IT College Student Needs Help!

MrAnthonySutton said:

Three questions for you:

1. Is this a good computer for the price?
2. What is the difference between a refurbished and a new Macbook Pro?
3. Has anyone had any problems with refurbished devices from Apple?

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1. Yes. You get a standard Apple warranty and the option to purchase AppleCare if you so desire. You might be able to purchase the same computer similarly speced from someone else but, unless they purchased AppleCare, you're not going to get the warranty. IMO, the extra money is well spent on the peace mind and Apple warranty.

2. Nothing. The box is different. Plain white. The mac had an issue, the issue was fixed by Apple, checked out again and then boxed up and sold on the refurb store.

3. I've never had any issues. I got my iPad 1 from the refurb store and it was perfect. I just purchased an iPad 2 refurb for my mother and it was perfect. With a refurb product you're less likely to have issues as they have been checked out twice and repaired accordingly. IMO, refurb is the way to go.

The computer will be fine. You get the same warranty as new and can still add applecare if you wish. You could also get a new one for the same price with the education discount. It will have less vram but you also get a $100 app store gift card and usb 3.

1. I would say yes. I paid about the same for my MBP last year (I have a 2010 model) from the refurb store. I got a a dual core 2.4 i5, 4gb ram and a 320(!)gb hard drive.

2. This has already been discussed, but it's really just the packaging and the refurbished model has gone through more testing. The outer casing on mine was immaculate.

3. Absolutely not, I love mine and my brother seems to be very happy with his 3rd gen iPod Touch.

I also program on my machine (I'm going to school for Computer Science) as well as do web development. I've upgrading my machine to 8gb ram and a 750gb Momentus XT Hybrid HDD (I planned both upgrades at the time of purchase).

With all that being said, I personally would say to go into an Apple Store and look at both a regular MBP display and one with a high res/anti-glare screen (not the retina of course). In hind-sight, that's the only thing I wish I had.

Looking at the refurb site, they have a very similar model with the HR/AG display, though you lose 0.1ghz (you'll never notice) and you drop down to the 6750M GPU. I would definitely look into that route unless you really feel like you're going to need the extra graphics performance (I play Diablo 3 just fine on my older 330m).

MrAnthonySutton said:

I just saw that too. I didn't even notice that one. But then, if you have a LED backlight screen, I assume you won't get much of a glare?

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Oh no, there is still a ridiculous amount of glare on the glossy screen in some lighting conditions, though I have only had a couple of times where I really wished I had the anti-glare (airports and a bright Starbucks) The high-res is the more important reason for going with that model anyway, the anti-glare is just an added benefit.

MrAnthonySutton said:

I will need the extra ram. I'd end up upgrading anyways which would cost more money.. Even using the $100 dollar gift card from them.

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VRAM != RAM. The former is on the graphics chip.