There are some restrictions, of course, but not as many as you might expect. First, employees must work at Apple for at least three months, or 90 days, before they can utilize the discount. Second, they can only use the discount once every three years (not that people really purchase computers more often than that).
The new benefits program will officially start in June 2012, so now is the perfect time to go get a job at Apple (you’ll be eligible for the discount by June). Apple employees currently get 25 percent off of Macs, which makes the $500 discount a pretty big deal. No word on whether the 25 percent discount will remain on systems that cost more than $2,000, but I suspect it won’t.