Apple Begins Selling Refurbished iMac With M3 Chip

[MacRumors]

Apple today added the iMac with the M3 chip to its certified refurbished store in the U.S. for the first time since the computer was introduced in October.

As usual for Apple's refurbished products, the refurbished iMacs are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent brand new models, with pricing starting at $1,099. A variety of configurations and color options are available.

All of the usual accessories are included in the box, including a Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, power adapter and cord, and USB-C to Lightning cable.

Apple says it puts refurbished Macs through "full functionality testing" and a "thorough cleaning process and inspection," and they are covered by Apple's one-year limited warranty and eligible for extended AppleCare+ coverage.

In our view, Apple's refurbished Macs are virtually indistinguishable from brand new ones, providing a good opportunity for savings directly from Apple. However, larger discounts are sometimes available from resellers like Amazon.

Apple recently began selling refurbished MacBook Pro models with the M3 chip, and later models with the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips.

Article Link: Apple Begins Selling Refurbished iMac With M3 Chip

 

[zombierunner]

That's wild.

 

[daanodinot]

I hope they ever come out with a less low-effort model.

 

[NMBob]

Too bad an M3 can't drive anything bigger than a 24" screen.

 

[minik]

They still have the original M1 model with only US$50 differences vs the based M3.

 

[poematik13]

We have the M1 version and only having 2 ports is a huge pain.

 

[Eric_WVGG]

Too bad an M3 can't drive anything bigger than a 24" screen.

It can. You can hook up the 32" XDR display to one.

The decision to not sell a 27" display is purely based on their perception of the market.

 

[macos9rules]

We have the M1 version and only having 2 ports is a huge pain.

That's because you have the base configuration. The number of ports hasn't changed on the M3: 2-port on the base model and 5 port (3 USB + 2 Thunderbolt) on the more expensive model.

 

[Realityck]

Too bad an M3 can't drive anything bigger than a 24" screen.

If you mean why not a M3 27” to 30” iMac display model? We still guess it’s was Apple’s choice to make it slightly smaller as to be a replacement in between the older 21” and 27” design. Yes Apple could certainly produce that as the Studio Display has long been thought of a 27” iMac only converted to be just a display. Perhaps it’s because Apple was buying time until display panels are used up and go the OLED route. As said before old 27” could have received up to a 29.5” panel in the older size form, so even the widely discussed 32” size would not have been that much bigger. There is also the question concerning why not a M3 Pro SoC, well that is likely waiting for this rumored larger iMac when M3 production is available across the board on many devices. Note we still haven’t seen hardly anything yet switch from LCD panels to OLED which is another desired goal for iPads and Macs.

 

[Realityck]

Apple today added the iMac with the M3 chip to its certified refurbished store in the U.S. for the first time since the computer was introduced in October.

Shame it’s only refurbished 8GB RAM models this early.

 

[azentropy]

Shame it’s only refurbished 8GB RAM models this early.

Yeah, either the higher memory configs sold out quickly or no one is returning "those", only the 8GB configurations.

 

[macduke]

I can't believe they are still selling the M1 model for only $50 less. It's a no-brainer to avoid that one. I was thinking "Ok cool, I can buy an iMac for my kids now." and figured it would be like $799. Nope.

Although now that I think about it, it probably makes more sense to get a Mac mini and a 4K display anyway.

I'm about to do my glue up on my biscuit jointed solid walnut desktop that I'm putting on an Uplift V2 Commercial standing desk frame that should be here tomorrow. It's going to be in a common family space looking outside so I can take some breaks from my basement studio with my MBP during the workday and stand, but it goes low enough for my kids to sit at in the evening for school work and because I want to teach them to use something other than a freaking iPad and how to properly type. Then I can get a small dock and plug my MBP in when I use it, and my wife can too on days she works from home.

 

[minik]

I can't believe they are still selling the M1 model for only $50 less. It's a no-brainer to avoid that one. I was thinking "Ok cool, I can buy an iMac for my kids now." and figured it would be like $799. Nope.

Although now that I think about it, it probably makes more sense to get a Mac mini and a 4K display anyway.

I'm about to do my glue up on my biscuit jointed solid walnut desktop that I'm putting on an Uplift V2 Commercial standing desk frame that should be here tomorrow. It's going to be in a common family space looking outside so I can take some breaks from my basement studio with my MBP during the workday and stand, but it goes low enough for my kids to sit at in the evening for school work and because I want to teach them to use something other than a freaking iPad and how to properly type. Then I can get a small dock and plug my MBP in when I use it, and my wife can too on days she works from home.

I can see that if the buyer wants to install macOS Big Sur or Monterey, which the M3 model runs macOS Ventura or higher. Otherwise, the M3 is much better.

 

[poematik13]

That's because you have the base configuration. The number of ports hasn't changed on the M3: 2-port on the base model and 5 port (3 USB + 2 Thunderbolt) on the more expensive model.

We literally just use it to check email and upload stuff to youtube overnight from a shuttle drive, so as a single use web browser appliance i guess its not so bad. Only got it for like $1099 on sale too.

would definitely have gotten a 24GB/full ports model if it had to do anything more

 

[DaveN]

I got my maxed out M3 iMac a couple weeks ago and am happy with it. I considered a MacBook Pro but really wanted something to replace the old iMac at my desk.

 

[MacManiac1]

Near the end of a fiscal quarter. I think they do this to boost revenue and unit sales numbers. I suspect these are brand new and just put in a plain box.

 

[mode11]

The decision to not sell a 27" display is purely based on their perception of the market.

Their perception that it would make it harder to sell their 27" Studio Display for the price of an iMac?

 

[Realityck]

Near the end of a fiscal quarter. I think they do this to boost revenue and unit sales numbers. I suspect these are brand new and just put in a plain box.

Could be Apple Store demo iMacs also, but your thought is interesting.

 

[mode11]

Near the end of a fiscal quarter. I think they do this to boost revenue and unit sales numbers. I suspect these are brand new and just put in a plain box.

Yeah, as a premium brand Apple doesn't do 'sales' - this is the unofficial version.

 

[quaternio]

My feeling about Macs for a while has been that I just can’t bring myself to pull the trigger until there is some good way to have a good Mac resolution (5k seems to be the consensus), and also have a high refresh rate display. As far as I can tell, that product doesn’t exist all.

High refresh rate isn’t just about games. Hence Pro iPhones and iPads having high refresh rate displays.

 

[poematik13]

Yeah, as a premium brand Apple doesn't do 'sales' - this is the unofficial version.

They have/had a clearance section, usually was for old airport routers or previous gen apple tv's and EDU macbooks. Not sure if it's ever been updated.

 

[Realityck]

Their perception that it would make it harder to sell their 27" Studio Display for the price of an iMac?

IMHO I always thought the $1599 pricing for a 600 nit panel with some portion of iMac and iPad technology embedded was on the high side, given it would have likely been about the same price if not a tad more of it just to be a larger M1/M2 iMac when manufactured.

Now that we are a few years later the A13 Bionic ARM is old. Thats the chip that allows display to mimic a iPhone/iPad centerstage webcam abilities as well as allow the 6 speaker Spatial Audio to be utilized.

 

[er2429]

Where the hell are the MacBook Pro M3 Max BTO options!?

 

[orbital~debris]

Excellent computer, particularly with 24GB memory and plenty of storage. 🖥️
I'm sure these refurbished models will serve their owners well.

 

[coffeemilktea]

with pricing starting at $1,099. A variety of configurations and color options are available.

This is such great news, I'm glad Apple gave such a big discount... now, in the year 2024, you can spend $1,099 to buy an all-in-one desktop computer with a whopping 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. 🤡

Meanwhile, on Amazon: