Time to upgrade from my 22" Dell. I can use my wife's student discount to get it for $949 from Apple, and it looks like Amazon has it for $920. Is this this cheapest I'm going to find it for a while?

Unfortunately today's Black Friday deals didn't apply to the display.

 

Apple products are rarely discounted, so yes, think these are the best deals.

 

I am also in the market for the new ACD but so far no luck on finding it cheaper then Amazon.

Wish Apple would come out with a 30"+ display again.

 

Looks like Amazon is definitely the best deal. $920 or so, no tax, free shipping. Probably be ordering it tomorrow.

 

Got my display this morning, just set it up. 27" seems like the perfect size.

However, it seems to turn off if I disconnect the magsafe connector. This seems odd, as at least with my older MBP, the battery was quickly destroyed when I kept it plugged in all the time. Is this not true anymore?

 

^ My understanding is the battery has a cycle capacity. Letting the battery drain and then charge is a cycle. Therefore, keeping it plugged in is ideal. I may be wrong though.

 

fwiw, "open box" items can be severely discounted...

best buy is where i refer to in the above statement. best buy is a retail store and their managers have the ability to discount any item that has been opened in the store, put on display, or been returned...

 

Apple products are never discounted in a retail sense (save for the occasional Apple deal, which are only available from the Apple site/retail stores), unless they're refurbished items. If you see them for less than typical retail through "amazon", they're probably being sold by a third party through amazon, and are either refurbished or sketchy in some way. If you buy from an unauthorized source, you get no warranty, fwiw.

So far as batteries go, they have charge cycle life spans. A "cycle" is a complete (or near) discharged followed by a charge. Most batteries get somewhere between 250-400 cycles. Leaving it plugged in all the time and never discharging will kill it even faster.

Ideally you want to slightly discharge and recharge the battery on a daily basis. It is not necessary to completely discharge. I find that unplugging at night when the machine is asleep, then plugging back in in the morning is optimal for battery life.

 

Good to know, I thought you had to cycle it all the way down every time for optimal life. I'll just let it run down a bit like you suggested.

 

538 cycles on my blackbook. Battery health is still 85%. Would get a new one if I needed 3-4 hours reliably again, but since this thing is basically a couch surfer now, it is always plugged in and still gets 2.5-3h if necessary.