New MacBook Back to School Deal Offers Big Discounts

While Apple recently launched its own back to school sale recently, B&H Photo doesn’t want to be outdone, so it has launched a back to school sale of its own.

Apple is currently giving students a free pair of $200 Beats Solo2 headphones when they purchase a new Mac, which can already be bought at a discount if students take advantage of education pricing.

B&H Photo, which is an authorized Apple reseller, has discounts of their own on MacBooks and iPads, offering up to $300 off.

The back to school sale has a handful of MacBooks and iPad models on sale, including the iPad mini 3 for $70 off on select models, meaning you can get 16GB WiFi + Cellular model for just $429. You can also get a 128GB WiFi + Cellular iPad Air for just $449, which is $280 off the normal price! Other models on sale, but the variety is rather limited.

As for MacBooks, you can get a 2015 11-inch MacBook Air for just $799, which is $100 less than what you’d normally pay. 13-inch MacBook Airs are also discounted by $100 and start at $899.

If you need something with a bit more power, B&H has MacBook Pros on sale as well, including an entry-level 2015 13-inch model for $1,199, as well as 2014 13-inch model for $1,449 that comes with a 2.8GHz Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, and 512GB of flash storage.

The biggest discount, however, is for a 2014 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 2.5GHz Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, 512GB of flash storage, and 750M graphics for $1,999, which is $300 off the normal price. That’s not quite as good as Apple’s deal when you factor in the cost of the Beats headphones, but if you’re looking for a solid discount right off the bat, this is a big one.

These B&H deals are happening right now, whereas Apple’s back to school sale doesn’t begin online until Thursday, so if you can be patient for a couple of days, you can score a free pair of headphones with your Mac purchase.

That sounds pretty good and all, but if you won’t really use those free headphones then Apple’s deal probably isn’t something you’re too interested in, which is where B&H can come through for you, offering you a hard and fast discount on a MacBook or iPad.

Of course, you could always resell the Beats headphones when you get them, but you may not get the full $200 back for them. Just like with a new car, they lose their value right as you roll them off the lot.

Furthermore, eBay listings can give you an idea of what new Beats headphones are selling for. You could get as much as $150 for your Beats Solo2 headphones brand new, but you’ll likely get less for them, since most listings I found were selling for around $120. Still, if you’re getting $100 back for them, that’s $100 that you didn’t originally have.

As for other Apple-focused back to school deals going on, there isn’t much out in the pasture right now. Best Buy is offering student deals on MacBooks, discounting models by $100 or so, which isn’t bad at all, but not quite what you could get at B&H.

If you’re still deciding which MacBook to buy in the first place, we can help you out there. The MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro are entirely different beasts, so it depends on what you’ll be doing with your laptop when you’re in college. Essentially, the MacBook Air is great for portability, but it isn’t as powerful as a MacBook Pro, which can be great for intensive work like graphic design and CAD, both of which will probably require a MacBook Pro.