correlation between refurb avail. and new mbps?

[thumb]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if there is any known (or hypothsized) link between the availablity, either high or low, or refurbs and imminent upgrading of models.

I have until the end of May to replace my tibook on someone elses dime. The tibook does fine but nothing great, so I could wait, but if there are not going to be any major changes, I might as well enjoy it now. argh.

 

[Stampyhead]

As far as I understand, refurbs are machines that were returned to Apple for whatever reason and were fixed up like new and sold at a discount. They are not brand new machines that are left over, and therefore probably have no correlation to anything new that might be coming out.

 

[weldon]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if there is any known (or hypothsized) link between the availablity, either high or low, or refurbs and imminent upgrading of models.

No. There are however known links between shortages of new product and the imminent announcement of new models.

 

[redmeister]

no i dont think there is a correlation.. if you think about it, apple is trying to sell their product no matter what the circumstances are.. otherwise they just have it sitting there in the warehouse not making a profit

so youd think they would refurb some and sell them anyways, regardless if new ones are coming out or not

i wouldnt worry about it too much

 

[iW00t]

What happens to old stock when a new model is released?

Would they turn into "refurbs"?

 

[weldon]

I don't know exactly, but they do try and starve the channel to push through the old models. They probably hold on to a certain number of parts, or finished goods, to handle repairs and replacements. Anything else might go to refurb, but I didn't notice a big surge in refurb availability on store.apple.com when they switched from Powerbooks to MacBooks or from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo.

I imagine they watch their inventory levels pretty closely. Historically, Apple has really struggled with inventory (both surplus and shortages) but I think they have been much better in the last few years.