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Tides ebb and flow. Birthdays come and go with frightening rapidity. And, when new Macs ship, Cupertino cuts prices on previous generation refurbished models. Today, Apple began shipping the 2011 MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge and simultaneously trimmed $80 from the price of last year’s model (and there was much rejoicing).

• [p] 11-inch MacBook Air 1.4GHz, $749 (999)
— 2GB, 64GB SSD, GeForce 320M
— Free shipping, free (after rebate) printer, full + extendible AppleCare

• [c] MacBook 2.4GHz, $849 (999)
— 2GB, 250GB, SuperDrive, GeForce 320M
— Free shipping, free (after rebate) printer, full + extendible AppleCare

• [p] iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz, $929 (999)
— 4GB, 500GB, SuperDrive, HD 4670 graphics
— Free shipping, free (after rebate) printer, full + extendible AppleCare

• [p] 11-inch MacBook Air 1.4GHz, $949 (1199)
— 2GB, 128GB, GeForce 320M
— Free shipping, free (after rebate) printer, full + extendible AppleCare

[p] previous generation, [c] current generation

Standard caveats apply — all models in stock at press time, sales tax applies in most US states.

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