Rich's Tongfamily

Well with tariffs coming, not a bad time to take a look and see what to get. Buying electronics for the next few years seems like a good idea 🙂 Here are some tips:

1. When buying electronics, use the American Express Platinum if you have one. That’s because they will extend your warranty by two years if you have a one year and another year if you have two years. And if you buy Applecare+ with the Amex card, they will extend that warranty by an entire year. A good deal. Of course, you need to stay an Amex card holder for the next few years, but it looks like even if you have a Green card, this still works. Main thing is to keep your receipt and then when you have a repair, you submit it to them.
2. Make sure to shop at Appleinsider.com to see what is cheapest on the commercial side and if you are higher education student, then check the Apple store up there. Finally, when you click through to buy commercially, use cashbackmonitor.com to get a rebate.
3. Apple iPad Pro 12.8″. This thing is a dream for reading papers and so forth, they will keep improving it, but the latest one adds FaceID and USB C so you can charge another device and finally a wireless Apple Pencil charger. If you are getting one try appleinsider.com, they have a price search thing. Also make sure to get enough memory for the thing. The 64GB is really not enough anymore, so 256GB is a good place to start, but 512GB is better particularly if you are going to do photo editing. Right now Amazon has the 512GB with cellular at $200 off which is a good deal and don’t forget the Applecare.
4. Apple iPad accessories: The obvious ones are the Apple Pencil at $129 and then a keyboard if you are really going to use it. The Brydge seems to be getting great reviews and is preorder at $160. Also you need a screen protector too. At $10, that’s cheap at the price. And Applecare+ for such an expensive thing is a good idea.
5. Apple iPhone X S. If you are into taking photos, it is probably worth it to splurge for the dual camera with Applecare+ is a good idea too. You also need a screen protector, the three for $14 on Amazon works well and I like the thin transparent cases with a waller on the back.
6. Apple Watch Series 4. This has the EKG reader which is pretty cool and the cellular feature is nice, although I don’t use it much, when I need it for emergencies it is great.