You can’t knock a discount and there’s some decent refurbished stuff out there…
Per MacNN, Apple has begun selling refurbished third-generation iPads for the first time, a check of the company’s online store shows. The discount is a flat US$50 for each model, regardless of capacity or 4G support; whereas a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad is knocked down to US$449 as a refurb, for instance, a 64GB 4G iPad only drops to US$779. Each unit includes a one-year warranty as well as a new battery and shell.
The availability of refurbished units tends to mark a later phase in an Apple product’s lifespan, since demand is no longer so intense that fresh units sell as quickly as they can be produced. Apple also tends to let a certain number of refurb units stockpile before putting them online, and often this stockpile can persist after a next-generation device is released. The first-generation iPad continued to be available as a refurb long after the iPad 2 debuted; currently Apple is still selling 32 and 64GB iPad 2s, even though only 16GB iPad 2s are being actively manufactured.
If you were waiting to snag a third-generation iPad, now might be the time and it’ll be interesting to see what’s around the corner.