Poll: Do you generally buy refurbished or used computers?

[MacRumors]

Vote: Poll: Do you generally buy refurbished or used computers? (http://www.macpolls.com/?poll_id=374)

[1macker1]

I dont like buying someone's troublem, so i shell out for the new unit.

[slowtreme]

I don't generally buy computers (The whole thing) at all. For PCs I build them with new parts. The current macs I have were purchased used, and built up (bigger drives, ram, etc.)

I hadn't really thought about it till now, but ALL my PC parts were new from stores, while every Mac part I have came from eBay.

[johnnyjibbs]

There's something nice about having a nice new machine. It's special because it is unopened and you have the magic first touch.

Refurbs aren't too bad though - I might consider that for a desktop (less 'intimate' than laptops, I think!)

I'd only get a used product if it was something old and classic - for example I bought my SNES used a couple of years a go to play Mario on. But I'd only get my GameCube new. (Ok, so they don't make SNES's any more but..)

[pjkelnhofer]

So far I have only bought new, but my next computer will (hopefully) be a refurbed PowerMac sometime after the next generation G5 PM's come out.

[Stewie]

I usually want some custom configuration that I can't find in a refurb. However if I could find what I wanted & the price was right....

[macFanDave]

but if I hadn't already purchased a G5, I would have liked to have had one of Virginia Tech's discards. I think that's a real piece of history!

[wrldwzrd89]

I have only bought new machines so far (both Mac and PC), but in the future I might get a refurb. I would never buy used unless the computer came from a friend and it was sold directly to me.

[awulf]

I never ever have bought a brand new Mac.

My current computer a Power Mac G4 466 was an Ex Demo model from Apple Centre Next Byte.

My previous mac PM 7600/132 came from sold.com.au (online auction).

Every other mac I have I found somewhere, or were going to be thrown out.

[SilentPanda]

When I had a PC about 3 years back and before I'd just build my own from parts... but since I've been on the Mac path I've just bought my computers with my Edu discount which is generally the same price as a refurb except that you can pick your upgrades to it... once I not longer have my Edu discount I'll probably buy refurbs unless I'm filthy rich. :)

[KLFloyd]

I'll buy refurb if it's available for a better price than I can already get with my education discount. But I'll only buy refurbs from Apple or an authorized reseller where I can have the full warranty.

I figure why not, save a few bucks, comes to you as good as new.

[wordmunger]

The only Mac I ever bought used was my first, a Mac 512, in 1987, for $400. Then the space bar broke. Back then, keyboards were very expensive--it cost me $115 to fix it, which was cheaper than buying a new keyboard. I actually typed an entire 5-page paper without a space bar--used "cut" and "paste." Never again.

[Centris 650]

Funny, I just had this conversation with someone last night.

I have bought a Centris 650 (new), a Powerbook 150 (used), an iMac Bondi (new), an iBook SE 466 (new) and a Dual 1 gig G4 (refreshed from Apple Store in Durham, NC). I personally had a great experience with the refreshed machine. I will probably not buy a new machine again depending on what I need and when I need it. The best thing about the refreshed and refurbed machine is that they come with the 1 year warranty. Can't beat that! I'm all about saving money!

[wdlove]

I prefer to purchase things new. If it was from Apple and had a chance to look at it first at my Apple Store it might be worth considering.

[mrsebastian]

as long as you give me a good warranty, i have no prob with buying something used/refurbed. though i will do my homework and find out everything i can about that machine. gotta make sure you're not getting a problem child, if you know what i mean.

[SeaFox]

I can't really afford new, so I buy off eBay.

To whoever said it at the begining of the thread, just because someone is selling their computer on eBay doesn't mean they are selling a "problem".

There are plenty of people that just want to find their old machine a new owner after upgrading. You can find some good deals even with "problems" (example: Someone sells a computer that won't boot up as "for parts". You buy it and replace the HD, it works fine).

My next Mac will be a laptop, and I my buy it new just becase it's a lot harder to repair it so I want a warranty, plus there's the dead pixel thing.

[pimentoLoaf]

I once bought a pre-owned copy of SimCity 4 for my PC only to find I couldn't download any new buildings for it. Seems "the original purchaser" is taken seriously by software vendors.

My brother took delivery of my old PC, and despite being able to get a warranty repair, the company still acts as if I own it -- even though he told 'em he's the owner.

A really old laptop PC was a refurb, and it quit on me only two years later. The manufacturer designed it so you were expected to trash it rather than replace the PRAM battery. (Greedy & dumb.)

[virividox]

if i have the cash ill get it brand new, but hey if im strapped and the price is right ill go for refurb

[HexMonkey]

My first two computers (a Quadra 700 and a PowerMac 730) were bought used, simply because that was all that I could afford. I bought my latest one (eMac) new though, and for the first time I can run the latest version of Mac OS. :)

[Awimoway]

I generally buy new computers, but the two iPods I've owned were both used--got 'em on eBay.

[NusuniAdmin]

All the computers i have now are all used/refurb, but the next one i get (pbook g5,ibook g4, or a pmac g5 rev. 2) are gonna be new, i have had good luck with used and refurbbed computers, except for my 8500 a/v that came with 256 megs of BAD memory o well.

[Stinkysteve]

The only used computer I have purchased was a 2 week old iBook G4 12 inch from a fellow board member.
The rest were either purchased new, (2), or given to me, (4). The freebies were old relics.

[DStaal]

For a desktop, I buy refurbished, from Apple or somebody offering a normal warranty. Cheaper, and there really should be no difference. (But I do want current tech.)

I also buy a fair amount of used computers: old stuff I use for servers/firewalls and playing with networks. Those I get cheap; if they don't work I'll just trash them.

[Sabenth]

One new PC
One used Mac from ebay

the Mac gets used more than the PC :D

[bousozoku]

My last two machines have been floor models, so they don't fit neatly into either category.

I'm actually quite pleased. You see a machine week after week and you know its condition, including repairs. It's quite reassuring.

Mind you, these are PowerMacs. I'm not sure whether I would have bought a G3 iMac this way. They had towers of refurbished machines in the area.

[edenwaith]

Every Mac or major Mac-related item, I've gotten either used or refurbished. The used machines I either got for free or cheap ($24 for my first Mac...a Mac SE). Since 1998, I've purchased several refurbished items. Refurbished Bondi iMac, mid-2001 iBook, Gigabit G4 PowerMac, 15" Apple LCD display, and a 10 GB iPod.

I've had quite good luck with refurbished items. The only problems I've had are two CD/DVD drives going bad. I haven't had the chance to replace the CD drive on the iMac (it finally gave up after about three years of faithful service), but once I do, I'll probably try and install Yellow Dog Linux on it for fun. My PowerMac's DVD drive died on it several years back, but since it was still under the one year warranty, a repairman came to my house and fixed it, free of charge!

[ALoLA]

My 15" flat panel iMac was a refurb. No problems at all. :)

[Doctor Q]

I've gotten my last four Macs as follows: new, then refurb, then refurb, then new.

[~Shard~]

A computer is one of those investments that since I'm spending a lot of money on it, I want it to be new - and I don't mind spending extra for that benefit, either. Same goes with cars, TVs, other expensive toys - new is the way to go for me... :cool:

[originalmac]

I've been a Mac user my whole life and never bought refurb until a few months ago. Ordered a 12 inch 867 combo powerbook. Got it. When it arrived, it would not really function at all. Hours -- really, hours -- of tech support and fighting over a 10 percent restocking fee they tried to charge me because they didn't define the fact that the computer was having problems starting as a "DOA" -- I had the privilege of driving in traffic to the Fed Ex place to return it. I received another one. This one too was defective. I purchased APPLE ram from an APPLE store and installed it, and the computer was not recognizing the extra ram (which, by the way, that computer really needs; it's a slow piece of S***.) Again, arguments about returning, first, the memory to the apple store w/o a 10% restocking fee, (victory on that one finally -- thank god I have a law degree -- and the return was characterized as due to a faulty Apple product -- not to my own shopper's whimsy). I returned the second one and decided not to buy another one. I thought for a few days about writing letters to customer service, etc, (even to Steve, in my more delirious moments), then the whole thing just sort of passed for me.
Recently, I saw a local Apple store had a "refreshed" 17 inch powerbook, 1.33 mhz, that had been used as a display model, for $1999. Sounds pretty good to me. Probably the best bang for the buck in powerbookland right now. But after my experience with the TWO defective refurbished computers, I'm not going to do it.
Anyone else had bad experience with refurb/refresh Apple products?

[themadchemist]

Nope. I always buy new.

[g4cubed]

2 off ebay and both still running strong/ :D

[Doctor Q]

I was considereding buying another refurb, so I visited a store where I have purchased them before. Today they had these for sale:

Nwe Power Mac Dual G4 1.25GHz, 256MB/80GB/Combo, $1,589
New Power Mac G4 1.25GHz, 256MB/80GB/Combo, $1,289
Refurb Power Mac G4 867MHz, 256MB/60GB/Combo, $1,099
Refurb Power Mac G4 733MHz, 256MB/30GB/Super, $949
Refurb Power Mac G4 667MHz, 256MB/60GB/CDRW, $875

In this case, I don't think the best refurb would save me enough to make it worth it, i.e., $1,289 is only $190 more than $1,099, and I'd get a new and faster Mac. But if I only had $875 to spend, a refurb is better than nothing at all.

[plumers]

For safety reason on Valuable items - New
My ibook clammy bought brand new when first time its launched on August 1999 and my Tower (PC, P4 2.4 Win XP) is new
But my powerbook is Used (got it off the ebay) and the owner was used it for only a week, so practically it's brand new.
My cell phone was refurb and it makes a lot of unusual noises a lot of times and sold on ebay couple months ago, so I never wanted to buy refurb items since then...

[~Shard~]

From what I've seen, it seems like the majority of people who buy used computers online on e-bay or whatever, buy Macs. I don't really hear of anyone buying used Dell PCs or the like - it seems like Apple machines are the majority of what is bought. This makes sense to me though - Macs have excellent longevity, so buying a used one doesn't automatically mean it's obsolete. Also, the quality of Macs are so good, you know they'll last. And lastly, it seems like Mac users in general have a greater "respect" for their machines, so if you are wanting to buy a used one, you can pretty much guarantee that the previous owner respected his machine and took good care of it.

[dubbz]

The only used computer I've ever bought is the Mac in my sig.
I've built most of my PCs myself. Never bought a used PC.

[themadchemist]

From what I've seen, it seems like the majority of people who buy used computers online on e-bay or whatever, buy Macs. I don't really hear of anyone buying used Dell PCs or the like - it seems like Apple machines are the majority of what is bought. This makes sense to me though - Macs have excellent longevity, so buying a used one doesn't automatically mean it's obsolete. Also, the quality of Macs are so good, you know they'll last. And lastly, it seems like Mac users in general have a greater "respect" for their machines, so if you are wanting to buy a used one, you can pretty much guarantee that the previous owner respected his machine and took good care of it.

perhaps it's just a characteristic of your sampling population...

[FuzzyBallz]

Rarely if ever. Ok, make that never.

[Mechcozmo]

Well, my 800Mhz iMac is from an "Open Box Sale" where a collection of returned computers are reboxed up and sold. No problems there. With a 512MB stick of memory in it, it does fine for Word and iTunes.
My Powerbook, however, is new. Couldn't find too many with the 80GB hard drive that didn't look like crud.

My brother's computer is a new eMac, but it had some defective RAM. That was solved.

My sister's computer is a used eMac that cost $450...but it is the 1Ghz model, came with Photoshop, Flash MX, and a lot of other programs that individually are something like $450. It was really a software buy.

My dad's Sawtooth WAS new.......... 3 years ago. :D

[Jovian9]

Almost all of the computers I have bought have been new, with the exception of my 17" 1GHz PowerBook (refurbished). But d/t logic board problems they replaced it with a new 17" 1.33GHz PowerBook....so they're all new now. My original 1G 5GB iPod and 2G 10GB iPods were new....but my wifes 2G 10GB, my 2G 20GB, my wifes 3G 20GB, & my 3G 40GB iPods were all refurbished.....and there were no problems other than me breaking the headphone port on the 2G 20GB. But we just sold our 3G's and have an iPod mini and a new 4G 40GB iPod on the way.....so we have no more refurbs.
But I'd definitely recommend the refurbished section to anyone looking to buy anything Apple b/c it's a great deal and you get the same support/warranty.

[makisushi]

only new machines for me...for some reason, I don't trust refurbished machines. It is probably an irrational fear, though.

[Burns]

It's not that i don't trust refurbed or used machines, it's that if you buy a computer new, give it 6 months to a year and it's already ridiculously outdated and slow. Hence, unless someone sells their machine JUST after buying it, its going to need replaced fairly quickly in the grand scheme of things. Maybe not for all comps, but generally i have found that to keep up with latest software developments, you really have to keep upgrading the hardware. :o

[SeaFox]

It's not that i don't trust refurbed or used machines, it's that if you buy a computer new, give it 6 months to a year and it's already ridiculously outdated and slow. Hence, unless someone sells their machine JUST after buying it, its going to need replaced fairly quickly in the grand scheme of things. Maybe not for all comps, but generally i have found that to keep up with latest software developments, you really have to keep upgrading the hardware. :o

I'm not even sure that's correct for the PC platform. It certainly isn't for Macs. Are you saying everyone who bought Dual 1.8 Ghz G5's when they first came out (a year ago) now has a rediculously outdated machine?

[NusuniAdmin]

I'm not even sure that's correct for the PC platform. It certainly isn't for Macs. Are you saying everyone who bought Dual 1.8 Ghz G5's when they first came out (a year ago) now has a rediculously outdated machine?

actualyl dual 1.8 came out less than a year ago (around oct/nov i think..)...lol

but yes that is exactly what it sounds like. Especially with the way the semiconductor industry is doing now, processor speeds are not going up as fast as they used to

[~Shard~]

I'm not even sure that's correct for the PC platform. It certainly isn't for Macs. Are you saying everyone who bought Dual 1.8 Ghz G5's when they first came out (a year ago) now has a rediculously outdated machine?

Yah, I tend to agree – Macs have amazing resale value and I think there’s a reason for that. My buddy just picked up a G3 iBook on e-bay, for example, for a good price, and it’s still an amazing little machine that will do everything he needs it to do. “Obsolete” is definitely too strong a word! And now with processor speeds slowing down with repsect to their progressions, I think this becomes even more true. Although I personally only like buying things new, I definitely would never discourage anyone from buying a refurbed Mac. It would have to be a Mac though. PCs suck. ;) :cool:

[PieMac]

I've always bought new, but have been wondering about a refurb PowerBook as of late. Do refurbs look brand new or can you usually tell that they've been used? Seems like refurb laptops especially might show a bit of wear...?

[NusuniAdmin]

I've always bought new, but have been wondering about a refurb PowerBook as of late. Do refurbs look brand new or can you usually tell that they've been used? Seems like refurb laptops especially might show a bit of wear...?

When i bought a refurb powermac 7300 from a site a few years ago i could not tell that it was used at all. I am assuming apple does the same thing as this site does:

Cleans out everything
Verifies everything works
Make note of any little scratches or blemishes they could not hide
Replace parts that are bad etc.

So im assuming apple refurbs probably look pretty close to new.

[wdlove]

As of late my wife has been thinking about purchasing either a refurbished iBook or PowerBook. If we do it would be our first.

[Burns]

Ok, i'll concede about processor speed increases coming down, but i was talking about my previous experience (should have said) and point out that i bought my last machine about a year and a half ago when it was true. Sorry.

[~Shard~]

Ok, i'll concede about processor speed increases coming down, but i was talking about my previous experience (should have said) and point out that i bought my last machine about a year and a half ago when it was true. Sorry.

No need to apologize - a year and half ago, this was definitely more the case than it is currently. In general though, Macs always last longer and have higher re-sale rates than PCs. :)

[o1b2]

Over the years I go for the new ones, but for the first time last fall I bought an refurbished ibook from the apple store chicago and got a great price on it, and I was told from Apple tech person at the store my the cpu was returned. and it was just bought as a gift and that it was returned in for a powerbook. And that the box was not opened till it returned to the store, because that is what they do with returns. So refurbished is good if you can have someone like that scan the product barcode and tell you why it was a refurbished. That ibook works great, and if you get one I would just say "make sure you know who your buying it from if there is any problems".