Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Getting an iMac - New or Refurbished?

That's what I had to do

IndustrialSpace said:
In your prior post, you state that if you encounter problems you would take it down to your Apple store for exchange with no hassle. The "brick and mortar" store will not process an exchange with a refurb purchased online. If you want to exchange it, you will have to send it in.
Click to expand...

I just returned my refurb iMac by calling Apple customer service. So IS and others are correct about having to send it in. If you call Apple you can arrange for pick up etc. I had no problems returning my refurb (that went flawless as opposed to the new iMac and MBPs) for refund and I'm sure an exchange is even easier.

Am just going to wait until they get another 20" refurb in. :) Know it will be the "one"...
 
kazmac said:
I just returned my refurb iMac by calling Apple customer service. So IS and others are correct about having to send it in. If you call Apple you can arrange for pick up etc. I had no problems returning my refurb (that went flawless as opposed to the new iMac and MBPs) for refund and I'm sure an exchange is even easier.

Am just going to wait until they get another 20" refurb in. :) Know it will be the "one"...
Click to expand...

They still sell 20" refurbs? - or did you mean the 21.5"?
 
IndustrialSpace said:
They still sell 20" refurbs? - or did you mean the 21.5"?
Click to expand...

^
that's the one I bought this morning :)

Very happy.

Update: I got the refund for the 24" refurb back into my account in 36 hours. I was happily surprised to see the $ back in the account. Off to buy memory for the 20". The refurb machine experience has definitely been my best ever experience with Apple. I can't see buying iMacs new after the all but perfect quality of the 24", the pleasant and no hassle of return and the rapid refund. I see getting another perfect 20". The only Mac I'd probably buy new at this point is a Macbook or 13" MBP becasue the prices are too close to new.
 
Just a follow up

My refurbed 27" i5 arrived last week in perfect condition. Screen is perfect. Looks like a brand new unit out of the box. Transferred all my files over from my 24" iMac in a few hours using the migration assistant. Back up and running in no time. Blazing fast compared to the old 2.66 CD2. I do a lot of Handbraking of MKV's for :apple:TV. One hour TV shows went from 45-50 min down to 20-25 mins.

The only difference between new and refurbed that I can see is you don't get a nice pretty box with a picture on the side of it, only a brown box. :p
 
Update

20" refurb iMac received. Never would know this was a refurb. Even better than the 24" I had and thanks to some tweaks and wisdom, I can use this with NO eye strain! Can't wait to upgrade the memory :)

Hurray.

Mine came in a sturdy, plain white box. As I said before can't see ever buying an iMac new again. Refurbs are awesome! Especially since I saved $1000 btw this and the dud 21.5'.

2 for 2 :apple: :)
 
After I went through 6 new 27" i5 iMacs and had to send them all back due to the yellow I decided I will try a refurb instead. Unfortunately it is going back as well :( The yellow isn't as bad but I know it is there (towards the bottom) and it is bugging me. I was going to live with it but why should I when I pay top dollar. 7 iMacs, all bought over the span of 6 months since release, I don't think Apple are ever going to fix the yellow tinge issue. I am getting another refund and will see what happens with the next release.
 
I really like refurbs. Almost all my Macs have been refurbs (except the first one). This new (to me) IMac 24" w/ATI4850 was a demo from an Apple reseller. I waited over a year to see if one would come up but it's rare for BTO systems to show up as refurbs. It's even rare for the 24" w/ATI4850 to show up on ebay! Just want 1920*1200 display with ATI4850.

I really enjoy it and am looking fwd to adding an internal 2.5" drive to replace the optical drive. Need Windows 7 for my Windows games.

Cheers,
 
Just purchased my first iMac and set it up this afternoon. Took about a 1/2 hour for everything. Wow!

And it's a refurb. Bought the faster i& chip and 27" screen. No noticed yellowing.

This is awesome!
 
well despite a minor issue with #2

I will still jump for refurbs in the future. I've had the nicest experiences with Apple regarding these:

but d'oh:

Myself and none of my tech saavy family could not unscrew the sole screw on the memory plate for the 20" iMac... so back it goes. Had I looked at the memory plate when I first got it and saw the obvious scratches of someone trying to open the plate I would have returned it sooner.

Yes, there were the brightness issues too (no headaches at least) but I think that's allergies as much as my not being used to the newer machines brightness etc.

Since I need a replacement for the old iMac that is going rapidly now, I bought a new MBP 13" this morning. Hopefully this is it...for the next couple of years.

I will still recommend refurbs to anyone in the market for an Apple desktop. I've had the nicest experiences with return/help/etc. and you really can't beat the quality/price. Okay, so I found the "flaw" on the second one but now I know something else to pay attention to for future reference. :)
 
I'm touching my refurbished i5 iMac that arrived this morning. Everything is perfect.... Oh so perfect...... Almost sexual....OOOOh yeah.

Go on buy 1 you know you want 2;)
 
Glad to hear the 21.5 and 27 refurbs are starting to be good ones

And after my schzoid back and forth over the last 7 weeks: Happy ending :)

I kept the 20" refurb and the MBP too. My mom has been itching to learn how to use a computer for a couple of years now and really likes the iMac. Plus she said something really important that helped change my mind: you might need both.

So part of my mother's day present (besides a mighty mouse - I think the magic mouse would be too much for her right now) is lessons on how to use this iMac.

Okay so I don't have at least 4GB of memory in the iMac that's fine esp. since I know I've got more ram to run all the screenplay/writing software on the laptop. That was the only flaw (I'm learning how to use the brightness on the iMac so I hope between that and taking care of my allergies I should be fine. I'm perfect with the MBP so...

Sure, my bank account is pretty tight now but you know what? This was meant to be. And I've learned a lot esp. from the folks here on this board. So thank you again :)
 
I have bought two refurbs over time and both were brand new in fit in finish. No scratches, blemishes, or bad pixels. I don't know if I was just lucky or they are all like that. I would buy refurb again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back