General Mac hardware discussions forum: Where should I get my Mac Book/Mac Book Pro?

I am not suggesting that the websites you mentioned are trying to rip you off, but you have to be very careful about this.
Compare the specs on the Apple Store site with the specs on these other machines. Are they the same? They should be. Is there a warranty on the thing. Do you have to send Western Union payment first, before you receive your purchase?

A common practice is to sell discontinued models for much less, sometimes a whole lot less, than the same name machine is being sold at the Apple Store.
In the case of style-gadgets, their prices are in Euro's. Remember to add transatlantic shipping and import charges on your MacBook with the European version of OS X installed. Fortunately the power adapter is the 110v/240v auto switching version or you would have to buy a new one of those.
Beware of sites, who may be completely legitimate, who advertise the MacBook as "Apple MacBook MA255LL/A 13.3" Notebook PC "
Makes you wonder if they know what they actually have.
Finally, eqitech is offering a discontinued PowerBook for a disgusting price.

Far be it from me to tell you not to go there, you are free to buy from wherever you choose.
I will say one thing though: CAVEAT EMPTOR! (Let the buyer beware)

P

are willing to register for and actually take a class at your local community college or otherwise bonafide educational institution, consider going to apple.com and ordering from the education area... Be very wary of GREAT pricing. There is a reason the "standard sites" like apple.com, compusa.com, outpost.com and others all have the same (or very similar prices.

Remember, it it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

w w w .adster.com/buy/panel.php?panel_id=-32768 (I've mangled this) shows this one is not what it seems.

Bob

It's probably best to get it from there, it's the most reliable place to get it short of going to a computer retailer but there are few that stock macs and the ones that do generally don't have much of a range, as with most apple products it's hard to find real bargains without buying second hand from ebay and that can be risky.

go to www.macmall.com

While you're right that discounts top out quickly (though I don't think 100 dollars off a computer is anything to sneeze at), you really should always be buying online.

Sites like AppleSliced.com show that you save BIG when you have free shipping and no sales tax. For some computers you can save 300 just by where you buy. Savings also translate to Apple Care.