EDIT: This thread was formerly titled "New Rebates".

Ok, it's been a while since I updated this thread. Mostly bc it's a hassle to keep up w/ the changing links at Amazon. That and I thought I'd give a review of some of the better Mac buying options out there.

Amazon
Go to Amazon. Search for the Mac of your choice. Click on one of the Amazon (not 3rd party vendors) links and check out what kind of rebates you can get.

Mac Minis start out w/ a $25 rebate, all the way up through the MacBook Pros and the Mac Pros w/ $150 rebates.

Then...Do your math. Amazon gives you free shipping and no taxes in all states except KS, KY, ND, and WA. Apple's academic pricing usually beats the Amazon rebate price but then goes over the mark when taxes are factored in. Hence, Amazon is usually one of the best, if not the best, bottom line prices to be found on new stock systems.

Apple Academic
Apple academic is basically the cheapest way for a new BTO (Built to order) system and becomes an especially sweet deal when they run the back-to-school promo for a Mac+free iPod Nano ($199 value), which you can usually combine with the seemingly endless $100 rebates on new printers. Typically these all have to be purchased on the same receipt , and through an Apple/Online store or an Apple academic reseller.

Apple Refurbished
The only option that tends to beat Amazon's prices on stock systems are the refurbished Macs which come with the usual 1 year limited warranties, just like the new ones. Many people have been pleased w/ these systems. You can also find some systems which might be tweaked in re: to RAM and hard drive and also beat Amazon's prices. Don't take my word on this last part, but afaik, you could also take advantage of the refurbished prices as well as the back-to-school promo of the free $199 Nano + $100 Printer, seeing as how you can access the same refurbished systems through your academic store. So, for instance you could pick up a refurb White combo drive model for $999 w/ a free Nano and Printer after rebate. For folks like me who have a Nano and a printer, this means you could ebay the extras. Assuming u get at least 75% value w/ ebay on new unopened items, you'd end up w/ a base MacBook for ~$835 (w/ 6% sales tax factored in). Not bad at all imo.

Developer's Discount
Also an option is the developer's discount of 20%. Be careful of how you use this as you'll have to pay the $99 purchase fee. It's best used on the high end Macs and I'll demonstrate why. On say, a base MacBook you would go through all of the gobbledygook just to get the discount and after you factor in the $99 fee and taxes you'd end up w/ a cost of ~$1031 (@ 6% sales tax). Meanwhile, the relatively painless process of an Amazon purchase would get you the price of $1024.99 after rebate. As noted, he developer's discount and associated purchase fee makes the biggest difference on high end systems. For example, the high end 15" MacBook Pro can be had for ~$2225 w/ all costs and taxes (@ 6%) factored in. Mind you the Amazon model will be $2349 after rebate. The link to a link (gotta give cred to the site where I found it) for the discount is here.

All said, buy accordingly.