Macbook not-so-specials

Tuesday, 21 October, 2025 — apple media

I’m subscribed to the Macworld RSS feed and, periodically, there’s a sales pitch post on behalf of an marketing partner to purchase a super powerful MacBook Pro or Air for, effectively, pennies on the dollar. Here’s a recent example:

TL;DR: Check out this near-mint refurbished 13-inch MacBook Pro for just $279.97 and upgrade your daily work, study, and streaming without the premium price.

MacBook Pros are great computers, whether you need one for work or for tasks at home, but the price is a real barrier. However, right now, you can get a refurbished MacBook Pro in near-mint condition on sale for only $279.97 (down from $1,499).

This 13-inch MacBook Pro has a 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB solid-state drive. That combination delivers smooth performance for everyday work, from editing documents and joining video calls to streaming media or keeping multiple apps open at once.

Key issue: This 2017 laptop is already not supported with operating system updates and has been since 2022’s release of macOS 13 Ventura. Moreover, an eight-year-old laptop, particularly one on the wrong side of the Apple Silicon transition, is not likely the “smooth performance” bringer absent finding older software versions to install that were contemporary to the time.

A well-educated consumer going in with full awareness that such a machine isn’t going to get operating system security updates and is likely aging out on what current software will run on it can find some tasks it can still do. But, treating it as a steal equivalent to any recent vintage entry-tier Apple Silicon Macbook Pro is fallacious.

Yes, this is a deal from a marketing partner paying Macworld to share the offer. Yes, the current media environment is super challenging. But this deal and deals like this are misleading and are not fit-for-purpose to people who assume the Macworld name is providing some quality control on behalf of their readership.