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Did Your Refurbished MacBook Arrive Problem-Free?

I Purchased A Refurbished MacBook And:

  • It Was Perfect

    Votes: 38 82.6%

  • It Had Problems

    Votes: 8 17.4%
  • Total voters
    46
Darkroom

Darkroom

Guest
Original poster
Dec 15, 2006
2,445
0
Montréal, Canada
Apple seems to be really pushing MacBooks hard in the refurb section of their online store, offering really good discounts that entice buyers (like myself).

According to their website concerning Apple Certified Refurbished Products:

What are Apple Certified Refurbished Products?

Apple Certified Refurbished Products are pre-owned Apple products that undergo Apple's stringent refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale. While only some units are returned due to technical issues, all units undergo Apple's stringent quality refurbishment process.

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 the operating software originally shipped with the unit and the custom software offered with that system. See each products "Learn More" for more details.
-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.
-Refurbishment procedures follow the same basic technical guidelines as Apple's Finished Goods testing procedures.

What should I expect when I purchase an Apple Certified Refurbished Product?
-Substantial savings
-A fully functional unit with complete documentation
-The assurance that the unit meets Apple's premiere quality standards, and that its defective components have been replaced by genuine Apple components

i'd like to hear experiences from people who have actually purchased a refurbished macbook. did it arrive as advertised according to their certified refurbishment policy? were there issues with the screen, scratches, slanted keys, loose battery cover, etc.?
 
I got mine on Wednesday. So far everything seems to be perfect. There are no scratches at all, the OS seems to be working fine.

I did have a problem yesterday though. I was going to install XP on bootcamp, but it hung in the middle of the installation and then I couldn't boot in to OS/X because the startup screen froze. I held down D (or is it C?) it ran a test, and restarted and now everything is fine again. I think I'm just going to use virtual box for XP instead of bootcamp.
 
This will be a great poll to compare to the other's on this forum. After my recent experience with brand-new Apple products, I'm thinking refurbished might be the route to go next time.
 
I got mine two weeks ago. It arrived in great cosmetic shape, no scratches/dents/etc. OS worked great, except installation of Bootcamp - 99% sure that was my fault as I think I accidentally used an old XP SP1 cd (you DEF. need to use SP2, duh!).

Only complaint was that some of my keys were slanted - not the function row like a lot of people have had, but randomly around the keyboard. After about 7-10 days, I noticed the far right of my spacebar wasn't really working. If I wanted to enter a space with my right thumb, I needed to press at least 1/4" down the spacebar. This was enough of an annoyance to take it to the Apple store, where they said I needed to have the top case replaced.

I just got my MB back from repair, and the spacebar works (hooray!), but there were a few cosmetic blemishes added during the repair process. There's one scratch on the lid, there's a scuff on the black part that connects the display to the body (looks like they tried to reattach without aligning perfectly and scuffed it), and now my function row keys are slanted.

Dunno how I'll react to the slanted function keys, but initially I'll take that over the slanted letter keys that I use MUCH more often...
 
Id take it back, id be pissed. More because of their lack of care for the unit than the damage. Personally I could handle getting a scratch on the bottom or something but scuff marks and slanted keys? No way.

I got my macbook refurb perfect. Shipped in almost 3 hours and arrived 4 days later. (It came from Australia - New Zealand doesnt have a Apple supply I think). I installed win xp perfect second time around, fault on my part I chose the wrong partition.
 
Mine arrived on Wednesday in excellent condition as well. Not so much as a dead pixel on the display, loose battery cover, or scratch on the case. I was a bit apprehensive about purchasing a refurb, but now that I have it, I will do it again in the future!
 
I can tell you this. The refurb will probably be better than new. I say this because some people are going to say their refurb had a small problem like slanted keys, but new ones would of had the slanted keys anyway. So what I'm saying is refurbs may not be perfect, but they'll probably be more perfect than new ones.
If you conduct another similar poll for new macbooks.. im going to bet that there's a higher rate of imperfection than refurbs.
With that said, my macbook refurb looked and worked like it came out of a new box. Very happy with purchase. Would be buying refurbs as long as I feel like saving money. If there were any "problems", it would be that there were a few slanted keys. But even that's fixable in a few minutes.
So to help you out:
-you can't even tell a refurb computer from a brand new one
-just because they're refurbs, doesn't mean they are worse than they were new from the box.
 
yes i agree. i know a few people who actually prefer to buy refurbished apple products because they happen to go thru quality checking twice.

i've been wondering if all these being sold in the refurb store are actually refurbished? i had the same suspicion last year when refurbished iMacs were being pushed really hard right before Spring '08 iMac update. my thoughts are that they are new (or a lot of them are new) and just transfered from the "nice box" to the cardboard box, in order for apple to sell more before the imminent refresh without having to call it sale or lower the price.
 
I just received my MBP 2.4 from the refurb site. It is fine. Everything worked out of the box and it was clean. Screen is perfect too.
 
just ordered the refurb 2.4ghz macbook last night... very exciting... and very much hoping i'll be able to check "it was perfect" in this poll.
 
Have had my Refurb UniMBP 2.4 for over a month. It was perfect the day I got it and has run like a champ since. My first Macbook was new. After that I learned about refurbs. It's been refurbs for me ever since. My iPhone (first gen), iPods, iMac and Time Capsule are all refurbs. Every one of them perfect. I am going to order an Airport Express very soon from the refurb site. :D
 
Darkroom said:
yes i agree. i know a few people who actually prefer to buy refurbished apple products because they happen to go thru quality checking twice.

i've been wondering if all these being sold in the refurb store are actually refurbished? i had the same suspicion last year when refurbished iMacs were being pushed really hard right before Spring '08 iMac update. my thoughts are that they are new (or a lot of them are new) and just transfered from the "nice box" to the cardboard box, in order for apple to sell more before the imminent refresh without having to call it sale or lower the price.
Click to expand...

I bought one of those refurb iMacs. Like new - but in a plain brown box. Would do it again. No question.
 
Just got my refurbished MacBook yesterday. Apart from a slight mark on the lid which I reallly don't mind about, it's got a dead pixel near the middle of the screen which annoys the **** out of me. I'm hoping Apple will do something about it...
Edit: Spoken to Apple, because it's not 6 dead pixels they're probably not going to repair it (going to the Apple store at lunch for them to look at it) but I can return it and have a replacement sent out under the 14 day return policy which is probably what I'll end up doing as I can't really be without a machine for 2 weeks while it goes away for repair.
Edit2: After speaking to their After Sales team, Apple won't exchange the MacBook as I was previously told. I have to return it, they'll refund me in 3-5 working days and then I have to buy another one, leaving me without a machine I was relying on for work, for over a week :mad:
 
mine just arrived. looks great! no slanted keys, no dead pixels, no scratches... the battery cover may be a touch wonky, but i wouldn't exactly call it "loose" by any means. if it gets worse i can always get it replaced.

but here's the real kicker: i only ordered the standard 2.4GHz model that comes with 2GB or memory, both the order sheet and box says 2GB, but apple loaded up the ram to 4GB!!! pretty nice of them i must say! :D:D:D
 
Darkroom said:
But here's the real kicker: i only ordered the standard 2.4GHz model that comes with 2GB or memory, both the order sheet and box says 2GB, but apple loaded up the ram to 4GB!!! pretty nice of them i must say! :D:D:D
Click to expand...

Haha, lucky you! That must have slipped by someone. :)
 
Stetrain said:
Haha, lucky you! That must have slipped by someone. :)
Click to expand...

the odd thing is that you can't return a built-to-order macbook. so if someone ordered their macbook with 4GB of memory, they shouldn't have been able to return it so that apple could refurbish it. i'm too lazy to open the back to see if it's Apple's memory or not. perhaps the original buyer installed 4GB or some 3rd party ram before returning it and forgot about it? but then if that happened, wouldn't the refurbish people have spotted that?

to me what makes the most sense is that apple just wants to get rid of as many macbooks as possible before issuing a refresh of the line (since it's due for an update), and that a lot of these refurbs are actually new, and not originally owned and returned.
 
Bought a refurb MB about a month ago, it arrived with some bad scratches on the base, but was otherwise perfect. Spoke to Apple just to make sure there wouldn't be an issue down the line if I had to get a warranty repair, (i.e. look, it's badly scratched so you must have dropped it, the warranty doesn't cover accidental damage!), and they told me to return it for an exchange. The replacement took another week to arrive but was perfect, I have no complaints about the machines quality, and the customer service has been great so I'd go refurb again.
 
I received my refurbed UMB yesterday, but I haven't had time yet to really diagnose it for possible problems. Outside of the dirt and grass(?!) that was in the box though, the Macbook cosmetically speaking looks virtually perfect to me, and through some basic operation, I have not noticed any problems at all. Aside from the very "earthy" box, I'm very happy and pleased with this purchase thus far.
 
I ordered one around Christmas got dented in transit so not Apples fault but it did have the slanty keys. Sent it back got a full refund, left it a couple of month's (didn't want the dented one back) and ordered one again. This one had a larger 250gb HD and 4GB ram but was still 799. After a few days it was a Kernel Panic Festival so sent it back but took the repair. I've had it back a week, worked her hard and not a single problem so finally happy puppy.

Apple's customer service throughout this was excellent apart from one Tech guy who didn't even try to solve any issues was just "Oh well send it back for a refund...".

Guess there's always one.


Bought an applecare off ebay for 80 quid and that is what the repair was under so I don't know if you get premium service for having applecare?




Bob
 
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