That's actually a very interesting ad at MicroCenter. If you search a bit further, you'll see that they have exactly two 17" configurations "in stock", for $1299 and $1379. They both have 4GB RAM, 5400 RPM 750GB disk, and 2.2GHz processor. The only advertised difference is that the more expensive model has the matte screen.
Here's the interesting part. The matte 17" model was only offered as a factory (non-BTO) model with a 2.3GHz CPU, not a 2.2GHz. Furthermore, these models are the "early 2011". Apple also had "late 2011" models which have faster 2.3/2.5GHz CPUs and slightly faster GPUs, but are otherwise identical.
If MicroCenter were truly unloading stock of all their unsold Apple-refurb 17" models, I would think that they would run the gamut of all available RAM, HD size, CPU speed, etc. And in any case, why is MicroCenter selling Apple refurb units at all?
And if you look at what's in stock at each store, you'll see that there are dozens of these things across the country, perhaps over a hundred total.
And yet they are only in two configurations?
*** My guess is that Apple itself is dumping these out through MicroCenter. ***
And it's a fair wager that many of the units are actually better (in RAM, CPU, etc) than what's advertised. They show two configurations (matte and glossy) because that's something that buyers are picky about. But nobody's going to complain if they ordered a 2.2GHz CPU (early 2011 low-end) and got a 2.5GHz CPU instead (late 2011 high-end). This is called the Apple "refurb lottery".
So who's going to play?
