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Would you buy a refurbished Mac from Apple

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I would do it. Because apple have checked it out it means that because of yr warranty u cam follow them up. If it was just Joe citizen doing it u don't get the reassurance.
 
I always prefer a refurb Mac over a new one. In fact, in my case at least I've had less issues out of the box with refurbs than new.
 
my mpb 15" is refurb. Absolutely no problems. You just don't get a shiny new box, but you get a huge discount.
 
I've purchased a 27" late 2009 refurb iMac and it looked and performed brand new. However, if you can find a place that sells macs for a little less than apple does and does not include tax and has free shipping then the price difference can be so small that it might be worth it to just buy new. For example, a refurb 15" MBP 2.4 i5 is $1,529 plus 7% tax = $1,636. I paid $1670 for mine on Amazon so I paid $35 more - and get a brand new battery.

So refurbs are a great value but look at all options - I like amazon and B&H photo - B&H also has many BTO models in stock
 
I don't buy any Mac's unless they are refurbished. I have owned 5 Macs, 2000 iMac, 2003 iBook, 2006 iMac, 2008 Macbook, and just bought a 2010 iMac 27" all but my first iMac have been refurbs. My first iMac and iBook both had to be serviced under warranty, but I have had absolutely no issues with any of them. Actually still use my 20" intel iMac and my Macbook, they were just getting too slow, and who doesn't want that new LED display.

If you like your money, buy refurbished from Apple.
 
jessica. said:
I agree, but isn't it sad when a refurb is better than new?
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Actually, that's *normal* for most devices. The part that failed originally (triggering the return) is unlikely to be replaced with a similarly faulty part and everything else is retested, so you're actually slightly *more* likely to get a device which is completely up to spec. (Though it is still possible to get a faulty device.)

This is different than buying an 'open box return' from a store. In those cases, they've simply powered up the device to see if it appears to work and put it back on the shelf with a discount. That means you may be getting someone's "I just didn't like it", or you may be getting a device with a real, but undiagnosed, issue. (Reputable retailers put more effort into verifying that a returned item works, so you're less likely to get the defective item.)

My original MacBook Pro was a refurb. It served me perfectly well through two hard drive upgrades, and now belongs to my wife since I upgraded earlier this year.
 
The last refurbished Mac I bought was in a terrible condition and was sent straight back for a refund.

All the other refurbished Apple gear that myself and my friends have bought have been as good as new so I'd still recommend them, just be aware that some dodgy items do occasionally slip through QC.
 
OP: I would, and I did.

27" iMac 2.93 i7 2TB HDD, 4Gb RAM -$1899 from the apple refurb store.

No regrets, no issues, and I'd do it again in a heart beat.
 
Refurb Macbook Pro: no complaints yet, but it's only three months old.
Refurb iPod about five years ago: logic board died after two years, which is the kind of thing that could have happened to anyone.

Moral: buy AppleCare. A refurb laptop + AC is still cheaper than a new laptop.
 
the second time wasn't the best

i bought a refurb macbook 2 years ago and i love it.
now my pc is getting on, i decided to go for a refurb imac (21" with i5 processor and 1T drive). took a while to find one since these are BTO.
worked great for 1 1/2 days then the display started having issues. the problem was pretty random and intermittent. so i took a screen shot and
brought the computer to see an apple store genius. of course the imac booted up and the display was just fine. so i opened up my screen shot.
2 techs looked at it a decided it could be one or all three problems: loose cable, video card, logic board.
i was given 3 options... return the computer to apple (not the retail store), let them try to fix it (they were not enthused about that option) or pay the difference and purchase a new one from the store. they recommended a call to the apple store to see if they had another one for exchange.
the call to apple the next day was a very long, painful process.. the end of the first phone consult ended after i was transferred to a higher level customer support agent by the refurb dept tech (his recommendation was to return the imac). the refurb tech believed that i deserved something for all my inconvenience... this higher level customer support agent stated that i needed to do a reset on the computer first and this was after 2 apple geniuses actually looking at the screen shot and a discussion with apple support. it was my impression that he didn't believe me.."i have never heard of this happening, ever"
so i hung up and called back again and was finally able to get a RMA and shipping label emailed.
i would still recommend a refurb, but they are not 100% perfect. and when something goes wrong, be prepared to be frustrated and waste a chunk of time getting the issue resolved!!!
 
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No way

DynoMike3000 said:
I could save almost $400 buying a refurbished mac from apple, but is it advisable?
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No!!

i bought one (imac 24inch 3.06) and they have made such a fuss about fixing it in store.

still has problems now after being repaired a few times.

i even had to send it to a 3rd party repair center because the mac store in southampton wouldn't fix it!
 
If my next Mac is going to have substantial savings, then yeah. For example, they have 15" i5's for ~$1500-$1600.

It all depends what I want in my next Mac, but I don't see myself upgrading for the next 3-4 years.

edit: my iphone is a refurb actually ... looked brand new! (until they gave it to me, of course :D )
I'm pretty sure my next router is going to be a refurbished Airport Extreme. So far, its a trucker though so this might not happen for a very long time.
 
I haven't bought refurb from Apple, but I have bought refurbished PC from from Dell and I know others who have from HP, and thee have been no problems. I can't imagine Apple would be worse - I would have no problem getting something refurbished from them.

That being said, don't forget to consider buying from other sources. Places like Macmall sometimes beat refurb prices with new stuff (altough, I think it's usually closeout or last generation stuff).
 
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