My Macbook arrived today, and it's perfect in every way. An hour later, I had formatted and reinstalled Tiger, added my 2gb of Newegg RAM, and begun to surf the world wide internets. This is by far the most expensive refurbished thing I've bought, and like almost every other refurbished computer I've bought (including three Gateway laptops), it hasn't let me down.
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Hesitant about refurbished
- Thread starter Beowulf666
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I've been thinking about getting an iMac and going refurbished so I could afford a 24" one. I've been trying to decide between the old (white) and new (aluminum) Macs. I like non-glossy screens better but having to buy iLife 08 makes the price of the white iMac almost the same as a refurb'd aluminum iMac (Apple.ca store) so it was a hard choice until this thread.
Now I'm leaning towards getting the old model to improve the odds of getting a perfect one. I'm hoping they drop the prices on the old one more after Christmas (to US prices) and then I may jump.
Greg
Used/Refurb-Does it come with Apple Care?
Make sure you got a Refurb that is Apple Certified. Last xmas, the day after, my g5 Mac Pro died. I had had is for 3 years, no problem. I bought a used one online and 6 months to the day that their warranty expired, it died. This one was sold as used. I took it to the Apple store in Palo Alto, CA, and they examined is and told me I would have to replace the motherboard and other items. If I hadn't lucked out and the previous owner had bought the extended Apple Care plan, the repairs and parts would have been over $1000.00....which adds to the frustration. Because I bought the used one to replace a dead one that shouldn't have died.
What I learned is, if I buy again, it will be refurbished. But check that is has Apple Care and that you can extend that care after it expires. If it's included with the price, make sure you know the dates and pay attention to signing up immediately. If the previous owner hadn't had the apple care still active, after buying the used computer for $700-$900 dollars and then the prospect of buying another six months later or paying for repair. With the warranty care I just had to pay for the gas to get to the store twice...which since the Apple store is 200 miles from me, that did cost quite a bit. Come to think of it, after all of this, if the Apple Care plan hadn't helped, I may as well have bought a new computer outright. Can afford that in this economy and running a small business. Now I live in fear that this xmas this one will die. Funny, I never had these deaths when I had the old beige boxes.
So, make sure that you can extend the warranty out to the 3 year mark, it's cheaper that a motherboard/logic board or replacing guts yourself.
Also, I will not buy a used computer from the company I bought it from again. After buying the same computer to replace the dead one, this confirmed my thoughts that it was a design flaw with that model
Make sure you got a Refurb that is Apple Certified. Last xmas, the day after, my g5 Mac Pro died. I had had is for 3 years, no problem. I bought a used one online and 6 months to the day that their warranty expired, it died. This one was sold as used. I took it to the Apple store in Palo Alto, CA, and they examined is and told me I would have to replace the motherboard and other items. If I hadn't lucked out and the previous owner had bought the extended Apple Care plan, the repairs and parts would have been over $1000.00....which adds to the frustration. Because I bought the used one to replace a dead one that shouldn't have died.
What I learned is, if I buy again, it will be refurbished. But check that is has Apple Care and that you can extend that care after it expires. If it's included with the price, make sure you know the dates and pay attention to signing up immediately. If the previous owner hadn't had the apple care still active, after buying the used computer for $700-$900 dollars and then the prospect of buying another six months later or paying for repair. With the warranty care I just had to pay for the gas to get to the store twice...which since the Apple store is 200 miles from me, that did cost quite a bit. Come to think of it, after all of this, if the Apple Care plan hadn't helped, I may as well have bought a new computer outright. Can afford that in this economy and running a small business. Now I live in fear that this xmas this one will die. Funny, I never had these deaths when I had the old beige boxes.
So, make sure that you can extend the warranty out to the 3 year mark, it's cheaper that a motherboard/logic board or replacing guts yourself.
Also, I will not buy a used computer from the company I bought it from again. After buying the same computer to replace the dead one, this confirmed my thoughts that it was a design flaw with that model
One year later, I'm using Leopard, but everything else is pretty much the same. Laptop still works. Case cracked (they all do eventually), but other than that, no real problems. Here's to another year...
what about cosmetic appearances like dents, dings, and scratches? those won't be on there? and what about hardware? everything i can expect on a new model?
Thanks for replying by the way
Just about any manufacturer that sells anything "refurbished" generally requires those products to meet the same specs and QC as a "new" product - meaning it performs within spec and doesn't have any cosmetic blemishes.
Refurbished != scratch 'n' dent.
Bought my first apple laptop as a refurb. The first generation macbook 1.83.
Worked great, never had any problems and never had to have it looked at.
Never cracked and sold it around 2 years later for 25 bucks less what I paid.
Worked great, never had any problems and never had to have it looked at.
Never cracked and sold it around 2 years later for 25 bucks less what I paid.
I've bought several refurbished macs and they always look brand new. Warranty is same too.
Other than apple-box-envy, I was very satisfied.
All my future mac purchases will be refurbs.
Other than apple-box-envy, I was very satisfied.
All my future mac purchases will be refurbs.
I brought a whitebook refurb a month ago. Had problems with the RAM slot so apple replaced the logic board. Then developed problems with the isight so i eventually got apple to replace it with another refurb.
2nd refurb came through, case wasnt fitted properly, and topcase was warped and wouldnt shut properly.
Sent this back and am now waiting on my 3rd refurb - has really put me off
2nd refurb came through, case wasnt fitted properly, and topcase was warped and wouldnt shut properly.
Sent this back and am now waiting on my 3rd refurb
- has really put me offI brought a whitebook refurb a month ago. Had problems with the RAM slot so apple replaced the logic board. Then developed problems with the isight so i eventually got apple to replace it with another refurb.
2nd refurb came through, case wasnt fitted properly, and topcase was warped and wouldnt shut properly.
Sent this back and am now waiting on my 3rd refurb
have you had to do the exchanges via mail or in store?
Via Mail. When i originally phoned apple about the problem i was told that because i brought a refurbished product that i am not able to get it replaced and i'll just have to keep getting it repaired.
I wasn't happy with this so i fired off a email to Mr Jobs and one of his VIP customer relations people phoned me back.
I know someone who bought a refurb imac, had a dead pixel
Couldnt get an exchange obviously because its refurbed and its not DOA
Took it to an Apple store, could onle be offered a refund and used the money to buy a new imac instead
Sure, your refudb might be perfect
But there could also be imperfections - thats why its called refurb!
When refurb alu macbooks start appearing, where do you think they come from? From all the people on these forums complaining about slanted keys and scratches and whatnot returning their new macbooks
Couldnt get an exchange obviously because its refurbed and its not DOA
Took it to an Apple store, could onle be offered a refund and used the money to buy a new imac instead
Sure, your refudb might be perfect
But there could also be imperfections - thats why its called refurb!
When refurb alu macbooks start appearing, where do you think they come from? From all the people on these forums complaining about slanted keys and scratches and whatnot returning their new macbooks
We run nothing but refurb macbook pros and iMacs here. 10 to be exact. Never had a problem or worry.
I always try to buy mac refurbs. I bought my macbook new and regretted it after I saw the refurbs.
Zack
Zack
I think you are wrong, I always buy refurb, yes once I got a dead pixel but NO ONE will change your laptop/desktop for a dead pixel if it is refurb or not.
If your refurb product has a malfuction (slanted keys, scratches) yo DO get a exchange...
and on top of it I live in lima, peru and still get an exchange
You should try taking your macbook back and getting the case fixed. There are a billion threads on here about people doing just that, its a 'known issue', and I think they will fix it no questions asked..
+1 btw for the refurb recommendation. My macbook from apple.jp was cosmetically perfect. I forgot it was a refurb after about 30 seconds. Very happy with it. (case hasn't cracked yet - luckily)
I bought a refurb imac 24" last month, and was THRILLED with the product. It is flawless! I had anticipatory fears about dents, scratches, marks, scuffs, etc. Nope--the thing is in mint condition. The parts are mostly new, and it even has that 3.06gz processor, a bit better than the new iMac 24! I am so pleased that i bought the refurb model.
Recently bought a refurb 2.4 Ghz MacBook (the white one, previous generation). Saved a ton of money and it's absolutely perfect. Been using it constantly for nearly two months and haven't had the slightest problem.
With the money I saved I bought 2 more gigs of ram and some additional software that I wanted.
With the money I saved I bought 2 more gigs of ram and some additional software that I wanted.
Make sure you got a Refurb that is Apple Certified. Last xmas, the day after, my g5 Mac Pro died. I had had is for 3 years, no problem. I bought a used one online and 6 months to the day that their warranty expired, it died. This one was sold as used. I took it to the Apple store in Palo Alto, CA, and they examined is and told me I would have to replace the motherboard and other items. If I hadn't lucked out and the previous owner had bought the extended Apple Care plan, the repairs and parts would have been over $1000.00....which adds to the frustration. Because I bought the used one to replace a dead one that shouldn't have died.
What I learned is, if I buy again, it will be refurbished. But check that is has Apple Care and that you can extend that care after it expires. If it's included with the price, make sure you know the dates and pay attention to signing up immediately. If the previous owner hadn't had the apple care still active, after buying the used computer for $700-$900 dollars and then the prospect of buying another six months later or paying for repair. With the warranty care I just had to pay for the gas to get to the store twice...which since the Apple store is 200 miles from me, that did cost quite a bit. Come to think of it, after all of this, if the Apple Care plan hadn't helped, I may as well have bought a new computer outright. Can afford that in this economy and running a small business. Now I live in fear that this xmas this one will die. Funny, I never had these deaths when I had the old beige boxes.
So, make sure that you can extend the warranty out to the 3 year mark, it's cheaper that a motherboard/logic board or replacing guts yourself.
Also, I will not buy a used computer from the company I bought it from again. After buying the same computer to replace the dead one, this confirmed my thoughts that it was a design flaw with that model
a design flaw on the G5 mac pro??
what computer is that. Never knew apple made a G5 mac pro