Thanks, guys! Tons of great info. I would like to have a Mac, but deals are tough to find. . . .
Mac deals are just about impossible to find. They don't really go on sale like other computers. At least, not usually. At best, you can hope for free shipping or discounts on software - like they did for Black Friday. But there is an option; check out the genuine Apple certified refurbs at store.apple.com.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/macBoth of my Macs were purchased from here. I saved almost $1,000 vs. MSRP by doing so. Pretty much eliminated the "Mac Tax". Same warranty as new, same service as new, same parts as new. Both my Macbook Air and Macbook Pro were indistinguishable from new. No scrapes, no scuffs, no scratches, no marks of any kind; neither on the notebook itself nor the power adapter. No fingerprints, no crumbs in the keyboard, no discharge cycles on the battery, no stuck or dead pixels in the display, etc.
YMMV, of course, but in both of my cases, the notebooks truly were as good as "new". When I eventually need to replace the Macbooks that I currently have, I won't hesitate to buy another refurb.
