Black Friday/Cyber Monday software & tech deals

[Paddy]

For those of you looking to cut the Adobe cord, Affinity Photo is available right now for 30% off. It's a Black Friday deal - isn't clear how long it goes for. I've already got Affinity Publisher (beta - and will buy when the final version is released) and was hoping they'd have a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal for Affinity Photo, so had waited, and for once, my patience paid off. It's a good deal normally - and an even better deal now. Perpetual license is $49.99 US - less 30%. So $34.99 USD. Available either directly from Affinity, or from the app store. I figure it's better to buy from them directly as then they don't have to pay the Apple store fee.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/

ON1 (raw editor) has a deal for those upgrading, but can't see one for new purchasers - yet. Will post any other interesting things I come across.

[Xairbusdriver]

So you’re still ready for a deal as long as you don’t have to do it public by standing in line!

On1 2019 was just released this week (or late last week), so its a bit early for a discount. Always check the details on these kinds of deals, sometimes you will be getting a version that is about to be updated or the older of one that has been updated. OTOH, it’s getting harder to justify waiting on updates for mature apps since the new functions may not be major.

[Paddy]

So you’re still ready for a deal as long as you don’t have to do it public by standing in line!

Oh yeah - I'll take deals on stuff I need/want from the comfort of my own abode any day, over fighting the sharp-elbow brigade.

On1 2019 was just released this week (or late last week), so its a bit early for a discount. Always check the details on these kinds of deals, sometimes you will be getting a version that is about to be updated or the older of one that has been updated. OTOH, it’s getting harder to justify waiting on updates for mature apps since the new functions may not be major.

True - but they are giving a nice discount to existing owners. As for Affinity - the updates have all been free since its release in 2015. It's at 1.6.7 now. Apparently no plans to charge for updates until V2, and that will likely be discounted for current users. No idea when they plan to drop that - given that 1.3 was the first paid stable release in 2015, and they're just at 1.6.7 now, it may be a while yet. I'm not worried. They took longer to get the beta of Affinity Publisher out than they'd hoped - but it is out now, and being added to and bug-fixed regularly. It will likely replace InDesign for me if they continue doing as well with it as they have so far. I've done one project with it so far. Won't trust it to anything big quite yet, but it's coming along nicely.

[Xairbusdriver]

We all get emails from places we've bought from and I had two today that were both offering a MBP, 15", for pretty good prices. The devil, of course, was in the details. While OWC and B&H are both great, reliable companies, you still need to compare deals closely.

These were both mid-2017 models, factory sealed. But only one could still be covered by AppleCare. Both had the "Touch Bar" but one had an earlier model graphics card. Both had 16GB ram, but one had a 512SSD while the other was 256. One had "No State Taxes" (if applicable). One had Parallels Desktop for Mac installed.

Even though Apple hardware usually has fewer options/configurations than some PC's, there can still be details under the aluminum that cause price differences. Know what you need before standing in the virtual line. Beware of temptations of "$100 less for the first 50 orders"! But keep a lookout form them if they apply to what you need!

Suggestion: Every time you pass up a deal, try adding $50 or $100 to your purchasing fund.