Condition of Refurbs?

bawuva said:

So I'm looking at probably getting a 27" iMac refurb. I've never purchased any refurb Apple products. Do refurbs ever have cosmetic damage (i.e. scratches on the back of the monitor, etc.)? The refurbs seem like a good deal but am interested in everyones' experiences. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Apple refurbished products are considered by most to be a very good deal, as they're pretty much like buying a new Mac, except for the box.

• Apple Certified Refurbished Products are available online from the Apple Refurb Store and are not sold in local Apple stores
• Educational discounts do not apply to refurb products.
• Refurb products come with the same warranty as new products, and qualify for AppleCare
• Refurb products have a changed serial number that identifies them as refurbished
• Refurb products come with whatever OS version and software they originally shipped with as new
• Refurb products come with the same items in the box as new products, only the box is a plain one, not the new box.
• A refurb product could have some cosmetic signs of prior use, but rarely do
• A refurb Mac may have some cycles on the battery, but not a significant enough amount to affect usable life
• The refurb store inventory changes frequently, sometimes several times a day, and doesn't have any direct relation to upcoming product releases. What's available in the refurb store is determined by what has been returned to Apple.
• If you're looking for a particular item, refurb.me can alert you when it becomes available.

Good condition.....

I myself had bought two Apple refurbs for clients. Good quality and nice price. No .edu discounts, no nice box (plain ones). Qualify for Apple Care. Only annoying thing is some spot in the computer, what goes away with a strong cleaning and a good cleaner for metal finishes.

I am on my 4th refurb over the last 4 years and each one has looked brand new except for the box. Some have even come with higher specs than advertised, especially the 27" I7. You also get a years warranty plus you can get AppleCare anytime during the first year and extend the warranty an additional two years. As far as I am concerned it is the only way to go. Also, in the event it has any scratches or defects at all, you can return it to Apple within 14 days for your money back or another one. One of mine came with an ethernet card that occasionally wouldn't work, I simply returned the computer to my local Apple Store, got my money back and ordered another one. You can't go wrong in my opinion.

I bought a refurbished mid-2011 27" iMac with a 3.4GHz i7 and SSD. The unit had no cosmetic blemishes and the LCD panel looks fine (no yellowing). They also threw in an additional 4GB of RAM (to 8GB) and 1GB of VRAM (to 2GB) so I ended up saving $600/20% over new.

Also bought a refurbished mid-2011 MacBook Air 11" and that model looks new, as well (alas, no extra goodies).

My 27" refurb came in today. As others have stated, it looks and works like a brand new machine. I had the same experience purchasing a refurb iPad 2.

Great deal IMO.

I bought my MacBook Air as a refurb. Looked new except for the box. There are rumors that the 'refurb' area is also the "dumping ground" where Apple gets rid of new inventory at lower prices if they want to. You just won't get the retail box.

My gf just bought one of the new MacBook Pro 15" as refurb.
It's simply flawless.

Just got my 27" 3.4 GHz i7 256 GB SSD refurb and it's perfect. Not a scratch, no LCD issues, came with Mountain Lion and double RAM (8 GB) to boot! Barring any surprise problems, I couldn't be happier with my decision to go with the refurb.

I have recently ordered 2x baseline 2011 iMacs, and I have to say cosmetically these things look flawless, even though both of mine had technical problems and were returned. One had dead pixels in the centre of the screen and the other has a very noisy hard drive fan as noted by some other users of this model. As others have described aside from the cheap cardboard outer, and the box with the keyboard says "Apple Certified Refurbished" on the front.

bawuva said:

So I'm looking at probably getting a 27" iMac refurb. I've never purchased any refurb Apple products. Do refurbs ever have cosmetic damage (i.e. scratches on the back of the monitor, etc.)? The refurbs seem like a good deal but am interested in everyones' experiences. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Normally aesthetically perfect and not uncommon to come with upgrades. Mine came with 2x the advertised RAM, I've seen others that come with larger hard drives, upgraded graphics cards, etc..

So far I've ordered two times from Apple's Refurb Store and they sent me two lemons.

The MBA had no sound because a connector wasn't plugged in. (Fixed by an AASP, but I had to bring it there myself)
The Airport Extreme was no better since it rebooted several times a day. (was replaced after talking to a genius)

Got my Refurb 27" mid 2011 about 2 weeks ago, perfect condition plus 4gs more in ram and also 1g more in video memory!!
Now to only figure out how to get the os x install on a flash drive so I can put in the ssd I got for it. Probable going to have to download it for $20 but trying to get apple to hook me up with a code for the download.
Thus far the only way to tell its a refurb is by the box it came in!!

I've personally owned 4 refurbs from Apple (along with a few refurbed Airport routers). I've also convinced several of my friends to get refurb mac's as well. Every single one has been in flawless condition and worked great. No fancy box but who cares really about that.

Sometimes you get a free upgrade also if the refurb you order goes out of stock. I got my old iBook with a free upgraded processor and HD when the one I ordered wasn't available. A friends refurb came with more RAM then the unit she had ordered. So you may get lucky.
Either way Apple refurbs are awesome.