<p>I would like to get an iPad mini for one of my dearest friends. It would be both a birthday and Christmas preset.</p>
<p>Money is very tight this year due to some unforseen expenses, so I wasn’t really planning to spend more than $200. Therefore, I can’t really afford the iPad Air or the new iPad mini, so I was thinking for going for the original one at $299.</p>
<p>That’s still above my budget, but I think I can swing it, especially if I can find a sale. Even though I love gadgets, I am NOT an Apple person at all, so I don’t know where (besides the Apple store) I can get a good deal.</p>
<p>I live in NYC but would prefer not to go to a physical store on Black Friday, if possible. Normally, I would actually be curious and excited to go, but this year I just really want a restful holiday. </p>
<p>Anyways, so that leaves online. Does the online Apple store do Black Friday? Cyber Monday? I read somewhere that non-Apple distributers should be offering better Black Friday prices, but I don’t even know what other websites sell iPads.</p>
<p>Finally, I do want to buy a new one, not used, not refurbished.</p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck in being able to get an ipad mini at your desired price. </p>
<p>However, from past history, Apple doesn’t tend to do much in way of Black Friday type promotions from what I can recall. Moreover, their best discounts for students tended to be during the summer months though it hasn’t been as great when they replaced the free/discounted ipod with mac purchase deal with itunes/app giftcards a few years ago. </p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>I’d also check the refurbished section of Apple to see if any good deals pop up. However, if you see one at your desired price, jump right on it as they can go very quickly. Many of the refurbed items in my friends’ experiences were returned stock which sometimes were never even opened due to immediate regrets from impulse buying.</p>
<p>I want to 2nd that I have purchased refurbished direct from apple many times and
have not had any problems. You may want to go to a site like dealnews.com and
sign up for their alert emails. You can get an email just when a good deal on an ipad mini
comes up.</p>
<p>You can also check Amazon Trade-Ins. This might change as soon as the Mini Retina becomes a reality for consumers. </p>
<p>Walmart was very aggressive with its iPad Air pricing, and T-Mobile offered reasonable monthly fees and no-interest. Perhaps they’ll announce something similar for the Mini.</p>
<p>Apple currently shows some refurbished minis. The wifi ones are 32gb or 64gb so the price is $339 or $419. IMHO, the extra gigs are worth the money.</p>
<p>While I agree that 32 or 64 Gig are a good idea, there are a couple of devices that can make the 16 Gig expandable. If the iPad is supposed to be filled with pictures, movies, or even documents, a smart device such as the ravpower ends up being less expensive. For the record, the device contains a battery that can recharge iPhones, iPods, and iPad (stretching it for the iPad) and offers a hotspot with access to flashdrives and “camera” cards. The prices of such cards has come down to the point one can get 64 gigs for around 40 dollars. This also means that one can have a collection of cards with different stored material and that the photos from a digital camera are directly accessible by the apple devices. </p>
<p>All in all, while direct access to the data is still more elegant, the combination works well and the device plus a 64 gig card is still less than the 100 dollars Apple wants for 16 gig or 32 gig of space. And, needless to say, is that it means that there is UNLIMITED space via attaching one or more hard drives via the USB slot used for the flashdrive. </p>
<p>In a way, I frankly do not understand why Apple has not marketed such an expansion device, even if they stubbornly refuse to incorporate a USB or similar slot. A few bucks and a few grams more would have worked well with the new AirPad. Fwiw, I find it perhaps too … light and angular. :)</p>
<p>Refurbished is identical to brand new, IMO.
Ive never had a problem.
But if money is tight, why buy an ipad, why not a kindle or something that will be on sale?</p>
<p>We got our iPad mini 16gb for the WalMart price match of $299 at the Apple store (instead of $329). Because our Schwab account gave us a $200 gift card and there was a sidewalk sale, we also got a $10 gift card to use at a mall restaurant. </p>
<p>Have not seen great prices on Apple products ever and they told me they generally don’t price match either. Sometime have seen Target, BestBuy or Sam’s Club give a gift card with the purchase of Apple product, thereby slightly reducing the net cost. </p>
<p>Agree if money is tight, is look closely at other tablets which are cheaper and you can get something nice for $200 new!</p>
<p>If you’re looking for black Friday on-line prices, I just wanted to let you know at leasts e stores start their on-line sales on Thursday, so look very early on Thanksgiving. Good luck</p>
<p>Website: <a href=“http://www.theblackfriday.com%5B/url%5D”>www.theblackfriday.com</a>. Publishes ads as soon as they get them. Macy’s is already on there for this year for example. In my experience and as stated above watch websites for the entire week of thanksgiving. Target ran daily online specials last year as did others like walmart. No standing in lines just order and have it shipped. I bought my best deal ever on a camera thanksgiving morning for $300 off. Best buy runs specials also. There is effort needed in research and monitoring to get the lower prices though.</p>
<p>Keep an eye out for Target, Staples and Best Buy ads. They may offer those early morning two-hour specials that you can actually purchase from home. The best deals are to be found in store, but that is a painful experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see discounts on the older models, or more likely, $50 gift card with purchase. (Fine as long as you will be able to spend $50 at Target or Best Buy.)</p>
<p>Deal News dot com summarizes tech sales and you can set up an alert/RSS feed to notify you of promotions on specific products. </p>
<p>Apple has on-line Black Friday savings but they really do not amount to more than the student/educator discount (5% perhaps).</p>