Small Dog Electronics has been flogging the 2010 17" MacBook Pros lately; they apparently got a large stock of factory refurbished units. The
2.53GHz i5 4GB/500GB model, complete with one-year Apple warranty and eligible for Apple Care, is selling for US $1100.
If the 17" is too ungainly, they've got a
15in 2.4GHz i5 4GB/320GB, same vintage, for a hundred bucks more. And if you really don't dig the refurbished route, they actually have, from the same time frame,
new Mac mini Servers for $900.
The MacBook Pros ship with OS X 10.6.4, install discs included. The Mac mini server ships with Snow Leopard Server (no version info available).
