Deal-a-day site Woot.com occasionally offers Apple products for sale, generally refurbished iPod Nano or Touch models. But this year, on Christmas Eve, the site is offering Apple's current entry-level iMac for nearly 13 percent off Apple's prices -- and tax free for most states, unlike Apple's online store.

The model in question, MC309LL/A, is $1,199 on Apple's online store in a stock configuration. Woot's offering, at $1049.99 plus $5 shipping (for up to three iMacs), doesn't offer any sort of custom configuring but is significantly cheaper than any other site -- including discounts available through Apple's store for college students. It's also cheaper than any of the deals available on Black Friday last month.

wootimac
Woot, which uses a literary point of view to humorously sell their products, has this to say about the iMac:

GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMAN

That furry red-and-white coat would look great over a black turtleneck, wouldn’t it?

“Tonight’s the night! Are you excited about Jobsmas Eve?”

I’m afraid to even ask what that means.

“Jobsmas Eve, man! The way I see it, over the next several hundred years, the stature of Steve Jobs will grow to legendary proportions, like Gilgamesh or Axl Rose. And since Apple products are considered the ultimate Christmas gifts, the holiday will someday become synonymous with the company, and the man who founded it!”

Wow, you’ve managed to deeply offend both Christians and Apple fans with one fake holiday. Nice job.

”’Offend’? What’s offensive about the spirit of Steve Jobs going from house to house to deliver fantastically awesome presents to good little girls and boys? I’m just getting a jump on what everyone’s going to believe hundreds of years from now. I’ve always been ahead of my time.”

Is that what people in the future will call “crazy”?

“Look, you and I know that Steve probably couldn’t have visited every kid in the world in one night. I mean, he never tried, so who knows. OK, yeah, it seems far-fetched to you and me. But just imagine how far-fetched the Apple iMac Quad-Core i5 Desktop would have seemed to our great-grandparents.”

Hey! Have you been digging around in the back of my closet?

“Uh, no, no! I certainly haven’t seen that you bought me an Apple iMac Quad-Core i5 Desktop with 21.5” LED display, a quad-core 2.5GHz Intel processor, 4GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, 802.11n wireless, and OS X Lion! Uncovering a surprise like that would ruin Jobsmas Eve!”

It's curious that Woot would offer a current-model new-in-box iMac. To sell it as a main-item suggests the site has a fair number of the iMacs in-stock. Woot may be selling the machines near cost or as a loss-leader on Christmas Eve, or it's possible that iMac sales are slower than Apple expected and it is using Woot -- which was purchased by Amazon.com last year -- to clear out surplus holiday inventory.

Top Rated Comments

ninjadex Avatar
172 months ago
Does it ship with a mighty mouse stuck to the display? Or is that optional?:p
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lancetx Avatar
172 months ago
They're back again today at the same price...

http://moofi.woot.com/moofi/retailempowerment
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jayse Avatar
172 months ago
Dare i say it?

...WOOT!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Surely Avatar
172 months ago
Talk about a slow news day...

How original!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SidewaysTakumi Avatar
172 months ago
No, but it may ship with the magic mouse attached. :-p
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macmastersam Avatar
172 months ago
Oh dear... Look at the iMac picture. I mean, who sticks a magic mouse to the chin of the iMac? but of course, only me would probably point that out :P
Score: 0 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
iphone 17 lineup cad render majin bu

Revealed: Entire iPhone 17 Lineup's Striking New Camera Designs

Monday February 24, 2025 2:49 am PST by
A new CAD render of all the devices in Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 lineup has been shared online by leaker Majin Bu, specifically showing the allegedly different rear camera system designs of the standard iPhone 17, all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air, and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models. The leaker Majin Bu has had some hits in the past, but some of his information has been wrong,...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...