I calculate $1678 after taxes, a savings of $421. I thought the same thing as you and bought a MacBook for $999 but returned it because it was slower, dimmer,

I calculate $1678 after taxes, a savings of $421. I thought the same thing as you and bought a MacBook for $999 but returned it because it was slower, dimmer, smaller, and more mirror-like than my glossy MacBook Pro while weighing the same and looking like a children's toy. What ultimately caused me to return it was trying to run a 3D plugin of a scene in a drawing program. It was unbelievably slow, while I remembered how well a Dell m1330 ran, which has the same integrated video chipset, Intel's X3100. I researched that either Apple or Intel had crappy video drivers on the Mac for that chipset, which meant it was already behind the times out of the box, never mind in two years. And with the discount, the MacBook Pro might even be sold for a profit after 3-6 months in the worst case scenario (since including taxes it's worth $2,100), but the same MacBook at either Student Developer or Student price would likely be sold for a loss.