Buying advice: M1-Pro (certified Pre-owned) vs M2-Pro (new)?

[padams35]

I've decided to replace my Early 2015 MBA with either a 2024 M3 MBA (keep waiting), an Early 2023 M2-Pro (cyber Monday clearance special), or a 'certified pre-owned' M1-Pro (probably somebody's trade-in, possibly old Apple refurb stock). 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD regardless.

The M1 Pro is available for 20% less than the best M2-Pro sale special. Naive math says if the M2-Pro is +8 years newer and the M1-Pro is +6.5 years newer then the M1-Pro is worth 81.3% as much, making a -20% saving a good deal... except I'm not sure how to balance 'new' vs 'certified preowned'.

Is it better to pay +25% more for a new M2-Pro in the hope it will last at least +1.5 years longer or to risk whatever wear is on the certified used and budget for a slightly earlier replacement?

 

[Fishrrman]

"a 'certified used' M1-Pro (probably somebody's trade-in, possibly old Apple refurb stock). 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD regardless."

Unless this is purchased DIRECTLY from Apple's online refurbished store, I would avoid it.
As far as I'm concerned, it's NOT "certified" from Apple...

 

[ChrisA]

Apple offers the same warranty for their refurbs as new computers.

You don't talk about what the computer will be used for. If it is only general email and online shopping the M1-Pro with 16GB is overkill. But there are some professional use cases where you might want to spend more.

best advice is oo buy what you need. For most users, this is the base model. Then if your needs change, buy a new computer.

 

[padams35]

"a 'certified used' M1-Pro (probably somebody's trade-in, possibly old Apple refurb stock). 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD regardless."

Unless this is purchased DIRECTLY from Apple's online refurbished store, I would avoid it.
As far as I'm concerned, it's NOT "certified" from Apple...

Microcenter. The website indicates that "certified refurbished" have been refurbished by the original manufacturer (Apple). I haven't driven out and asked if "certified pre-owned" is the same, but the website customer Q/A claims they come with the 1-year Apple warranty suggesting they are.


Edit: Bought the 14" M1-Pro. I was on the fence when I was thinking it was a store-inspected pre-owned but when I realizing it was an Apple refurb complete with standard 1-year Apple warranty for that decided me.

Honestly a M2 Air was all I needed, but the extra GPU cores and dedicated HDMI output were nice enough extras that I'm not going to say no to a $1200 M1-Pro with warranty, even if it is a generation older.