Buying refurbished from Apple?

[theatremusician]

We found several refurbished Mac in UAE 2 years ago. The store offered us a to get an iMac. The price was pretty good but unfortunately we were not able to buy it coz a friend suggested us to get a brand new one instead. We ended up with Samsung 🙁

Apple ONLY sells refurbished items online, not in the Apple Stores. Whatever store you're referring to, doesn't sell products refurbished by Apple.

 

[grcar]

I bought a refurbished iMac. It went dead after 3 hours of use. (I could not believe it.) Apple said new logic board and new power supply. Returned it under the 14 day return policy. Bought new. No problems.

 

[GGJstudios]

I bought a refurbished iMac. It went dead after 3 hours of use. (I could not believe it.) Apple said new logic board and new power supply. Returned it under the 14 day return policy. Bought new. No problems.

That could happen with a new unit, as well. Such experiences are probably less likely to happen with refurbished, as each unit is inspected and thoroughly tested before selling, unlike new units, which only have random testing of a few.

 

[Asianpork]

2 months ago I bought ipad air 2 64gb white. Came in the box with all the accessories you get when buying new. Looks and works flawlessly so far. Looking to buy an imac 27" 5K retina from the refurb section, soon.

 

[MRxROBOT]

Usually what I want is not available in the refurb store, but the few times I have purchased there I can't remember having a problem. As good as new in my experience. If they have the model you want, I see no reason not to buy.

 

[Tech198]

Refurbs go through the same quality and testing. You save money,, but i tend to also think u have more problems with refubs than an actual new mac ...

This is why : http://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/refurbfaq_popup

Each Apple Certified Refurbished Product:

• is fully tested (including full burn-in testing).
• is refurbished with replacement parts for any defective modules identified in testing.
• is put through a thorough cleaning process and inspection.
• is repackaged (including appropriate manuals, cables, new boxes, etc.).
• includes either the Mac OS originally shipped with the unit or, in some cases, a more recent version*.
• is given a new refurbished part number and serial number.
• is placed into a Final QA inspection prior to being added to sellable refurbished stock.

This would mean, if the screen was working when it went back, they don't stick a new one in there from the manufacture...

Thus, it could die next day, with a new product i always feel this is less likely. also u can also get DOA's


Having said that, i have never had a refub go bust.... probably because i never really keep it long enough. I constantly keep upgrading products.

 

[eXan]

Another thing to consider is resale. Generally, refurbs are prev. year models and if you consider that Macs lose about 15% of value per year may actually negate any initial savings you had vs brand new price.

 

[MrGIS]

Just wondering on peoples experiences with doing this?

Bad/Good?

do the devices usually come in perfect/good/ok shape?

I see they offer 1 year replacement is that correct?

I want to purchase an Airport extreme off there but have had HORRIBLE experiences in the past buying "refurbished" electronics. So i am a bit "gun shy"

I've only ever bought refurbished Macs direct from Apple. As far as I'm concerned its the only way to go. No downside, and you save some cash.

 

[Black Magic]

I've only ever bought refurbished Macs direct from Apple. As far as I'm concerned its the only way to go. No downside, and you save some cash.

I agree with this. You can get some high end spec'd out gear with a nice discount. Being able to add AppleCare+ is the cherry on top. In my mind, it's really the only way to go unless you can't wait or find the specific setup you want which is rare but possible.

 

[tibas92013]

The Refurbished Apple Products that I have bought from the Apple On-line Store in the USA:

2013: i5 Mac Mini(Late 2012), 2.5GHz,4GB Ram, 500GB HD; Apple Airport Express Router; Apple TV (3rd Gen); IPod Touch5.

2015: 2TB Apple Time Capsule(5th Gen.); i5 Mac Mini(Late 2014), 2.8GHz, 8GB Ram,256 SSD; Apple TV (3rd Gen).

I purchased AppleCare for both Mac Minis, both Apple TVs,the iPod Touch5 and which also covers, at no extra cost, both Apple Routers and a Apple SuperDrive that I bought here in Costa Rica.

I am One satisfied Happy Apple "Casual User" Customer with the Above Purchases because "they-just-work" and I plan on buying a Refurbished iPad Mini4 to replace my iPad Mini2(bought new in 2014) when they become available.

My first Apple Purchase during this Century was a new Ipad2 in the year 2011 which I traded-in at a Apple Retail Store for a Refurbished one in the year 2013 for $99 and the Refurbished still works!

 

[imrazor]

I've bought two refurb Macs over the years from the online Apple Store. One was a Mac Mini, which I had absolutely no problems with, and got bonus RAM as well. My iMac was a different story, though. During the first year, I only ran into some overheating problems running games under Boot Camp. I though nothing of it, and simply played the games on my Windows PC. Things came to a head when I installed Mountain Lion, though. Mountain Lion pushes the GPU much harder than Snow Leopard, and my iMac kept crashing, despite blowing out all the dust. It appears that the actual problem was a defective GPU heat pipe, which has apparently been bad since Apple shipped it to me.

I'd buy a refurb from Apple again, but next time I'll make darned sure I give it a proper burn-in. Speaking of which, is there a stress test for OS X?

 

[LorenK]

I work at a major retailer and we are always getting products returned for a variety of reasons unrelated to "defects". Some is buyer remorse, some is rental, but in a lot of cases, the product works flawlessly.

I trust Apple refurbs, having bought a number (my Mac Pro and several iPods, for the same reason that I buy Apple in the first place, their attention to detail. While Apple is not perfect, they do care about giving their customers a good experience, and that extends to their refurbs as well. If you're on a budget, and don't mind not getting the newest product, then refurb is a good way to go.

 

[LxHunter]

Another thing to consider is resale. Generally, refurbs are prev. year models and if you consider that Macs lose about 15% of value per year may actually negate any initial savings you had vs brand new price.

Why I don't buy Refurb Macs or iPads.
But I do buy refurb Apple displays.
When available rarely.
About ⅔ cost of new.
And I think Macs are losing more like 20-25% nowadays.