I'm new to Mac and need advice. First, is it a good idea to buy a refurbished Mac? I'm looking at the 15 in Pro. Second, I'm trying to understand the following...(1)which is better graphics; NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 256MB OR NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory?....and (2) which is better 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo OR 2.4GHz Intel Core i5? Thank you for the advice!!!
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Refurbished buy...Good idea or not?
- Thread starter mamalisa
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Intel Core i5 and NVIDIA GT 330M are better (it's the current gen MBP). What is the price difference between them? It's hard to say which one is better for you as you didn't give any clue about your usage
Apple Certified Refurbished Products
MacRumors Guides: Apple Refurbished Store
Searching the forum with MRoogle will usually find answers to most of your questions:
Refurbished MBP or New?
Getting an iMac - New or Refurbished?
Refurbished vs new
HELP: Refurbished 17" or New High End 15"?!
Are Refurbished Macs as high quality their new counterparts?
Do refurbished fail more often than new MBP's?
New MPB or refurbished model?
MacRumors Guides: Apple Refurbished Store
Searching the forum with MRoogle will usually find answers to most of your questions:
Refurbished MBP or New?
Getting an iMac - New or Refurbished?
Refurbished vs new
HELP: Refurbished 17" or New High End 15"?!
Are Refurbished Macs as high quality their new counterparts?
Do refurbished fail more often than new MBP's?
New MPB or refurbished model?
Thank you. There is a Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 256MB for $1529 OR a Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 with NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory. I am still just a novice, but photography will be my primary use
absolutely get the i5... better processor (by about 25-30 percent) and better graphics card
a used mac is like a used car, if its got a good owner that looks after it then it will be as good as new. The i5 offers the same average performance until you get into heavy duty multi tasking or large rendering, just as an ie. The i5 will over clock itself and get the task done faster or evenly divide itself up more for lots o tasks, so for photography when you can be dealing with such large file capacities the i5 will perform better, but the 2.66 c2d will do fine. I noticed and improvement form my old c2d to my new i7 while photos editing, i am scrolling through 1500 photos and picking out like 30 of them, and then editing them all at once on iphoto, its just so much smooth.
Refurb ≠ Used
Someone has booted it couple of times, that's it. Besides, it undergoes a strict treatment to ensure that it works and is then cleaned so it will look like a brand new unit
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/apple_certified.html
I like Apple's refurbished products. Their products are returned, gutted, new components installed, turned on, tested, and retested, go on sale at a discounted price. If one buys new, when did that product come off the assembly line, and how much time or how many products were tested between the last one and the one one would buy? The Refurbished are refurb'd here in the U.S. too. They are great deals and come with the availability of the full 3 year Apple Care Protection Plan. One can spend the money that was saved on upgrading the RAM.
I can see that the resale value is affected because you don't have the original packaging (which is true whether or not the item is refurbished). Are you saying that other than that, being refurbished lowers its resale value?
Wow! You lucked out. I got my refurb MBP recently as well & it came in pristine condition, but would have been excellent getting a pleasant surprise like yours!
Because of the extreme cost of Macbook Pro's I am starting too look seriously at refurbs. I've been a PC guy all of my life but wish to move to a Mac that can duel boot. That's the best way for me to learn, I guess.
definitely get the i5. future proof your self, it'll make you less likely to upgrade again
I believe the overall consensus is the correct and best choice is the 2.4GHz i5 with a 330M. And that's definitely the right choice.
And I'd get a refurbished if I wasn't the type of buyer that's in a rush to buy everything on release.
Good luck.
And I'd get a refurbished if I wasn't the type of buyer that's in a rush to buy everything on release.
Good luck.
Definitely recommend going the refurbished route if you can.
The current MacBook Pro I have (15" 2.2ghz C2D SR) I purchased in late october 2007 refurbished. almost 3 years later, I have had no issues with it and at the time, I remember saving $200 off the price versus new (would have only saved $100 w/ my educational discount) - and then on top of that, I was able to get a $100 rebate because I went through a 3rd party making the price even cheaper. But, I don't think those kinds of additional rebates can be done anymore - the person I went through (found on macrumors) said they're not involved with that anymore.
I bought a mac mini refurbished earlier this year before the upgrade, no problems there either but not really using it a terrible amount. Usualy for something like a mac mini, I'd try to go the craigslist route.
I wouldn't worry about the resale value because the savings up front more important. A few years from now when you want to sell, I think having hte refurbished box still shouldn't impact much.
I'm actually looking to replace my MacBook Pro now because I want to sell before the applecare is up. I only want a 15" and am trying to get to the bottom of a) if the jump to i7 from i5 and b) the jump from NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M w/ 512MB is better than 256mb is worth the extra $340ish price difference in refurb costs ($1529 to $1869). Or, on top of that, if the hi res screen is worth it which would take me to $1999 in refurb costs
I don't care about the increase in hard drive space really. 320gb should be fine for the immediate future. I have a 500gb external western digital My Passport studio hard drive and if this hard drive can fit in the MacBook Pro, I could just take this apart and throw it in there one day. That's what I did w/ my older 320gb western digital hard drive when the enclosure got messed up, I just took out the (I think) 80gb hard drive and put that in there instead.
I also one day want to put an SSD in there too and take out the superdrive.
The current MacBook Pro I have (15" 2.2ghz C2D SR) I purchased in late october 2007 refurbished. almost 3 years later, I have had no issues with it and at the time, I remember saving $200 off the price versus new (would have only saved $100 w/ my educational discount) - and then on top of that, I was able to get a $100 rebate because I went through a 3rd party making the price even cheaper. But, I don't think those kinds of additional rebates can be done anymore - the person I went through (found on macrumors) said they're not involved with that anymore.
I bought a mac mini refurbished earlier this year before the upgrade, no problems there either but not really using it a terrible amount. Usualy for something like a mac mini, I'd try to go the craigslist route.
I wouldn't worry about the resale value because the savings up front more important. A few years from now when you want to sell, I think having hte refurbished box still shouldn't impact much.
I'm actually looking to replace my MacBook Pro now because I want to sell before the applecare is up. I only want a 15" and am trying to get to the bottom of a) if the jump to i7 from i5 and b) the jump from NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M w/ 512MB is better than 256mb is worth the extra $340ish price difference in refurb costs ($1529 to $1869). Or, on top of that, if the hi res screen is worth it which would take me to $1999 in refurb costs
I don't care about the increase in hard drive space really. 320gb should be fine for the immediate future. I have a 500gb external western digital My Passport studio hard drive and if this hard drive can fit in the MacBook Pro, I could just take this apart and throw it in there one day. That's what I did w/ my older 320gb western digital hard drive when the enclosure got messed up, I just took out the (I think) 80gb hard drive and put that in there instead.
I also one day want to put an SSD in there too and take out the superdrive.
The only way you can tell a refurb is by the serial number. Refurbs get a different number. A buyer would have to know that and check it on Apple's web site.
When I lookup the serial number of my refurbished MBP here:
https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do
it says nothing about it being a refurb. Is there somewhere else to look that gives more detail?
https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do
it says nothing about it being a refurb. Is there somewhere else to look that gives more detail?
Some refurbs come in the retail packaging. Either way, the savings will be greater than the decrease in resale value
I was questioning an earlier poster who said that the fact that an MBP is a refurb lowers its resale value. I still question that. I've found a few different websites where you can look up MBP serial numbers. None of them indicate that mine is a refurb. If anyone knows of a site that shows this information, I'd be interested in seeing it.
I wonder how Apple removes scratches from the screen and top case on
refurbished units. Especially those white MacBooks; those units scratch easily.
refurbished units. Especially those white MacBooks; those units scratch easily.
Absolutely, 100% incorrect. It would be a horrible idea (both financially and ecologically) to just toss everything inside a unit without inspection. Some folks may return the unit because of buyer's remorse, so there's no reason to replace anything, other than the loaded OS image.
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/apple_certified.html
They would replace them Refurb units are not used units in the sense they are not used for 2 years and returned.