Shopping at Apple's Special Deals site

11.11.2008
When last month, I noted that I was planning on using my two-year-old 15-inch 2.33GHz MacBook Pro until that matte screen model no longer functioned. At that point, I figured I'd probably head to eBay and look for a 2.6GHz matte screen version, the apparent end-of-the-line machine for the matte-screened MacBook Pros.

However, something strange happened on the way to the future. Someone pointed me in the direction of the Apple . I had heard of the Special Deals site before, but hadn't ever spent much time there. The Special Deals site is where Apple clears out two specific classes of products: unsold versions of previous-generation products and refurbished products (which can be either current or previous generation models). These special deals are available for both (and Apple TV) and , and as I discovered, there are occasional bargains to be had, especially in the refurbished portion of the store.

What caught my eye in this particular case was a refurbished 2.6GHz 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 7,200-rpm 200GB hard drive and the GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB of RAM (and a matte screen, of course). This particular model was the , and as such, I figure it has about the best chance of lasting until Apple comes to its senses and releases another matte-screened MacBook Pro.

But what really caught my eye was the price--the day I visited the Special Deals store, this particular machine was available for US$1,799, or $1,000 off its original selling price. (As can be the case with items in the Special Deals section, this particular configuration has since vanished.)

Intrigued, I did some more browsing around both the Mac and iPod sides of the Special Deals site, and there really are some deals to be had. Refurbished third-generation iPod nanos, for instance, are available for $79 () and $99 (). Not quite as good of a deal, but invaluable for those with huge music collections, refurbished 160GB iPod classics can be had for $249, a 16-percent savings.

On the Mac side, the original high-end MacBook Air--the one with the 1.8GHz processor and 64GB solid state drive--can be had for $1,799, nearly 50 percent off its original $3,100 price tag. While you'll see discount percentages next to some machines, they aren't shown for every product in the Special Deals store. You can dig through the Macworld to find a given machine's original price, if you're interested in knowing just how good the deal may be.