5 reasons to love Costco during the gift-giving season

@Priya:
Have you checked out SmallDog?
http://www.smalldog.com

They have great prices, thats where I got my macbook.

I went in search of the cheap Apple TV this weekend and ended up just snagging one for $200 shipped off eBay. The people who work at Costco are absolutely moronic. The said they didn't carry Apple TV's literally 5 steps from the 160 GB display when I asked if they had 40GB ones.


http://www.macnewsonline.com/

I have found that Costco sells Apple products that Apple is DESPARATELY wanting to clear out (usually because the product is being discontinued or a newer version is being introduced). e.g. Costco was selling the white iMacs, trying to clear them out, just before the new Aluminum iMacs were introduced.

Some major print publications (e.g Forbes?) have described the AppleTV as the "iFlop". I strongly suspect that Apple will be either discontinuing the AppleTV or introducing a newer version. (I hope the later. I would like to see an AppleTV with a remote that has a VOLUME control and a larger hard disk).

I have seen the AppleTV being discounted to as low as $338. (Just goes to show how much of a markup Apple puts on its goods).

Costco does not carry mac book only ipods.

If you are looking for a macbook depend on where you are and if you have student status considering looking at refurb or at your local college campus.

@ the guy that return a nearly 3 years old projector, stop abusing the policy and ruin it for everyone.

Costco, the place college kids eat for gratis. Got to love all those free samples.

Costco? It's all about the food, food, food... for ME. And copious amounts of cheap TP. "Gift-giving"? your card's in the mail.

Kidding aside... I was going to give some iTunes GC's this year to the plebe's at work but decided to give some GC's for Amazon's sweet delicious DRM-free MP3 service instead.

At my Costco the $50 iTunes card is no longer available, however, there are a now TWO sets of iTunes cards. One has four $15 cards for $57 and the other has 4 $25 cards for $94. Obviously they are looking at the gift giving market with the coming Christmas season.

"If you held off buying an Apple TV because you were waiting for good pricing, now's the time to shop."

Actually, the time to shop for me will be when Apple adds some much-needed functionality (DVD drive? Remote control via iPhone/iPod touch?), offers HD downloads (at a reasonable cost), or cuts the price.

The AppleTV as it currently exists is too little for too much. I'm hoping for a holiday update, though we're getting a little far into the holiday shopping season already so I worry Apple will let this thing stagnate a while longer. Which would be a real shame.

Gotta love the Costco in the UK too...we still have a 3 year return to base, refund warranty on TVs etc..last year I got a full refund on a 2yr 11month-old projector! Costco rules the worlds.

Hey Mike @ #1:

At my Costco, it's just the 160gb version for something like $388 I believe.

I still think the best deal going on Apple TVs is a refurb from the Apple Store. $229 for the 40gb (I stream everything so 40gb is no big deal) and mine came still shrinkwrapped in original packaging, so I think it was just overstock and not actually a used unit.