A good time to buy a new Mac

There are so many suppliers of Windows PCs that new ones are launched every week and it is no big deal, but with the Mac there are only a handful of models and only one supplier. It is therefore big event when new ones are launched. New Macs are now available and it is a great time to buy one.

Before you rush to your nearest Apple store to get the latest model though, you should carefully consider your options. Have you ever wondered what Apple does with all its old stock? One day it is selling one type of Mac, the next day it is selling a brand new model. Does the company just scrap the old stock? No, it sells it off cheap. Not Windows PC cheap, but cheap for Apple kit and there are some bargains to be had.

To find these cur-price Macs go to the Apple website and click the Store link. Down at the bottom of the left-hand panel in the Special Deals section is Refurbished Mac. Click it. What you see next depends on which store you access, but wherever you are you will see some Macs sold at bargain basement prices.

I'm in the UK and right now there is a 13in MacBook Pro for £789 whereas the new model just launched is £999. Clicking the link shows the details and it reveals that this model was launched in October 2011, so its specification is excellent. It has a 2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (the new MacBook is 2.5GHz), 4Gb of memory (the new MacBook has 4Gb too, but is clocked at 1600MHz against 1333MHz), a 500Gb hard disk drive (same as the new one), and Intel HD 3000 graphics (the new one is Intel HD 4000).

The new MacBook is better as you can see from the specs, but if you can't afford the latest one then this refurbished Mac is a bargain. As far as warranty, software and after sales care is concerned, there is no difference and a refurbished Mac is treated the same as new kit.

Looking further up the new MacBook range, you can get one with a retina display. This is a 15in screen with a 2,880 x 1,800 pixel resolution. The pixels are so small you can't see them, hence the term 'retina display' because it has details the eye's retina can't resolve. It's nice, but pricey. In fact, you could buy two of the refurbished 13in MacBook Pros for the price of a new retina MacBook and still have change. Or three for the price of the top of the range retina MacBook. One for you, your partner and your child. Remember, up until last week, this refurbished MacBook was state-of-the-art. That's no longer the case, but it's still a great Mac.