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mcpix

macrumors 6502
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May 13, 2005
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Apple must be clearing out the old stock in anticipation of new iMacs. Several sellers have been offering great deals on refurbished 5K iMacs, but one seller just dropped the price again. I picked up a 27" 3.3 GHZ i5 iMac with a 2TB Fusion drive for $1,499. This currently sells for $2,299 on Apple.com.
 
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I got a base 5K refurbished a couple weeks ago for $1225. Want to regret I didn't get the 15 inch 2016 MacBook Pro, but couldn't pass it up considering a lot of 5K screens are 600 to 700 dollars.

I threw $100 worth of ram (now up to 24gb) and a $100 SSD external to boot from. The thing is a beast.
 
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Apple must be clearing out the old stock in anticipation of new iMacs. Several sellers have been offering great deals on refurbished 5K iMacs, but one seller just dropped the price again. I picked up a 27" 3.3 GHZ i5 iMac with a 2TB Fusion drive for $1,499. This currently sells for $2,299 on Apple.com.

Wow that's amazing. Does it come with m390 or m395?

I bought a similar deal of the same iMac from eBay a couple of months ago, with Apple care until October 2018 for $1,700 with mint condition almost as new.
Very nice deal when as you mentioned Apple sells the same model at $2,300 and with no Apple care included.
 
The specs say that it has the M395.

I was also thinking about picking up a 2016 Macbook Pro, but my 2014 rMBP is working great and I really wanted the 5k screen and upgraded specs. I'm also going to up pick up 16gb of ram to run it up to 24gb total.

I've been doing all my FCP X work on my laptop as my older desktop (2011 27" iMac with 1 TB HD) just seemed too slow. I can't wait to get my hands on this new iMac.
 
Apple must be clearing out the old stock in anticipation of new iMacs. Several sellers have been offering great deals on refurbished 5K iMacs, but one seller just dropped the price again. I picked up a 27" 3.3 GHZ i5 iMac with a 2TB Fusion drive for $1,499. This currently sells for $2,299 on Apple.com.
The Apple Refurb Store had a long list of iMacs a day or so ago in all price ranges ... and now it is just a handful listed again. Perhaps the eBay sellers (and possibly OWC) grab most of them when they become available and then sell at a profit, and are able to call them "refurbished" (with full 1 yr warranty??). I have seen this happen many times recently.
 
I was looking at these the other day and thought it was too good to be true. $1499 for a $2200+ computer and sold over 350 of them in just a couple days. Very curious (and hopeful) to see if you get the as advertised item including the R395 card because I would definitely jump on one for that price.
 
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I was looking at these the other day and thought it was too good to be true. $1499 for a $2200+ computer and sold over 350 of them in just a couple days. Very curious (and hopeful) to see if you get the as advertised item including the R395 card because I would definitely jump on one for that price.
Yes, I hope it's "as advertised". It's not scheduled to be delivered until next Friday. I'll report back as soon as I receive it.
 
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Checked today for giggles and the price has jumped to $1,699 for the same computer from the same seller that had them for 1,499 Friday. I had it on my watch list on eBay so I know for certain it was the same. Not sure if they just play the market or if they do some bait and switch tactics. OP, if you read this, have they contacted you about any price change? Some reviewers from a few months ago made these claims so wondering if it happened again or not.
 
Checked today for giggles and the price has jumped to $1,699 for the same computer from the same seller that had them for 1,499 Friday. I had it on my watch list on eBay so I know for certain it was the same. Not sure if they just play the market or if they do some bait and switch tactics. OP, if you read this, have they contacted you about any price change? Some reviewers from a few months ago made these claims so wondering if it happened again or not.

So far no price change and my iMac is still making it's way to me via UPS. I noticed the bad feedback from some buyers as well, but I think when they first listed this iMac they mistakenly(?) listed it at $1,299 and then cancelled the orders that they received.
 
So far no price change and my iMac is still making it's way to me via UPS. I noticed the bad feedback from some buyers as well, but I think when they first listed this iMac they mistakenly(?) listed it at $1,299 and then cancelled the orders that they received.

I bet someone thought it was the low level one and then didn't notice the mistake until they sold a crap load and it threw up a red flag.
 
IT'S HERE! My new iMac arrived today and it was exactly as described in the eBay ad. It shipped in a large brown iMac shaped box and inside was a sealed white Apple box with the Apple refurbished label on the outside. It had El Capitan installed (just what I was hoping for) and once registered, it showed 1 year left on the warranty. The computer looks brand new with all the standard Apple plastic protectors in place. Interestingly, although I have one year of warranty it said the 90 days of free technical support had expired. I don't really care as I'm planning on buying Applecare soon.

Wow! What a great screen. I've seen the 5k iMacs before, but having one sitting right next to my old 2011 27" iMac really makes me appreciate how great this new 5k display is. This will now be my main Photoshop and FCP X machine and as soon as I upgrade the memory I'll be ready to go!
 
mcpix wrote above:
"It shipped in a large brown iMac shaped box and inside was a sealed white Apple box with the Apple refurbished label on the outside."

This is interesting.
I thought that Apple refurbs were shipped in a brown box, NOT a white one. (Aside: the "large brown iMac shaped box" was most likely a shipping carton, not the "iMac's box").

I wonder if they could be taking "otherwise-new" units that weren't selling and were sitting in a warehouse, slapping a "refurbished" label on them, and then moving them out "en masse" through a few online outlets...?
 
I wonder if they could be taking "otherwise-new" units that weren't selling and were sitting in a warehouse, slapping a "refurbished" label on them, and then moving them out "en masse" through a few online outlets...?

I know refurbished units are supposed to be customer returns, but this iMac looks brand new. Apart from the fact that it was in a plain white box (yes, the brown box was the shipping carton) everything inside was packaged like a new iMac. Given that there are multiple sellers on eBay selling these units, it does seem possible that Apple is dumping some extra stock ahead of an iMac refresh.
 
IT'S HERE! My new iMac arrived today and it was exactly as described in the eBay ad. It shipped in a large brown iMac shaped box and inside was a sealed white Apple box with the Apple refurbished label on the outside. It had El Capitan installed (just what I was hoping for) and once registered, it showed 1 year left on the warranty. The computer looks brand new with all the standard Apple plastic protectors in place. Interestingly, although I have one year of warranty it said the 90 days of free technical support had expired. I don't really care as I'm planning on buying Applecare soon.

Wow! What a great screen. I've seen the 5k iMacs before, but having one sitting right next to my old 2011 27" iMac really makes me appreciate how great this new 5k display is. This will now be my main Photoshop and FCP X machine and as soon as I upgrade the memory I'll be ready to go!

Thanks for keeping us updated. I'm glad it showed up with the correct specs. I'm >< close to pulling the trigger on one.


I know refurbished units are supposed to be customer returns, but this iMac looks brand new. Apart from the fact that it was in a plain white box (yes, the brown box was the shipping carton) everything inside was packaged like a new iMac. Given that there are multiple sellers on eBay selling these units, it does seem possible that Apple is dumping some extra stock ahead of an iMac refresh.

This is the only thing really holding me back. If they are going to refresh them this year I'd rather have the refreshed unit just because I won't be buying a new one for another 5+ years. If they don't refresh in April though I'm not sure I'll wait to see "what if" in the fall.
 
Thanks for keeping us updated. I'm glad it showed up with the correct specs. I'm >< close to pulling the trigger on one.




This is the only thing really holding me back. If they are going to refresh them this year I'd rather have the refreshed unit just because I won't be buying a new one for another 5+ years. If they don't refresh in April though I'm not sure I'll wait to see "what if" in the fall.

Mine literally came in the same box. And on inspection looked brand new as well. Was so happy. More than $500 savings from buying brand new. Electronics Valley is where I got mine from.
 
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I bought my 2015 MacBook Pro from Electronics Valley.
NEW unit (not a refurb), $300+ less than Apple's price at store.apple.com.

Came in 2 days after order placed.
I'd buy from them again.
 
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