Apple computers are gaining market share on college campuses like crazy.  With their in store support (Genius Bar), optional (but well worth the money) 3 year warranty upgrade, their default suite of software productivity solutions, and their strategic marketing, Apple is poised to jump into the mainstream market share as the current collegiate-apple-fan graduates and becomes the majority of the technological work force.

Apple has made its product releases “events” that are cultishly followed by live feed and wildly rumored about on fan websites.  The interesting part is that once their new products are released, the older generation of products are substantially marked down, creating bargain deals for those who are at peace with the reality that 1st gen products typically have bugs and issues, while the tried and true nth gen products of the outdated product line are stable and dependable.

Here is an example:

Previous generation: Apple MacBook Pro MB133LL/A 15.4-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive on Amazon for $1444 (After Rebate [AR]) when just a week ago, it was around $1999.

Now, obviously if you were to buy this, then you wouldn’t have the newest and the best and the fastest and the shiniest, but you are also stretching your dollar by buying the previous product model.  What I mean is, let’s say you sell this laptop a year from now for $1000.  This would mean you “rented” this laptop for $444.  On the other hand, if you were to buy the newst model Macbook Pro, you would pay something around $2100 (retail in CA for the “low” end MBP barring any discounts), and probably sell it for $1300, resulting in a “rental fee” of $700.  As much as I like to have the newest model with all the fancyness, I must remind myself that waiting usually pays off.