I’m a big fan of the 12-inch MacBook (as I’ve said before), and that’s why I’m a big fan of the deal Amazon’s Woot service is offering for the 2017 256GB model. Today you can get an Apple Certified Refurbished model for just $869.99 , down both from the $1,099 you’d pay for a refurbished unit from Apple itself and the $1,299 it sold for at launch. You’ll even get a one-year Apple warranty, and if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you won’t even have to pay shipping.
But it gets better. Provided you’re willing to content yourself with a unit that was refurbished by Apple but only comes with Woot’s 90-day warranty, you can pick one up for just $759.99 .
The catch—and of course there would be one—is that these models are only selling in a handful of colors. If you get the model with the one-year guarantee, you can only buy it in gold or rose gold. The model with the Woot warranty comes in either silver or rose gold.
Here are a few more specs:
- Intel Core M3-7Y32 Dual-Core
- 256GB PCI-E Solid State Drive
- 8GB DDR3 RAM
- 226ppi Retina Display
It’ll be increasingly hard to find this model as Apple recently discontinued it in favor of pushing buyers who favor small, lightweight work machine toward the 13-inch MacBook Air or the iPads. I still love it, though, as it’s light and thin enough that it does a better job of “disappearing” into my bag than the new MacBook Air. I like its butterfly keyboard the best out of all the models that have one—although, make no mistake, it’s still quite loud.
The battery seems to last forever, and while it’s not a powerhouse, it does a decent job of running games like World of Warcraft. Also, the single USB-C port isn’t as hard to live with as you might think if you don’t plan on using it for much besides lightweight work. If all of this sounds as appealing as it does for me, you should get it before it’s gone—both from Amazon and in general.
If you need some more info, be sure to check out our full review from 2017.
Author: Leif Johnson, Contributing Writer
Leif is a San Francisco-based tech journalist. He's a big fan of fantasy RPGs, and you can find his previous work on IGN, Rolling Stone, VICE, PC Gamer, Playboy, Mac|Life, TechRadar, and numerous other publications.