If latest and greatest rides shotgun to tried, true and cheaper in your shopping cart, then to you the rollout of Apple’s tiny Second Generation Shuffle simply means great deals on Apple’s Certified Refurbished First Generation model. The 512mb version sells for a paltry $29 and the 1gb version for a mere $59. With prices this low, you could practically hand out 512s as stocking stuffers or Starbucks tips if you were so inclined. I still use a 1gb when I run, and I must say that nothing beats the simplicity of Apple’s stick of gum flash player. Plus, they also work as memory sticks, allowing you to carry around any files you please in a stylishly MacHead sort of way. So hop, skip or jump over to Apple’s store (none of which will stop the music on your Shuffle) and pick one up while they last, ‘cause these are gonna be hot.
Apple has finally jumped on the Core 2 Duo (redundancy anyone?) bandwagon by upgrading their MacBook Pros, giving them a looks good on paper 39% speed increase. Besides the jump in processing, all models now include a FireWire 800 port (which should have been included from the beginning but Apple does strange things sometimes), support for up to 3GB of memory (nice), storage capacities of up to 200GB (very nice), and all Pros now come standard with a double-layer SuperDrive (double nice). Plus, if you’re not one of those people who have to have the latest and greatest, you can save 22%-37% on yesterday’s top of the line. Apple Certified Refurbished Systems come with free shipping and the same warranty as a brand new piece of hardware, plus, at least one bug has already been worked out of the system, so you’ll hopefully have a few less problems with your new wonder machine. If you’ve been holding out on that upgrade, now may be the time to jump in Apple’s wagon.
