Refurbished Macs fill Apple’s Deals area with record-setting discounts

Nov 11, 2011 13:34 GMT  ·  By

Apple’s flagship portable computer, the MacBook Air has reached an all-time low selling point of just $799, or $300 less than its original retail price. The systems are sold as refurbished units via Apple’s Special Deals section.

Countless Mac refurbs can be found on Apple’s online store today, many of which offer discounts ranging between $200 and $300.

Two offers in particular caught my eye as I was scrolling endlessly through the sea of fresh entries today - both of which are MacBook Air computers.

Priced at a record-low $799, an 11.6-inch MacBook Air with a 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB memory, and 128GB flash storage is probably the most attractive offer on a Mac refurb in years.

The ultra-slim laptop has NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics and the ever-present built-in FaceTime camera. The deal slashes $300 off the original retail price, according to Apple.

You can save exactly the same amount of cash on the higher-specced 13-inch version with 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo which goes for $899. The same memory, graphics and storage capacity apply.

My visit to the refurb area of Apple’s store also revealed that the long-discontinued White MacBook is still alive and kicking and that, for one reason or another, Apple has one too many Mac minis on its hands.

The company is giving them away at dirt cheap prices. For instance, you get a refurbished Mac mini 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB memory and 320GB hard drive for $469 (a $230 saving). It’s the pretty June 2010 model too, with NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics (with 256MB memory).

A Server version with a 2.66GHz CPU, 4GB memory and Dual 500GB Serial ATA hard disk drives costs $749 (save $250).

A new-generation (July 2011) Mac mini is also available. For $699, you get 4GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, a thunderbolt port with support for up to 2560-by-1600 resolution, an HDMI port with support for up to 1920-by-1200 resolution, and AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics all handled by the 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Sandy Bridge) processor.

Visit Apple here to pick up on these sweet offers now.