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/mac

Both 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.

I would look keep a watch at Best Buy. In the week leading up to Black Friday, Best Buy had the same discount that Apple offered on Black Friday. The Macbooks were discounted $100 and the software was discounted $50. Don't know if they will rerun or not.....

Hi Murph,

Yes, I researched Asus and I agree the plethora of models was confusing. As it turned out, the one I wanted wasn't available in Canada so I ordered it in the US. It's blazingly fast and runs much cooler than my cranky old hp (the latter lost its hard drive after about 18 months, out of warranty, of course). It came with Vista and so far, it's been working great. Also thinner and lighter than my old hp and the special battery modes extend working time up to about 5 hours. It has features I have not even tried yet--something called LightScribe, which labels discs you burn.

Regards,
Alan

I've been lightscribing discs for years now, it works pretty good, just have to keep them out of the heat otherwise the image fades.

I've had 2 computers with lightscribing ability, but it always looked like I had to buy the software to do this with. (I haven't checked in a couple of years). Is there a free download for the software? One computer didn't come with any, and my other one I built myself.

Hi Jay,

That's interesting. Thanks for the tip.

Alan

Bleh. Who needs Lightscribe when you have a

Ah! So YOU're the one who stole my pen!

We even get COLORED sharpies, sometimes.

Wow. Lucky!