Best Buy to Match Back to School Promo with $100 Store Gift Card

bestbuy
Readers who are disappointed with Apple's new Back to School promotion may be interested to hear that electronics retailer Best Buy is offering to match Apple's promotion with their own.

Apple recently launched their 2011 Back to School promotion. Instead of the typical iPod giveaway, Apple is now offering a $100 iTunes/App Store gift card instead. We've been told that Best Buy will be matching this promotion with a $100 Best Buy gift card for the same qualifying customers. This is an unadvertised promotion, so customers will have to ask for it specifically.

Apple's Back to School promotion is open to college students, students accepted to college, parents buying for college students or faculty/staff at any grade level. Qualifying computers include the MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, and Mac Pro.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
m4 macbook air pink

Apple Now Selling Refurbished M4 MacBook Air Models

Friday June 13, 2025 3:34 pm PDT by
Apple today added M4 MacBook Air models to its refurbished store in the United States, making the latest MacBook Air devices available at a discounted price for the first time since they launched earlier this year. Both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models are available, with Apple offering multiple capacities and configurations. The refurbished devices are discounted by approximately 15...

Top Rated Comments

mattwolfmatt Avatar
183 months ago


I think I'd rather have the apple gift card

You can use the Best buy gift card to buy the apple card. Also, if you're a reward zone member, you get 3-5% back of your purchase back, I think.

All else being equal, the Best Buy one is a better deal.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Simplicated Avatar
183 months ago


I think I'd rather have the apple gift card

I think I'd rather get the Best Buy one so I can buy some substantial stuff.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xdbuix Avatar
183 months ago
You can't use gift cards to buy gift cards.

that's wrong. I've done it so many times.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macmaniac Avatar
183 months ago
Unless Best Buy is matching the $100 off the MBP for edu pricing then going with BB would be a silly idea. While some may not like the $100 iTunes card at least ur getting $100 off the computer as well. Oh and don't forget $66 off AppleCare on the 13 and $110 off AppleCare on the 15 when u buy through Apple! Oh and the $99 printer rebate as well, so check first or you could miss out on $300 worth of discounts and offers through Apple.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macopotamus Avatar
183 months ago
I'd definitely go with the Best Buy one given the option.

You would pay $100 more for your computer just so you can get a $100 gift card to Best Buy rather than take the discount + iTunes credit?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xxBURT0Nxx Avatar
183 months ago
I'm sure everyone would prefer a $100 Best Buy gift card to the $100 App Store Gift Card, since you can buy far more things at best buy.

However, with no educational pricing, and no free printer, it's actually a worse deal than what Apple is offering. Just with your edu pricing discounts, you could buy the $100 best buy gift card (even more than $100 with some models) and you would still have a free printer and a $100 mac app store gift card.

If best buy would at least match the edu pricing, this would be a far more appealing deal, since in my experience most people don't particularly care for a mail in rebate printer or already have a printer at home.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)