Going back to school is not a cheap thing, and most students have to work hard for it. Sure, Macs may be recognized to be more expensive than other computers because of the so-called “premium” you’re paying for, but that doesn’t mean that students avoid them completely — in fact, Macs are more popular than ever within the student population. Here are some tips that should give your wallet a break.

Discounted Macs. The best way to save some green when buying a Mac is to get some discounts, and luckily, Apple offers a few for students to choose. Depending on the price tag of the Mac you’re hunting for, the price will vary — refurbished discounts, the student discount, the student dev discount are the ones Apple offers. Refurbished Macs are factory reconditioned, but come with a one-year warranty, plus savings of maybe a couple hundred of dollars. The student discount offers new Macs with a modest discount for the student population, but you have to verify your status as a qualified student. Then, the lesser-known discount is the ADC student one. To take advantage of it, you have to buy the $99 ADC student membership from Apple, but sometimes the one-time purchase of your discounted Mac comes cheaper than refurbished or student-discounted equipment — even after the $99 membership, which also includes some nice developer perks. The best part is that you don’t have to actually plan on being a developer to obtain this discount — you just have to verify yourself as a qualified student. Below is a chart that shows the current Mac notebooks across the board with their discounted prices.


As it’s shown, the cheaper a Mac is in retail, the best deal is to be found in the refurbished store. And the more expensive it gets, the best deal is to be found in the ADA store.

Discounted software. If you’re going to purchase your Mac from the student store, you can also take advantage of some software discounts. But here, the best bet is to go to your campus and see if they’re offering the same software choices at much more compelling prices. If you’re lucky enough, maybe your campus does even offer such software for free — as long as you’re a student.

Thinking about getting Office 2008? If your campus does not offer Office for Mac (the core of all school work and papers) at a discounted price, you might want to consider the following alternatives:
NeoOffice is the most popular free Office alternative for the Mac. It is based off OpenOffice.org, but has distinct Mac OS X functionality and appearance.
iWork ’08 is Apple’s work suite, which retails for $79. And yes, it has the ability to read Office files, and save them also in such format.

Want a free iPod? Apple is currently having its yearly promotion in which you get an iPod for free if you buy it alongside a Mac. The promotion applies to all Apple notebooks and the iMac, whereas for the iPod you can choose between a nano or a touch. However, this promotion is a rebate rather than discount, where you’ll later be reimbursed for the iPod purchase. This offer is good until September 15th, and have until October 15th to submit the rebate online. Check out the official page for more information.