Where can I get the best deal for 17" MBP now?

I'm sad that Apple decided to stop making the 17" Macbook Pro because I'd been planning to get one for such a long time. The new 15" MBP with Retina is impressive, but for me, it's no more useful. Having a 17" display is one of my most "wanted" features in a laptop, so I think I will still look to buy the current 17" model. Being new to Apple laptops and products though, I'm not sure where (which vendor) I should go to find the cheapest prices. Can you guys suggest?

Ebay? MacMall? etc?

Also, would it be good to buy it soon? Or should I wait to see if the price drops in the coming months or weeks since it's not the newest line anymore?

 

Considering that for the same (current) price as a 17", you could get many more pixels with the 15" Retina, wouldn't the higher resolution be better?

Anyway, eBay, MacMall, Amazon, etc should give you okay deals. A sure-fire way to get a reduced price is by going to Apple Outlet and/or their education discount.

 

wait a few days and the prices will start to drop... dont jump to buy right away since most retailers havent had a chance to load the new specs, and will not be in a rush to drop prices for a few days while they are uploading the new laptop specs.

 

I am a little disappointed that there is not a new 17" also. I'm wondering if they will release one in a few months. I may go with the 15" retina since it can scale to 1920x1200. The font size will just be smaller than on a 17"... which may finally prompt me to get one or two nice external displays. And in the end I'd have a very light weight laptop (compared to my current 09 17" mbp) with 1920x1200 and a sweet external monitor setup for when I'm working from my office.

I'm going to wait a month or two though.

 

You do understand that the highly increased resolution of the 15" Retina gives it a lot more screen real estate making it a more than perfect replacement for the 17" right?

 

Sometimes it isn't the pixel density and real estate resolution wise that is a priority, but the physical size of the screen itself for users. I would prefer 17"+ @ 1920x1200 versus 15.4" @ 2880x1880 simply because the physical real estate is bigger regardless of the ppi.

 

for some people... I like the resolution myself.
I have a 17" MBP and I *only* got it because of the 1920x1200 really... if there had been an option for that in the 15, I would have gotten the 15. So its impossible to please everyone without making so many different machines it becomes a major cost factor.

and now I have to find someone to buy my 17"er (early 2011)

 

I totally agree that resolution is important, but high resolution in conjunction with large physical real estate is a win/win for me. Cramming higher resolution into smaller physical displays is where I start to tune out for laptops and I prefer a physical screen of 17" or larger. Regardless of the resolution, larger screens are more engaging for me.

But the sales figures reported for 17" models shows I am in the vast minority and it makes sense for Apple to discontinue the 17" flagship model versus designing a retina display around a 17" design and go with the Retina display 15.4" model.

 

I had a 15" dell laptop with 1920x1200 and it's doable on that size display but everything is so tiny compared to the 1920x1200 on my 17" machines. But I imagine that it will be MUCH MUCH better viewing at that setting on the new MBP 15" with retina vs the old dell 15". As good as a 17" though??? I'll find out when I see them side by side.

 

i too am bummed that they dropped the 17"...

i am hooked on the size of the 17"...
so, no chance they'll bring out a 17 eh?

 

Nobody knows for sure, it's just that Apple dropped the 17" model after their WWDC keynote speech. They might bring it back or never talk about it again, we won't know anything until Apple officially announces it. Right now it looks like the 2012 new 15" MBP is going to occupy that absurd high price range taking over for the 17" MBP.

Best Buy should start selling the older Macs at a discounted price soon. They normally decrease the prices by $50-$250 depending on the model for the previous generation releases. It might not be a bad place to check. I would stay away from eBay though since there are bound to be a few d-bags that drastically increase the price of any 17" MBPs they have knowing there aren't any currently on the market.

 

Every other time I can remember that the 17" got updates later than the rest of the line, they continued to sell the older version of it, and never completely pulled it from the store... so its most likely that its gone for good, or at least for a few years.

 

Exactly, and this might be just one of the reasons they don't currently (or may never in the future) offer the 17". The price for the Retina 15" is already close to $3000 USD and that's the base model. A 17" Retina with flash memory could push the price to $4000 USD easily and the 17" wasn't the most popular selling Macbook. Lugging around the large-screened laptop is becoming a thing of the past.

 

Yep. Ebay is a waste of time if seeking out Macs or Alienwares (if living in US/CAN).

People post used laptop for the price of new laptops and new laptops for 20-50% more than retail price in most cases. These people do this because outside the US/CAN prices for each brand skyrockets, so they take advantage of the price scheming. Just look at Brazil for example (as mentioned by MrM) - a retina MBP is 5,000$ USD (after conversation rates).

 

I bought my last three Macs off eBay, and in all three cases I got decent deals. My last purchase was just over a month ago, I got the base 17" 2011 model and saved a few hundred bucks, and no tax. I got the last 17"! The last one! IT WILL BE PRIED FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS.

 

I am the OP, and I very much agree with your thought. Extremely high resolution is not as important to me because:
1) The current max resolution on most laptop these days are pretty good already.
2) I want a bigger physical screen, not just more real estate. If you increase the resolution, you'll get more real estate, inarguably. If you make things small enough, eventually, the whole world would fit on the screen. (Ok, a little exaggeration there). But the point is I want see more on the screen without squinting more =)

Anyway, thanks for everyone's input so far. Please keep your opinions and suggestions coming. I take it that I shouldn't rush too much, so I will take some time reading your feedback and researching for the right deal.

 

You do realize that the screen real estate will be the exact same as the 17" right? The 1:1 pixel resolution is not an option. The highest resolution you will achieve (without some hacking) is a scaled 1920x1200.

 

The MBP 17 wasn't a rarity, even though it wasn't the best-selling model. After all, if a company cut every model that wasn't best-selling, they'd only sell one model, right?

As for price, the non-Retina MBP 17 cost $300 more than a similarly-specced non-Retina MBP 15. So whether we're talking $2200 for the base MBPR 15 or $3000ish for a well-specced one, a $300 premium doesn't exactly take us into another price bracket.

And the screen resolution is no reason to kill the larger screen. A lot of people like size plus sharpness, not just sharpness. Compare a 1080p Vaio F2 (16.4") and a 1080p Vaio Z2 (13.1"). Just because they've got the exact same pixel count doesn't mean they're equally useful for side-by-side document viewing, photo editing, etc. Extra size really helps.

My parents own his-and-hers MBP 17s. My mother is not willing to drop down to a 15" machine, but also doesn't want to (1) switch to a desktop, or (2) switch to Windows, so she's in a conundrum at the moment.

 

I think the cost of a retina screen in 17 inch is exponentially more, making it really expensive. That is possibly why it was easier to start with the phones.