Best (cheapest) place to buy an Ipad

[mrudman]

Trying to find the best deal out there..

Debating getting one for dh for his 40th birthday coming up... he's been asking for one since they came out.

Probably looking at the original one, not the Ipad 2, since I'm sure those will be much easier to find cheap.

Also, thinking the 8gb/16gb would be what I'd like.. he had gotten me an 8gb Touch few yrs ago, and even with the tons of apps I have on it, etc, still haven't used more than 1/4 of the memory... not sure though if I'd go for Wifi only or with the 3G.. would have to decide on that.

Anyone know the best place to get a deal? Refurbished would be fine, as long as it comes with a warranty.

Thanks!

 

[girli565]

Apple normally doesn't discount their products even when they're sold at another retailer like Best buy or Target.

But... Target sells them and if you use one of their red cards you can get 5% off the purchase. iPad 1 may be found for a lower price (not much though). I also saw one on Woot.com for a discounted price. It was an apple certified refurbed one though.

 

[mrudman]

Thanks!

I've been googling, and came across a deal that almost looks too good.

Looks like AT&T has a refurbed 16gb wi-fi + 3G one available for $329, with 90-day warranty.

Says you have to buy a data plan with it (at $15/month), but there's no contract, so can cancel after the first month.

Why would this one be available so cheap, when the same refurbed one (although it does have 1-yr warranty), goes for $479 on apple.com?

 

[auralia]

I believe ipad 1 is only 100-150 cheaper unless you want to chance a used ebay purchase. A 16 gb Ipad 2 wi fi can be had for 500$ a 3g is 630ish. Here http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB292?mco=MjEzNTIxMjY you can get a refurbished 1st gen ipad wi fi for 350$ direct from apple. It comes with a 1 year warranty and since it is from apple direct you know it's legitimate. I have purchased lots of refurbished ipods over the years and all have come to me looking brand new.

In my opinion the extra features of the ipad 2 are worth the extra 100-150$ but that's just for me and what I use it for. I use skype on it quite a bit so a camera is necessary and was the main factor in me paying for the ipad 2 over 1. HTH

 

[auralia]

Thanks!

I've been googling, and came across a deal that almost looks too good.

Looks like AT&T has a refurbed 16gb wi-fi + 3G one available for $329, with 90-day warranty.

Says you have to buy a data plan with it (at $15/month), but there's no contract, so can cancel after the first month.

Why would this one be available so cheap, when the same refurbed one (although it does have 1-yr warranty), goes for $479 on apple.com?

It only has a 90 day warranty through att while apples is 1 year. This is a big deal breaker for me personally most products fail in the first 120 days if they will fail. I don't trust Att they have been very bad to me in the past and lied to get me to sign contracts be certain it doesn't require you to keep the data plan for some length of time.

Also if you read the fine print the ATT price is only available online and there are no returns on the product. The warranty is still through apple it seams, but if you get a less than pretty used ipad ATT doesn't care and apple won't fix that according to their terms of service on a close out item.