So it’s officially less than twenty four hours until all you crazed maniacs can get your hands on the new iPad. How excited are you? Have you already picked out what you are going to wear to stand in line tomorrow? I know Dom’s excited he’s been tracking his new iPad like predator to prey for the last week through his FedEx account. I can’t wait to see him wet his pants when the FedEx truck pulls up to his house. I imagine the FedEx truck turning the corner onto his street will sound something like if Justin Beiber were to show up to sing one of his hit songs to a birthday party full of twelve year old girls. Anyways enough with all the shenanigans let’s get down to business.
Here’s macmixing’s new iPad buyer’s guide for 2012. Not a list of do’s and don’t just a list of things to consider before you go to war.
If You’re Buying Direct From Apple Get Ready To Wait in Line:
The first and most popular choice for purchasing the new iPad is at Apple’s online store. The only downfall is that if you order your new iPad today from Apple’s online store you won’t receive it until two to three weeks from now, as shipping times have slipped considerably. Your next option would be to go to your local Apple Store and purchase one there, but buying from an Apple Store on launch day has it’s own special challenges. Expect to deal with large crowds and wait in long lines. Apple announced earlier this week that they will be opening their stores two hours earlier at 8AM for hungry iPad costumers. We recommend getting there a lot earlier than that if you plan on getting your hands on Apple’s latest tablet.
AT&T and Verizon ar Offering LTE Models In-Store and On-Line Starting Friday:
If you plan on picking up an LTE iPad, AT&T and Verizon will have them in in-store as well as online. AT&T is going to require you to purchase a data plan. (you can cancel it after a month) Verizon sells them online with or without a data plan. If you buy without a data plan you’ll avoid a $35 activation fee. If your planning on buying in store you’ll want to get there early to stand in line. Also keep in mind that these carrier stores will have considerably less iPad’s in stock, but they should also have smaller crowds.
Third-Party Retailers Only Offering New iPad In-Store For Now:
Best Buy, Target, Wall-Mart, and Sam’s Club will also have iPad’s for sale on Friday. The experience of buying from these stores should be similar to buying from a carrier store, the upside being much smaller crowds the downside a lot less stock available. Also these third-party retailers will only be offering the new iPad in-store as of now. Radio Shack will also be selling new iPad’s in-store tomorrow but unlike the other retailers they started taking pre-orders last week. Pre-ordering from Radio Shack requires you to purchase a $50 gift card that you can turn around and use on your new iPad.
Happy hunting, and may the force be with you!
Oh yeah and don’t forget to stop by tomorrow and check out Dom’s un-boxing of the new iPad!
