New MB versus refurbished MBP

I need some advice and pretty soon as I'm thinking of taking advantage of black fridays sale on Apple site,although this isn't much of a saving!!!Do I buy a new generation MB for my son who's a student, or do I go for a refurbished MBP on the apple site?The MBP is 2.4GHZ,2GB,200GB,glossy screen,NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT,is this last generation or earlier?I've read some reviews that this gen had screen issues,is this true? Does anyone have input about buying refurb from apple, risky or not?So bottom line do I buy MB or go for more computer in refurbed MBP, but risk any reprocussions from purchasing previously owned model/last generation tech?

Buying a refurbished machine from Apple is safe. It comes with a full warranty and the knowledge that Apple will take of any repairs if they should be necessary.

As far as choosing the new generation aluminum MacBook or the previous generation MacBook Pro, you need to decide. Base that decision on what your son will be using the machine for.

Whatever you choose, also consider buying this protection for your son:

Laptop, Desktop, Tablet PC and PDA/Smartphone insurance from Safeware Insurance Agency, Inc.

Notebook computers, especially Macs are a big temptation to thieves at colleges and universities. Also, the Safeware insurance additionally protects against accidental user damage which is not covered under the Apple warranty.

Regards.

The prices on the new MB/MBP's today are very attractive. The refurbished prices have not been adjusted, so I would look at macmall's refurb prices. Either machine is outstanding and you can't go wrong. Just remember that the new MB does not have firewire.

I was under the same choice, and I went with the older MBP. Glad I did, as both my wife and I really disliked the glossy screens we saw at the Apple store (really, really, disliked). It was to the point that if we couldn't find an older MBP with the matte screen, we'd have gone with a different computer.

The other issue was the click pad on the new models. Neither of us liked it at all. It doesn't click very well at the top of the pad (does just fine from about the middle down). The track pad on the MBP we liked a lot more.

I was a bit sad that I wasn't getting the newest model (I really like the new frame), but after experiencing the new one and not being too impressed (but still impressed), and looking at the performance difference between a new MB and old MBP (not that different actually), we got the refurbed 2.5Ghz, 2gb ram, 512 video, 15" MBP. My wife loves it, it does fine for me, and it was actually pretty cheap considering.

Just my experience.

mike

edit: just read the post above, I would disagree with it. I got a MBP (high end model of the previous generation) for $1400. Before the new ones came out, it cost $2500. Granted, its older and refurbished, but still has the warranty. If that isn't adjusted, I don't know what is. And yes, for $1400 I have firewire (which I do use) and an Express/34 slot (which is incredibly useful, just google everything you can do with that, TV, any-type-of-card-you-want reader, WiFi, wireless 3g from you cell carrier, extra USB, extra firewire, you name it, express/34 can handle it).