As most people that own Apple products know, Apple doesn't really do "sales" in the same way most manufacturers and retailers do. They typically have a couple of relatively small deals they offer each year around back to school and Black Friday. Those deals also don't really consist of major savings on your purchase. There may be a small discount, but more likely, they will offer you an Apple gift card for use on your next purchase. Apple sticks to a rather strict everyday pricing model. They also handcuff the resellers of their products by only offering a very small wholesale discount. This prevents retailers from offering large discounts and also from undercutting Apple's own retail prices in their online and brick and mortar stores. Apple's first preference is always to sell to the consumer directly, where they make the highest margin and control the experience. The latter may be even more important to them.

The iPhone is a little different because of the on-contract subsidy model that exists with carriers. You can find better deals on iPhones because the carriers are willing to offer a larger upfront discount to secure your business and a monthly bill of likely $80 per month or more for the next 2 years.

So, where's the best place to buy Apple products at a reasonable price? On Apple's Online Refurbished Store. You can get "good as new" refurbished products, that come with a full one year warranty, at 10-40% off the regular retail price. They sell Macs, iPods, Apple TV's, and even iPads (no iPhone). The models that are typically available on the site are at least a few months old, ranging back to the prior model year or possibly older. Not every model or configuration is available all the time, but another great service that will help you find what you're looking for is a website called RefurbMe. This site is an alert service for the refurb store. It will tell you all the models that have been available, when the last time was that each was seen as in stock, and let you sign up for email or SMS alerts when the one you're looking for comes back in stock. This way you don't have to keep checking stock manually every day. As soon as the model or configuration you want is back in stock, you'll know and can go online and buy it.

I've bought two iMacs and an Apple TV from this site over the past 5 years and have never had a single issue. All products were in perfect condition and have functioned flawlessly since the moment I took them out of the box. I've heard the same thing from everyone I've talked to that has gone this route. I swear by it.