With Black Friday around the corner, we’re seeing some unusually good deals on laptops that are a few years old. Case in point: this refurbished 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2020, which cost $1,999 when it was new, is down to $444 — a steal for a laptop that’s still competitive in 2025.
We’re big fans of refurbished tech here at ZDNET, especially when it comes to laptops. Amazon has rigorous hardware requirements for any of its refurbished devices, so you’re not going to get a laptop in bad shape. If there are any parts that don’t meet the standard, they’re replaced before they go on sale.
Also: Best early Black Friday laptop deals 2025: 16+ sales out early
The laptop itself will be reverted to factory settings, so out of the box it’ll be a clean slate. This 13-inch MacBook Pro is also compatible with MacOS 26 Tahoe, the latest operating system for Mac, with features such as the Liquid Glass UI overhaul, Phone app, and a much more powerful Spotlight tool.
This 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with an Intel Core i3 processor and 16GB of RAM — plenty of memory for everyday tasks for work, school, or creative workloads. Similarly, the 512GB of local storage is likely enough for most folks, but if you want to go up to 1TB<!–>, that configuration will run you about $100 more.
The display looks great, too. The 2020 MacBook Pro features a 2560 × 1600 (WQXGA) resolution Retina display with crisp and vibrant images paired with the 720p FaceTime HD camera, making videoconferencing a breeze. It also has four Thunderbolt 3 ports, allowing for plenty of connectivity if you want to connect to an external monitor.
Also: Is a refurbished MacBook viable in 2025? I did the math, and here’s my expert advice
In terms of battery life, for the MacBook Pro (2020), Apple advertises up to 10 hours on one charge, setting the standard for thin and lightweight laptops that don’t sacrifice power for longevity.
This MacBook Pro also features a touchpad on the top of the keyboard, a unique feature that Apple experimented with for this model. The LED touchpad allows users to access a wide range of features beyond just brightness and volume settings, depending on different apps.
Also: 5 things I love about MacOS 26 Tahoe after one week with it on my Mac
For students and hybrid workers, this is a laptop that will easily handle multitasking across the modern suite of productivity apps, with all the integrations for the iPhone, like iMessages, Find My, and FaceTime.
This 13-inch MacBook Pro is one of the last Macs compatible with the new OS, and one of the very few Intel machines capable of the upgrade, which makes this deal even more of a standout. Just keep in mind that you don’t have to upgrade to the latest OS – it ships with MacOS Catalina (version 10,15), which will run just fine on this machine.
Deals are subject to sell-out or expire at any time, though ZDNET remains committed to finding, sharing, and updating the best product deals for you to score the best savings. Our team of experts regularly checks in on the deals we share to ensure they are still live and obtainable. We’re sorry if you’ve missed out on this deal, but don’t fret — we’re constantly finding new chances to score savings and sharing them with you at ZDNET.com.
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