Hello all! New to this forum, but not new to Macs. I just replaced my old (2007) Macbook Pro. I thought of getting a brand-new model with the Black Friday discount, but after some research I decided that going with a refurb model might be a better deal by hundreds of dollars. Couldn't justify the $400 markup for Retina, but I wanted an antiglare screen, so a 15.4" from the Apple Store it had to be.
Luckily I was able to snag a current (June 2012) model; 2011 models didn't seem to offer any advantage in price. I signed up with the Barclays card for 18-month financing, and placed the order on Thanksgiving evening, right after finishing my piece of pie. (I learned that these refurb models go quickly, so I pounced as soon as I could.) Shipping was lightning-fast to northern NJ; it arrived that Saturday, but I wasn't home, so I picked it up the next Tuesday.
Overall I am happy. I just hope there was nothing seriously wrong with the computer before it was refurbished. (I had a scary freeze that forced me to reboot at one point, but it seems OK now.) Paid through the nose for Apple Care, but what else is new?
These are the specs I ordered:
15.4 inches
2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to [whatever]
Hi-res anti-glare display, 1680 x 1050
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory
One nice thing is that I ordered a model with 4GB of RAM, and the computer actually came with 8GB. I hope I get to keep it.
