The "I just ordered / bought / got my new/refurb MBP" thread [Merged]

After weeks of deciding whether or not to get a 15-inch MBPr, I finally ordered one thanks to today's Buyer's Guide deal. Best Buy has a 2013 15-inch MBPr (2.3GHz/16GB/512GB) on clearance for $1999.99. (Not open-box or refurbished.) Based on the comments in this forum, the 2013 is still a great MBPr since the only change in the 2014 is the 0.2GHz increase.

Good deal?

By the way, does the the 1-year Apple warranty start on the day I bought it? I'm not sure since it's a discontinued model that Best Buy sold. I'll get the Apple Care for it eventually.

First Mac

I found a 13" MacBook Pro (Late 2012) on Craigslist for $200. It had a cracked GLASS screen cover. Otherwise it was in perfect shape. I bought it, spent $20 for a new glass cover on Amazon, installed it, and BOOM! $200, excellent condition MacBook Pro!

Twas my first. Happened about 2 weeks ago.

Since then, I ordered an iMac.. and it should arrive tomorrow.

Woohoo!

Hello All. Lifelong Windows user here. Planning to jump onto mac ship. I'm leaning more towards the 15" rMBP, but would consider 15" also if there is a good deal on it. I've checked out the refurbished apple store and there are a couple of them I'm interested in. However, I want to know if the price is considered a good deal or not? I'm only asking this because I've never shopped for macs so I'm not sure what the usual prices on refurbished macs.


I also have a few questions for mac gurus here..

1). As I understand, RAM is not upgrade-able on the rMBPs. If that is the case, should I go for the 16gb one instead of the 8gb one to be more future proof? There is a $200 difference in price (see I & II below) so I'm really mulling over this.

2). How easy/difficult it is to upgrade the SSD and how much do they cost?

3). Why is the processor speed is less for 15" models compared to 13" models? I know the internal clock speed doesn't mean much and since I won't be using the mac for gaming or any complex media editing, I won't even notice the difference. But I'm really curious as to why the 13" models have 2.8GHZ and the 15" models are in 2.0-2.2 range.



The ones I'm interested in are..

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display - $1700
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FGXA2LL/A/Refurbished-154-inch-MacBook-Pro-22GHz-Quad-core-Intel-i7-with-Retina-Display

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.0GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display - $1490

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE293LL/A/refurbished-154-inch-macbook-pro-20ghz-quad-core-intel-i7-with-retina-display

pingting said:

Hello All. Lifelong Windows user here. Planning to jump onto mac ship. I'm leaning more towards the 15" rMBP, but would consider 15" also if there is a good deal on it. I've checked out the refurbished apple store and there are a couple of them I'm interested in. However, I want to know if the price is considered a good deal or not? I'm only asking this because I've never shopped for macs so I'm not sure what the usual prices on refurbished macs.


I also have a few questions for mac gurus here..

1). As I understand, RAM is not upgrade-able on the rMBPs. If that is the case, should I go for the 16gb one instead of the 8gb one to be more future proof? There is a $200 difference in price (see I & II below) so I'm really mulling over this.

2). How easy/difficult it is to upgrade the SSD and how much do they cost?

3). Why is the processor speed is less for 15" models compared to 13" models? I know the internal clock speed doesn't mean much and since I won't be using the mac for gaming or any complex media editing, I won't even notice the difference. But I'm really curious as to why the 13" models have 2.8GHZ and the 15" models are in 2.0-2.2 range.



The ones I'm interested in are..

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display - $1700
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FGXA2LL/A/Refurbished-154-inch-MacBook-Pro-22GHz-Quad-core-Intel-i7-with-Retina-Display

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.0GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display - $1490

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE293LL/A/refurbished-154-inch-macbook-pro-20ghz-quad-core-intel-i7-with-retina-display

Click to expand...

Some answers:
1. You are correct. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard. Go with as much as possible. But I think all of the 2013/4 models come with 16GB.

2. It's likely easy, remove the bottom cover, one screw holds the SSD in place. The SSDs in the 2013/4 MBP are PCIe flash storage so it's not cheap. You can buy it off eBay (it costs about $400 for 512GB). However, you need a pentalobe screwdriver to remove the bottom cover. However, because there are 'no user-serviceable parts' inside, doing this will also void your warranty. It's best to buy as much storage as you can afford.

3. The 13" models have dual core processors as opposed to quad core in the 15" models. If you're interested in speed benchmarks for comparison, you can see that here, http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

MacInTO said:

Some answers:
1. You are correct. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard. Go with as much as possible. But I think all of the 2013/4 models come with 16GB.

2. It's likely easy, remove the bottom cover, one screw holds the SSD in place. The SSDs in the 2013/4 MBP are PCIe flash storage so it's not cheap. You can buy it off eBay (it costs about $400 for 512GB). However, you need a pentalobe screwdriver to remove the bottom cover. However, because there are 'no user-serviceable parts' inside, doing this will also void your warranty. It's best to buy as much storage as you can afford.

3. The 13" models have dual core processors as opposed to quad core in the 15" models. If you're interested in speed benchmarks for comparison, you can see that here, http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

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Thank you very much. Looks like the 15" 2.2 quad core and the 13" 2.8 dual core are at the same range. I'll go with the 15" one. Any opinion on the price? It is $300 less than the new one. Is that the regular discount on the refurbished devices or can I expect it to go even lower? TIA

pingting said:

Thank you very much. Looks like the 15" 2.2 quad core and the 13" 2.8 dual core are at the same range. I'll go with the 15" one. Any opinion on the price? It is $300 less than the new one. Is that the regular discount on the refurbished devices or can I expect it to go even lower? TIA

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If it's around the same price, the 15" is probably better as long as you don't care about the larger size.

As for the price, it does sometimes change, but not by that much. The stock is low in the refurb store at the moment. But I'll bet that will change in the next week or so. If you can wait, I'll bet more models will show up - especially for Black Friday.

I just bought a 13 inch retina Mac book pro. It has 2.6 GPU and 512 gb SSD. I wanted to spring for a 15 inch screen but I really don't think I need it. It should ship today or tomorrow. As a first time Mac user I'm very excited.

I pretty much spontaneously bought the 15" Retina yesterday...I just couldn't resist the Retina display any longer.

My Best Buy was selling an open box late 2013 15" with the 750M for $1880. Used my 10% off movers coupon for an awesome price of $1690. I will miss my 2012 MBP Classic with hi-resolution antiglare...even next to the retina is still holds its own.

My first post ...

... from my new 15" rMBP! The unboxing moment I had been salivating for since 2012 finally came last night. Boy, this thing is lovely -- though I can't say I wasn't prepared for it. Put this thing in the hand of any Apple hater and methinks he will call his prejudices into question.

As wonderful as this device has been thus far, yesterday's percolating excitement was tempered by my misgivings of replacing (before its time) a perfectly fine machine: My beloved early-2011 13" MBP. Though, I've made a number of upgrades to it, both on the hardware and software side, I can't help but feel my old computer has a soul. It was a reliable, trusty computer for more than 3 and a half years; yet I succumbed to the retina lust. As I've been fawning over my new computer like a newborn baby, I can't help but look back at my old machine, the goat sticker on its lid, and think back on all the places I had taken, all the work I had done (and failed to do) on it. Every scuff and beaten up key tells a story. Every change, every up and down, these past few years, it was there with me through them. Nothing more can be said then it was my computer.

As crazy as it sounds, it has been more trying supplanting this wonderful machine than weighing the expense of the new one. I just hope I find a good caring owner for it.

But, yeah, this new one is quite nice.

AppleGoat said:

... from my new 15" rMBP! The unboxing moment I had been salivating for since 2012 finally came last night. Boy, this thing is lovely -- though I can't say I wasn't prepared for it. Put this thing in the hand of any Apple hater and methinks he will call his prejudices into question.

As wonderful as this device has been thus far, yesterday's percolating excitement was tempered by my misgivings of replacing (before its time) a perfectly fine machine: My beloved early-2011 13" MBP. Though, I've made a number of upgrades to it, both on the hardware and software side, I can't help but feel my old computer has a soul. It was a reliable, trusty computer for more than 3 and a half years; yet I succumbed to the retina lust. As I've been fawning over my new computer like a newborn baby, I can't help but look back at my old machine, the goat sticker on its lid, and think back on all the places I had taken, all the work I had done (and failed to do) on it. Every scuff and beaten up key tells a story. Every change, every up and down, these past few years, it was there with me through them. Nothing more can be said then it was my computer.

As crazy as it sounds, it has been more trying supplanting this wonderful machine than weighing the expense of the new one. I just hope I find a good caring owner for it.

But, yeah, this new one is quite nice.

Click to expand...

Nice story! And congratulations! I hope your new computer serves you just as well as the old one did.

Picking up New machine tomorrow

I have ordered the 15.4" rMBP 2.5ghz, 16gb Ram, 512 ssd, 750M and am picking it up tomorrow morning. I am very much looking forward to the conversion from PC to Mac and the new learning experiences.

Just picked up the 2014 Retina MBP 13" 2.6 i5/8GB/256GB....$1439 (AAFES/Military) including $50 coupon and no tax. Pure impulse buy, but have been wanting to replace my 2012 MacBook Air so this may do the trick.

Refurb vs New Macbook

Ok I've been looking at every thread and still trying to decide between a brand new 15" with retina display or a refurbished one. I'm a student also so I can't decide if I should use the education pricing or do the refurbished one. The refurbished one I'm looking at:
$2099
Originally released July 2014
15.4-inch (diagonal) Retina display; 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch
16GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM

512GB Flash Storage1

Brand new with education price:
2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
16GB 1600MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage 1
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB GDDR5 memory
Built-in battery (8 hours)2
$2,299.00

HELP!!

The refurbs are fantastic but the whole point is to get a great system for a fair bit of discount. If only saving $200 I'm not sure I would go refurb. However if money is tight I would save the money and use it toward AppleCare.

(posted on another thread that doesn't get much exposure)

Picked up my 15 today. I've never seen anything more beautiful in my life. Now the hard part, I worked it out so that I could take my 13 inch up there later after making sure that all the data gets on my new one. Here's my problem they said they would give me 497$ for the 13 late 2013 retina/8g rm/256g. I got the student discount on the 15 so it was 2299 plus tax. Traded in a mini iPad retina (I don't use anymore because the iPhone 6 plus is a beast!) I got 190$ for it and applied it to the new 15. Hard to part with my 13 for only 497 with as much as I love the damn thing. Not a big money man but COULD if I had to eat 500 to keep the 13. And I almost got $400 off the 15 anyway. What to do?

Fthree said:

(posted on another thread that doesn't get much exposure)

Picked up my 15 today. I've never seen anything more beautiful in my life. Now the hard part, I worked it out so that I could take my 13 inch up there later after making sure that all the data gets on my new one. Here's my problem they said they would give me 497$ for the 13 late 2013 retina/8g rm/256g. I got the student discount on the 15 so it was 2299 plus tax. Traded in a mini iPad retina (I don't use anymore because the iPhone 6 plus is a beast!) I got 190$ for it and applied it to the new 15. Hard to part with my 13 for only 497 with as much as I love the damn thing. Not a big money man but COULD if I had to eat 500 to keep the 13. And I almost got $400 off the 15 anyway. What to do?

Click to expand...

I'll buy your late 2013 13" for $597....

$497 for that thing is WAY TOO LITTLE of an amount.

kanewtz said:

I'll buy your late 2013 13" for $597....

$497 for that thing is WAY TOO LITTLE of an amount.

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I agree, it's worth a lot more than $497! check e-bay or craigslist, etc. for the price that you can sell it used for.
I did a quick search, you can get double that if you sell yourself online.

Thanks, i will probably list on craigslist soon. Hoping to get a few years out of this one.

Just got my rMBP..how can I tell what the Graphics Card is?

Where do I go to see if i have the 750M installed?

Can someone screenshot me where to find this information and what yours looks like?

Thanks!

kanewtz said:

Just got my rMBP..how can I tell what the Graphics Card is?

Where do I go to see if i have the 750M installed?

Can someone screenshot me where to find this information and what yours looks like?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

didn't you pay attention to what you bought ? Did you even look on invoice ?

BTW this isn't a tech support thread.

dashpuppy said:

didn't you pay attention to what you bought ? Did you even look on invoice ?

BTW this isn't a tech support thread.

Click to expand...

I did, however, when I went to "about this mac" it only said Iris Pro Graphics...I then realized that you need to open an Application that uses your discrete graphics card before it will show up in "about this mac"

Thanks for the help, no help!

kanewtz said:

I did, however, when I went to "about this mac" it only said Iris Pro Graphics...I then realized that you need to open an Application that uses your discrete graphics card before it will show up in "about this mac"

Thanks for the help, no help!

Click to expand...

Asks question about his laptop, in a non technical thread, then get's frustrated.. WEIRD !

First impressions of "new" refurb late-2013 rMBP 15

I've had my new 2013 rMBP 15 (2.3GHz, 16GB, 500GB SSD) for a couple of days now, and here are my initial impressions:

1) It's a lot bigger than my MBA 13, and significantly heavier. I can easily hold my MBA 13 and read the screen whilst holding it with a single hand. I doubt I could do that without strain with the rMBP 15.

2) The screen is very good, but I soon got used to it, and didn't really notice the quality until I went back to the MBA and thought the latter was really "washed-out" and indistinct. I found that 1680x1050 is the sweet-spot for screen resolution.

3) It seems pretty fast (running under Iris Pro graphics for everything I tried), but only marginally more "snappy" than my 2013 i7 MBA. I think the difference will be noticeable when I start to stress the machine. I haven't tried anything that uses the dGPU yet.

4) Battery life during my initial setup is a bit disappointing - it only showed about 2.5-3 hours from a 100% charge. However, this is no doubt due to Dropbox resyncing my 50GB of files, which ramps up one core of the CPU to over 100%. I would also expect Spotlight indexing in the first few hours or days, so I'll reserve judgement on the true battery life.

5) Typing / trackpad comfort is a bit worse than the MBA due to the thicker body, lack of angle to the keyboard, and the the sharp "points" on the cut-out below the trackpad. However, I reckon I can adapt my hand posture to avoid this.

6) Heat and fan noise are OK, but hotter and noisier than the MBA under similar load. I was a bit surprised that running one core at 100% caused the fans to be quite noticeable. The case just above the keyboard gets quite warm.

Generally I'm happy with the machine, but it somehow lacks the "wow" factor that I felt when I first got my MBA - I was astonished at how something so thin and lights could give such a good user experience. I guess I expected something similar from the rMBP, rather than a general feeling of "this is quite good". My main reason for upgrading is get 16GB of RAM and a more powerful CPU - my development work struggled on the MBA on occasions. To be honest, 90% of my work could be done on the MBA - but when I need the other 10%, I really need it!

I ordered a refurbished late 2013 rMBP 13. I got the base config...2.4mhz 8gb 256gb and it came out to $1240.

It gets here Tuesday. Really looking forward to it and leaving the world of windows behind.

Now I bought it today, black Friday, thinking I can eek out a few more dollars off but no can do. Apple has held steady on the refurb pricing. It doesn't look like they'll do anything for cyber Monday but if they do I'm going to see about price matching.

Posting from my brand new 15"mac.. I go this for $1630 at the BB.com. With the BB rewards and the 5% cash back from Discover, effective price should be $1530. I don't know if this is a good price but I'm tired of waiting for a deal and I'm happy with what I paid.

Configuration -
15.4” rMBP
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
256GB Flash Drive

This is my first ever mac. Still learning the ropes....