Update: Check their Apple Mac Promotion page on all the limited stock items.

I just found out that Harris Technology is selling cheap Apple Macs — the slightly out-dated model. Still very nice, and quite a bit cheaper than the current line-ups.

Take this Macbook Pro for example.

• Intel Core Duo 2Ghz
• 512Mb RAM
• 80Gb Hard Disk
• DVD+RW Optical Drive
• ATI Radeon X1600 128Mb video card

How much? $2,299, but you have to pick them up, i.e. no delivery. How about this 13″ Macbook?

• Intel Core Duo 2Ghz
• 512Mb RAM
• 80Gb Hard Disk
• DVD+RW Optical Drive

Middle of the range 6 months ago — and now $1,649, cheaper than the current entry level Macbook with only 1.83Ghz CPU, 60Gb hard disk and CD-RW/DVD combo drive.

I guess the biggest difference is that the current Macbook Pro/Macbook has Intel Core 2 Duo processors, whereas the slightly older generation has Core Duo (without the 2 in the middle). Core 2 Duo should be slightly faster per clock speed, and most importantly it has EM64T support if you are keen to use 64bit operating systems (like installing Linux x86_64 or 64bit Windows). Not that much difference if you are stuck with MacOS X. Yet these out-going model is much cheaper.

But not all the out-going models are inferior. This very desirable Mac Mini begs to differ.

• Intel Core Duo 1.6Ghz
• 512Mb RAM
• 80Gb Hard Disk
• DVD+RW Optical Drive

IIRC Apple Mac Mini is still using Intel Core Duo, so the above system actually has better specification than the current entry level Mac Mini which has 60Gb hard disk and CD-RW/DVD combo drive. And the price? $799, that’s $150 cheaper than the current entry-level model.

There are actually more clearance item from Harris Technology, which I haven’t had a chance to do a “full scan”. Vote those deals on OzBargain here, here and here.

And somewhat related — noneother has reported that you can save $199 when you buy a Mac and an iPod at the same time — but only if you are a student (who already has big 10%+ academic discount from Apple). Nice, if you qualify :)