I am getting ready to buy an IPad. I was at Best Buy yesterday and their price matched my educator discount at the Apple Store. It also came with 2 years of Apple Care and I am a Best Buy member so I get added tech support and protection.

Is there any reason to choose the Apple Store over Best Buy?

So I buy almost all my Apple Products Open Box from Best Buy. It is considered new by Apple and qualifies for AppleCare and if you have their Total membership you get AppleCare+ on everything you buy.

I've found some steals but may have gotten the best deal I've ever gotten last night.

I have been looking at iPads for a couple weeks now and wanted the 13" but had resigned myself to the 11" because the 13" was out of my price range. I wanted the 13" because I am sick of lugging around my 16" MBP when I travel for work, it is an absolute boat anchor and I dread packing it.

I saw that a BB store near me had a 13" iPad Air M4 M3 for $599 in Fair condition. So I went down there to check it out.

When I asked the girl behind the counter, she brought out one that was in Excellent condition, so I asked the price. She said "$349.99" and if I had something in my mouth I would have done a spit take.

Needless to say I walked out the door with it 10 minutes later and am absolutely giddy about it. I somehow paid less than the budget I had allocated for the 11".

And just an FYI - this is the reason you should always go down to the store. If I had purchased online for in-store pickup, I would have paid $600. But every once in a while, it is different in the store's system. Usually it is maybe 20% but if you are buying a Macbook Pro that isn't a small amount. Sometimes its more in their system and you have to say "The price online is ___" and have them correct it.

EDIT: Yes, I realize I got the M chip wrong in the title and it is an M3, not an M4.

Best Buy’s deal of the day is an iPad Air 5th Gen 64GB for $399.99. Best Buy is clearly trying to get rid of some inventory and make some money on iPad airs before the new ones come out, but this is a crazy good price.

URL: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-10-9-inch-ipad-air-latest-model-5th-generation-with-wi-fi-64gb-starlight/4907100.p?skuId=4907100

Edit: Best Buy sold out of the Starlight ones with about 5 hours left before the end of yesterday. Maybe after Apple announces new iPads, Best Buy (and others) will probably discount the M1 iPad Airs to this price again.