I found a pair of 16-inch MacBook Pros on Amazon Warehouse Deals just now.
Price: $1,724.25
Condition: Acceptable
CPU: 10-Core M1 Pro
RAM: 16GB
GPU: 16-core (the power-sipping one that I want)
Storage: 1TB
Color: Space Grey
The CPU/GPU options available on the 2021 16-inch M1 MacBook Pro are:
I like the M1 Pro as it has considerably more battery life than the M1 Max versions, and I don’t need the increased performance of those CPUs or their GPUs at all.
New price right now from Apple for this configuration: $2,699
Refurbished price right now from Apple for this configuration (link): $2,309.00
Amazingly, Amazon has this new for $2,299, which is cheaper than Apple’s refurbished price. Wow.
Compared to the Apple refurb price, I am saving $584.75.
Compared to the Apple new price, I am saving $974.75.
Compared to the Amazon new price, I am saving $574.75.
I pulled the trigger on two. My hope is that one of them will be in amazing shape and that I can add AppleCare Plus to it, along with the perpetual annual AppleCare Plus renewal of $79 or whatever it is.
Amazon Warehouse Deals has exactly zero 16” M1 MacBook Pros with 32GB of RAM right now. Zero. So no ragerts. It’s a $400 upgrade for a new one. I’d gladly pay that on top of $1724.25, which would come to $2,124.25. But it’s not presently available and 16GB is working fine for me on my Mac mini.
I only plan to keep one of these.
This will replace my M1 Mac mini desktop computer. Sick.
New
Refurbished
5 January 2023 Update: I bought three of these in hopes of getting one that was worth keeping. Worth keeping means excellent physical condition and AppleCare+ available. The first one arrived Tuesday, 3 January 2022. I opened it when I got home. Not mentioned in the Amazon listing, it had no original packaging. But it was cosmetically perfect and even the screen was perfectly clean — not a single smudge. AppleCare+ was available for 20 more days and the factory warranty expires 22 November 2023. That means this thing is like a month old. I’m keeping it.
3 June 2023 Update: I love this computer. I use it every day for work. Only bad thing is Bluetooth oddities. For example, sometimes I click to disable a Plantronics Bluetooth headset and that stops my mouse cold. Seriously. What the heck?