Apple sent out an announcement yesterday with the above graphic for an October 14th Apple Event, stating plainly "The spotlight turns to notebooks." Before the announcement went out, Obsessable's very own Randall Bennett joined a conversation about all the rumors that were floating around regarding new notebooks coming from Apple. A quick glance at the news around the web since the announcement reveals that people think there may be a $800 MacBook on the way, a new solid-aluminum cased MacBook Pro manufactured using Apple's rumored "brick" process, and possibly just new MacBooks with newer NVIDIA graphics cards installed. One of my sources (who has been right quite a few times) keeps talking about a new iPhone screen in place of the touchpad on the new MacBooks like what appears in the possibly Photoshopped picture here. Regardless of what actually comes out of Tuesday's announcements, one thing is for sure: If you had finally saved up your money and were considering heading out to buy a new Apple laptop this weekend, wait.

I don't mean just wait until the new notebooks are announced to buy one of them. Once they are announced a whole slew of current model Apple notebooks will either be up for grabs at reduced prices used and new on sites like eBay or Craigslist. Most used computers over a year old will be out of warranty unless the seller purchased an Apple Care plan that he/she is bundling with the sale, so be careful if you go the used laptop route.

If you don't want to buy from eBay or Craigslist, I have good news for you. You will most likely be able to find refurbished models on the Special Deals section of Apple's very own Apple Store. This is the place where Apple lists both clearance items and refurbished Apple products. Refurbished Apple products are products that were either damaged, returned by a dissatisfied customer, and fully repaired with a full new warranty and offered at a reduced price, or simply opened box units that were returned. Either way, refurbished Apple products are often several hundred dollars less expensive than their non-refurbished counterparts and they carry the same exact warranty. The best part about refurbished products is that if Apple does announce something amazing on Tuesday, October 14th, but you don't want to be one of those "guinea pig" customers who have to deal with any possible manufacturing headaches of a first edition of a new product line, if you're patient and wait long enough, sooner or later someone will return a unit and it will appear for less money, re-certified and with a fresh warranty ready for you to grab it up.

 

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