Apple Service when purchasing a computer from them

I just ordered and purchased an Apple Mac Air laptop, along with a couple of genuine Apple accessories direct from Apple's online store and thought I'd share my experience when dealing with them.

The Positives

• Firstly, the Chat support when purchasing I found to be outstanding. The representative I spoke to was highly knowledgeable when compared to other representatives I've chatted to from other Vendors like DELL and HP. All other vendors I think could take a page from the type of people they hire to assist potential purchasers from Apple.

• Apple promised to keep me up to date with the progress of my order and every promise made was honored. This again I found to be excellent to experiences I've had with other Vendors, where I got (as an example) an SMS saying that my order was processed and would be delivered soon. That would be great if those SMS's didn't actually come until "after" the product was delivered. Apple's progress reports on the other hand, were all spot on.

• The boxing of the products I ordered, being the Mac Air Laptop itself, an Apple USB Ethernet Adapter and a Lacie Porsche USB 3.0 1TB external drive were very nicely boxed.

• The initial setup process for the new laptop was very nicely done and extremely easy to follow, with layman types explanations given every step of the way. The entire setup took less than 5 minutes, which puts Microsoft Windows 10 setup procedures of a new computer/laptop to shame in my opinion.

The Negatives

• The prices for their genuine accessories I found to be beyond ridiculous and a total RIP OFF! For example, I wanted to purchase a mouse to be delivered with my laptop. The "cheapest" genuine Apple mouse I could order was A$109.00 and there was nothing special about this mouse - it was just a mouse. $109 for a mouse is an insane price, especially when being purchased with a computer!
• Along the same lines, I also wanted to buy a Keyboard with a number pad. The price? A$179.00 for a keyboard! Again, I thought this was an insane price for a standard keyboard. The same rings true if you want to configure your computer with a larger SSD hard drive. I think Apple is on drugs with their accessories pricing! How can they possibly justify such exorbitant prices is beyond me lol

• Finally, no discounts are available as an incentive to order their accessories as you can get with other Windows related vendors.

Apart from what I consider ludicrous prices for accessories and no bundled discounts, I can't fault anything else with the ordering and purchasing experience.

Hope you found this post interesting.

Regards, Andrew