Apple has begun selling certified refurbished 2018 MacBook Air and Mac mini models in the United States and Canada for the first time, following availability in several European countries starting Friday.
In the United States, refurbished pricing starts at $1,019 for the base model MacBook Air, down from $1,199 brand new, and $679 for the base model Mac mini, down from $799 brand new. Various other custom configurations are available for each Mac with discounts up to 15 percent versus brand new prices.
While the refurbished higher-end MacBook Air models may be worth considering, the base model is worth passing over, as authorized resellers such as Amazon and B&H are offering it brand new in box for $999 in the United States.
Orders placed today are estimated for delivery by early next week. We recommend using Refurb Tracker to monitor inventory.
Apple says certified refurbished MacBook Air and Mac mini models are thoroughly inspected, tested, cleaned, and repackaged, with all manuals and cables included in the box. In our view, a refurbished Mac is virtually indistinguishable from a brand new one. They're also backed by Apple's standard one-year warranty.
A refurbished Mac's warranty can be extended to three years from the refurbished purchase date with AppleCare+.
(Thanks, Jason A!)
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and B&H. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
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Top Rated Comments
(View all)Won’t get any Mac mini until the Bluetooth issue is fixed
Won’t get any iMacs until they refresh them
Isn’t it sad that I have a hard time spending my money on Apple nowadays
[edit: Good luck getting people to buy Minis with only 256GB—or worse, 128GB (which should never be sold on this computer)—options for storage, since they can’t be upgraded].
If I were to buy a 2018 Mac mini, I would get the entry-level model. I don't quite trust that T2 chip to not lose all my data, so I would only use the internal SSD for the OS and applications. And 128GB is more than big enough for that. The 2018 Mac mini has four extremely fast ports, connecting external drives to those should be nearly as fast as the internal, T2-locked-down SSD.What is the issue with Bluetooth on the new Mac Minis?
I have a 2012 Mac mini with a 256 gig SSD and it’s almost empty because I store all my files on an external thunderbolt drive and that works well for me, so 128 gig would be fine for my needs.[edit: Good luck getting people to buy Minis with only 256GB—or worse, 128GB (which should never be sold on this computer)—options for storage, since they can’t be upgraded].