I can assure you that was not there just five days ago when I bought a new MacBook Pro for my girlfriend’s Godson who has just graduated from high school and is heading to college. I was checking current pricing because Apple’s retail partners were closing out their current ones last week. We got that one for $250 off the original price. . . better than the $100 off Apple offers for educational discount.. . they only offer that kind of discount on current models when a new model is imminent. The sale was limhe ited to stock on hand at each store and no mail orders were permitted. An hour after the email ad came out, there was only one left in the Sacramento Area and that was the upgraded version. We grabbed it. The next closest store with any in stock was in San Francisco. and they had only two left.
I just received my MacBook Pro beginning of this week, and was doing price comparisons. Price doesn’t look different than a couple weeks ago. I bought a refurbished machine at discount, fully configured with software by a reseller. Came packaged as new in the box, full warranty from Apple and not distinguishable from any other new machine. Reason I compared the pricing is because for a few hundred more than Apple’s price for a plain model, I got it configured with Logic Pro X, Final Cut Pro X, Adobe PhotoShop CS6 Master Suite, MS Windows 10 in Virtual Box, MS Office 2016, FileMaker Pro, TechTool Pro, iWork apps, and some other programs. Went for the i7 fast processor and graphics, with 16GB memory and 512GB SSD. Refurbished is a great way to save money. My 2006 MacBook was getting a bit old so I treated myself to a new one.