In article , Bill W
wrote:

My home is paid for, and I'm moving to a place where housing is about
half what it is here, so if I buy something about the same size, I
might have enough left over to buy an Apple product... So some
questions:

half the value of even the smallest house can buy a whole lotta apple
products.

Most important, is there any point in shopping around for the best
price on a Macbook Pro, or is the pricing pretty much fixed?

absolutely. prices are not fixed. shop around.

one of the easiest and safest options is browse apple's refurb section,
which is generally around 15-20% off and includes a full warranty.

the only downside is your choices are limited to what's available when
you look, which changes daily, if not hourly (sometimes even less).
there is no build to order, and if you're looking for a specific model
and/or configuration, you may have to wait.

on the upside, you might get more than you bargained for, with *better*
specs than what's listed. no guarantees of course, but if they have a
handful of a higher config but not enough to add separate listing, they
might get included with a lower spec model and a few people get lucky.

otherwise, look for sales, particularly when new models are released
(which should be real soon now).

non-apple stores tend to offer discounts to clear old stock for the new
models. apple stores send them back to apple, where they end up on the
refurb store (i.e., they're still 'new', just last year's model).

b&h and adorama have periodic promos, sometimes rather lucrative ones
($800-1000 off higher end models, sometimes even more). best buy has
also been known to have unadvertised specials, sometimes 40-50% off the
original price.

not surprisingly, the best deals don't last long.

also keep in mind that unlike a lot of companies, the warranty goes
with the product, not the original buyer, even if you buy it used off
ebay (assuming it's not stolen).

I see that there a lot of listings with years mentioned. How far back
can I go to be able to dual boot into Windows?

2006, when apple transitioned to intel processors.

i don't remember what the cutoff is for win10 support, but it's at
least 2012, possibly earlier, and you don't really want a mac that old
anyway.

installing windows is easy, actually easier than a regular pc.

however, i would strongly suggest getting vmware instead (or in
addition to) so you can run windows apps alongside mac apps, without
the need to reboot.

How far back to get a
great retina display?

2012 for macbook pros, 2014 for the imac. wide gamut dci-p3 is 2016.

And how far back to get great performance,
something that is more than adequate for LR & PS, video and audio
editing?

that depends what you mean by more than adequate.

someone shooting photos and videos as a hobby will have a very
different idea than a pro who shoots ****loads photos or is producing
hour-long 4k videos every day.

but basically, unless you're a pro, anything in the last few years will
be fine, mac or windows.

as i said, there are new models due real soon now, so if you're not in
a rush, it would be *extremely* wise to wait a bit.

the fall is generally when new stuff is announced, alongside the
release of the next version of the various oses, but hardware could be
at any time. apple can easily push out a custom build if needed.

new models also means that the existing models will be discounted, so
either you get something very up to date or you save some cash.

much of the delays for mac updates are due to intel, something which is
affecting the entire industry.

unless of course, apple starts designing their own processors for
future macs, something they've been doing for ios devices for years...

How far back where I can still easily add a second high
quality display?

1987 with the macintosh ii, for up to six physical displays (one video
card per slot) and up to 255 total displays, including virtual ones.

since then, all that's required is the ability to connect additional
displays, which will vary, depending on specific model.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht206587
https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht202351

and at the high end,
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208366
With four Thunderbolt 3 ports built-in, iMac Pro supports up to four
4K displays or up to two 5K displays.

and that's *in* *addition* to the built-in 5k display.