Pick up a refurbished 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar to save some real money

By Mark Coppock April 21, 2017

chrome 60 brings touch bar support apple macbook pro op ed

The most important new feature introduced with the 2016 MacBook Pro was the new Touch Bar OLED touchscreen. The new input mechanism is Apple’s answer to the touch display and is being used by more and more developers to provide task-based virtual function keys to popular MacOS applications.

The downside of the new machines is their price, with even the entry-level MacBook Pro 13 with Touch Bar coming in at a significant premium. One alternative for anyone who wants the new machine but can’t quite fit it into a budget is to pick up an Apple refurbished machine, which now includes the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, as MacRumors reports.

Recommended Videos

The other members of the new MacBook Pro line were added to Apple’s refurbished lineup last month. Savings on those machines are considerable, with the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that usually costs $2,399 being available as a refurb for $2,039. Other configurations offer up similar savings.

Now, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar rounds out the list of available refurbished machines. The list changes constantly, and so you’ll need to check on your desired configuration when you’re closer to making your purchase, but here are a few examples of the savings you can enjoy:

13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, 2.0GHz dual-core Core i5, 8GB LPDDR3 RAM, 256GB SSD, Intel Iris Graphics 550: Normally $1,799, refurbished price $1,529
13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, 2.9GHz dual-core Core i5, 8GB LPDDR3 RAM, 512GB SSD, Intel Iris Graphics 550: Normally $1,699, refurbished price $1,999
13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, 2.9GHz dual-core Core i5, 16GB LPDDR3 RAM, 512GB SSD, Intel Iris Graphics 550: Normally $2,199, refurbished price $1,869

As always, Apple stands behind its refurbished machines with its usual one-year limited warranty, and you can give your refurbished choice a try with the security of Apple’s standard 14-day return policy. These are the same policies that are applied to Apple’s new retail units, with the added benefit that refurbished machines go through an extensive checklist to make sure they’re in good shape.

Again, the Apple list of refurbished machines changes regularly, and so you’ll want to keep tabs on what’s available as you get closer to pulling the trigger. And in the meantime, you can start your planning process with the knowledge that you’ll be saving some serious cash by picking up a lightly used 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar at some serious savings.

Topics

Computing Writer

Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for…

Computing

There’s great news if you want to buy Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air

Apple's John Ternus stands next to an image of the 15-inch MacBook Air at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2023.

When Apple launched the 15-inch MacBook Air at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), it seemed like there wasn’t too much separating it from its 13-inch sibling. Yet a new set of tests has shown that the larger model pulls ahead in some key ways, making it a much more attractive purchase if you want maximum performance in a slimline laptop.

The testing was conducted by YouTuber Max Tech, who pitted the 15-inch MacBook Air against Apple’s smaller 13-inch version. Both laptops had the M2 chip and 256GB of storage, so you might think the only difference would be found in the size of the displays. Yet that’s not how the testing played out at all.

Computing

The 15-inch MacBook Air repeats one of Apple’s worst mistakes

15-inch MacBook Air shown at WWDC 2023.

The 15-inch MacBook Air may be a new chapter for Apple’s thin and light laptop, but it seems to be repeating a disappointing mistake that we’ve seen way too often in the company’s products. If you want to configure it with the fastest SSD possible without breaking the bank, we’ve got some bad news.

According to a video posted by the tech YouTubers at Max Tech, the base model of the 15-inch MacBook Air only comes with a single NAND chip for its onboard SSD storage, rather than the two chips used in the past. It’s a regrettable decision that nevertheless mirrors practically every other Mac that Apple has released recently.

Computing

Apple’s new 15-inch MacBook Air is bigger, but not necessarily better

15-inch MacBook Air shown at WWDC 2023.

Apple has launched a brand-new 15-inch MacBook Air at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). It joins the 13-inch model and marks the first time the MacBook Air has come in two sizes since the 11-inch version was discontinued in October 2016. Apple says it costs $1,299, while the 13-inch MacBook Air has dropped $100 in price to $1,099.

Despite its larger size, the 15-inch MacBook Air is very similar to its smaller sibling in most regards. That lines up with pre-event rumors and reports that had claimed the device would be a near-mirror image of the existing 13-inch MacBook Air.