Mac and my second apple product. The first being my 3GS. I instantly fell In love with the Mac ecosystem. I vowed to never buy a PC again. I now have an Apple TV, airport express and extreme, and ipad min retina. Throughout the years I upgraded my loyal machine. First to 4gbs of Ram, then swapping out the hard drive with an ssd, and finally swapping out the cd/DVD optical bay with the original hard drive giving me a total of 500gbs hard drive space total. About two years ago soda spilled on some of the keys, I did my best to clean it out and using it was bearable. I would have to press harder than normal on some keys but nothing that created a sense of urgency for me to go out and buy a new laptop right away. From time to time I checked the trade in value and of course as more time passed the less it was. Yesterday while on my way home i was checking my email and saw cnet deals. Best buy is offering an additional $150 off of MacBooks an iMacs if you have an .edu student email address. The airs are on sale for $100 less than normal bringing the total discount to $250 off. Bringing the 11.6 down to $650. With my trade in credit of my current Mac as well as a samsung tablet I only end up paying $350 out of pocket for a brand new 11.6 MBA which is something I couldn't turn down. I'm going to sell the macbook and tablet on gazelle because it gave me more money than what best buy offered.

I went to my closet to get the box of my first macbook to ship it out and it tugged at my heart strings that I'm finally letting go after almost five years. I almost don't want to let go....

However I am loving the Portability of the MBA and it Definitely is snappy. I also go to school part time so I'm looking forward to being able to take it with me to class and not have added weight. I purchased the 128gb model, I have an external 2tb hard drive connected to my network via export extreme and I have drop box pro so for now it'll do, but I'll definitely upgrade the ssd and maybe even the ram later on so that I won't have to worry about being connected to the network. I'm looking forward to another five years of loyal usage from this bad boy! Thanks for reading!

 

[HankAZ]

Congrats! However, the SSDs are proprietary and will be expensive and/or hard to find for that MBA. And the RAM is soldered to the motherboard, so no possibility of upgrading that.

 

[Idelgado782]

Thanks for the info. I was not aware the ram is soldered into the MBA. Which kind of sucks. Owc has 240gb ssds for the air for $189. Hopefully when I'm ready the price will be a bit cheaper. I guess I'll really be putting hard drive and Dropbox storage to good use now.


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[benhmadison]

Thanks for the info. I was not aware the ram is soldered into the MBA. Which kind of sucks. Owc has 240gb ssds for the air for $189. Hopefully when I'm ready the price will be a bit cheaper. I guess I'll really be putting hard drive and Dropbox storage to good use now.


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Congrats on the new machine! The Best Buy deal, paired with the student discount is an amazing deal. I wouldn't worry too much about the ram not being upgradable. I started with the 4gb ram/128 macbook air but exchanged it for the 8/256 macbook pro with retina. The retina display is nice but honestly, I miss the form factor and battery life of the MBA. I am thinking of swapping back (still within my 15 days) especially now that the air is 100 cheaper than it was. I am doing the exact same tasks on the 8gb of ram that I was on the 4gb model and the 4gb model handles everything beautifully. If I were editing 1080p video or doing a lot of photo editing the 4gb would be a stretch, but for everyday tasks, it's fine. Enjoy the new machine!

 

[UJ95x]

Congrats on the new MBA

Also bought by rMBP 13 two weeks ago because of the sale they were having. Although I didn't have anything to trade in, it still came out to be a couple hundred $ less than it would have been at an Apple store (or any other retailer really).

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[wildmangk]

I too just purchased a MBA during the BestBuy sale. I used my .edu email to get the extra $150 discount and some rewards zome certs I had accumulated and paid $715 for my 13"/4gb/128gb machine. This is my first ever new Mac product as I bought a used 08 MBP and fell in love with the ecosystem and synchronization of my iPhone and iPad mini retina.

I strongly recommend anyone that has been on the fence of buying a MBA, now is the time! Especially if you have an .edu email address (or can borrow one for the coupon code).


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[Idelgado782]

For the coupon code I heard you can find them on ebay. I haven't tried looking but if the price is righ and you don't have an .edu email address paying a small prices for the coupon not be a bad deal. I'd pay $25 to get $150 for example.

 

[Idelgado782]

Update: I was reading on other forums that people were able to combine the BB movers coupon on top of the .edu discount so I decided to take back the MBA and try it out. My BB had an open box 13" 256gb open box model for $900 which is $200 off the regular price. I went up to customer service, told the rep that I ended up needing more space and I asked her for the open box item. She had someone bring it up for her and he began the exchange. I told her I had a movers coupon as well as asked her to reapply the .edu discount, she scanned and applied the movers coupon and it asked for an override. A manager came over and didn't even look at the coupon. I was able to get the 13.3 256gb macbook air for $725 after all discounts!!! Here is what my receipt breakdown is:

13.3" 256gb Haswell MBA Open Box $999
Movers Coupon $100 Off
.Edu Coupon $150 Off
BB My Rewards Zone Certs $25 off

Brand New 13" 256 MBA $375 off regular price.

#WINNING!

 

[wildmangk]

Thanks! ima look into this. I do have 45 days to try to get a better deal since Im an elite plus member.

 

[richard_rsp]

Thank you for mentioning the BestBuy $150 off for education coupon. I am in my masters program and just bought a Macbook Air 13" - Since i am within the 15 day return period, I am going to go back and use the coupon!

 

[Idelgado782]

Thank you for mentioning the BestBuy $150 off for education coupon. I am in my masters program and just bought a Macbook Air 13" - Since i am within the 15 day return period, I am going to go back and use the coupon!

Of course! Keep us posted! Hopefully you can take advantage of the additional discounts!


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[richard_rsp]

Of course! Keep us posted! Hopefully you can take advantage of the additional discounts!

Just got back from my local BestBuy... with $160 more in my pocket! They gave me the $150 back (plus tax) for the Student coupon and even extended the price that I paid on Saturday (which was $1,099 - its $40 more this week) without even asking! Great price and customer service BestBuy!

 

[Idelgado782]

Just got back from my local BestBuy... with $160 more in my pocket! They gave me the $150 back (plus tax) for the Student coupon and even extended the price that I paid on Saturday (which was $1,099 - its $40 more this week) without even asking! Great price and customer service BestBuy!

That is AWESOME! I'm glad you went back and tried and they didn't even give you a hard time! These savings are great! It makes enjoying your brand new mac even better! Enjoy!


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[VictoriaPa1]

Thank you for the complete info.

 

[wildmangk]

I have a $50 off coupon code if anyone needs it....for any macbook


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