Is a new Mac too expensive? Not to worry, you can always go refurb (or as Apple puts it: “Apple Certified Refurbished Mac”).
You can see all the current offers from Apple here.
Here’s the listings that stood out to me as the best values:
Refurbished iMac 20-inch 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Price: $949
The 20-inch is a decent model, it busts the $1000 price tag and it’s better than the Mini all around. More powerful and comes with everything you need. The only drawback is that it only has 1GB of RAM - but everything else is good.
Refurbished iMac 24-inch 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SuperDrive
Price: $1199
At just a hair under $1200 this is a lot of computer for the money. Remember, a 24-inch monitor is huge. The included nVidia 7300GT makes OS X scream. Once again, the only drawback is the 1GB of RAM. Considering this slab cost about $2000 originally, this Mac will stay current for a good long time.
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Price: $1649
This in my opinion is the best deal of the lot. With a wicked fast processor, 2GB RAM on-board, 160GB HDD (which for a laptop is good,) and an nVidia GeForce 8600M GT 256MB video card - for under $1700 this is really, really good. Whether you choose the glossy screen or the non-glossy the price is the same.


Rich Menga is PCMech's video guy, an author and part-time host of PCMech LIVE.



julie wright said:
10/7/2008 9:11 am
Can you add memory to the Referb Macs that you wrote about?
[Reply]