How I Upgraded my MacBook for Free

All it took was a phone call and a visit.

Background

A little over a month ago I sold my iMac to purchase a 15" Retina MacBook Pro. I didn’t consider waiting for a new MacBook Pro to come out — all the sources I checked said that the new processors aren’t out for a while. No use in waiting.

But one day I woke to find that Apple had issued a minor refresh on the Retina MacBook Pro line. Apple bumped the processor from a 2.0GHz to 2.2GHz on my configuration. No big deal.

But, they also doubled the base RAM configuration. I really wanted 16GB, but I couldn’t make it happen financially at the time. But now you could get a MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM for the same price.

I decided to do something about it.

The Call via Text

If you haven’t heard of TalkTo, you’re missing out. The iPhone app lets you “text” local businesses to get answers to any questions you might have. Here’s the answer I got from an Apple employee:

To the Store

I bought the my MacBook Pro July 2nd. I was optimistic, but I knew there was a decent chance that I’d walk out of the store with my old MacBook Pro in tow. No big deal.

So I backed up my MacBook, hopped in the car, and hoped for the best.

Once I got there, I was greeted by an Apple Store employee. I explained the situation, and he asked me whether or not it had been 30 days since I bought my current MacBook. It had been 37 days.

We waited for a manager and after a few minutes I was introduced to her. We explained the situation, and the manager said that she’d see what she could do since it was more than 30 days since the purchase.

When she got back, she said they’d take care of everything. I was introduced to another Apple employee who would be helping me check everything out. After working past some small technical issues, I walked out the door with a new Retina MacBook Pro with twice the RAM and a faster processor than my old one.

Learning to Ask

The takeaway for me is to simply ask. You’d be surprised at the amount of people who’ll say “yes”. I got a better laptop that’ll last longer than my old one. Who knows what you’ll be able to get.

Good luck, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter (@SomewhatJustin).