Please excuse a short woe-is-me story which is an unavoidable prerequisite to my asking for advice.
This summer I finally had enough money to get my first Mac after a year of saving and ordered a refurb 21" iMac (the best value Apple makes in my opinion) on July 20th. After waiting a week it arrived, looked as good as new, and I was really happy I got a great computer and saved $200. However, as soon as I turned it on there were several adjacent dead pixels right in the middle of the dock, very prominent from any angle. I called and took it into the store the next day and was told I could exchange it or even better, in the interest of time anyway, have them simply replace the LCD screen there. I opted for the latter because I already knew the rest of the computer was in perfect condition. So I finally get it back today, and it was like the box from hell. The plastic covering was the same I used before now with dirt on it, halfway on halfway off, but that's just the beginning. There are actually large chunks of dust inside the screen, and I mean like 5 or 6 places minimum. They can't be wiped off, if you look from the top you can clearly see it's behind the glass. There's also a place at the top-right where apparently the backlighting is coming through, you can see a slim white area between the screen and the black bezel surrounding it. The computer works fine, but it's just really sloppy in terms of physical appearance and this is not the kind of thing I pay 1,000 dollars for. I could return it and just get another refurbished one. I feel like no sooner would I do that then the new one would have an even worse problem like a scratch or something. I HATE cosmetic imperfections; dust falling on the screen is one thing but these are inside and can never be removed. Ever. And I'm tired of wasting my summer away trying to get a perfect Mac and save a little bit of money. I plan to take it in and refund it tomorrow, and I'm rethinking things now. Should I give it another go with the refurbished store, and believe my case is an exception? Or pony up and get a brand new one and be done with it? Are the benefits worth this much trouble?
This summer I finally had enough money to get my first Mac after a year of saving and ordered a refurb 21" iMac (the best value Apple makes in my opinion) on July 20th. After waiting a week it arrived, looked as good as new, and I was really happy I got a great computer and saved $200. However, as soon as I turned it on there were several adjacent dead pixels right in the middle of the dock, very prominent from any angle. I called and took it into the store the next day and was told I could exchange it or even better, in the interest of time anyway, have them simply replace the LCD screen there. I opted for the latter because I already knew the rest of the computer was in perfect condition. So I finally get it back today, and it was like the box from hell. The plastic covering was the same I used before now with dirt on it, halfway on halfway off, but that's just the beginning. There are actually large chunks of dust inside the screen, and I mean like 5 or 6 places minimum. They can't be wiped off, if you look from the top you can clearly see it's behind the glass. There's also a place at the top-right where apparently the backlighting is coming through, you can see a slim white area between the screen and the black bezel surrounding it. The computer works fine, but it's just really sloppy in terms of physical appearance and this is not the kind of thing I pay 1,000 dollars for. I could return it and just get another refurbished one. I feel like no sooner would I do that then the new one would have an even worse problem like a scratch or something. I HATE cosmetic imperfections; dust falling on the screen is one thing but these are inside and can never be removed. Ever. And I'm tired of wasting my summer away trying to get a perfect Mac and save a little bit of money. I plan to take it in and refund it tomorrow, and I'm rethinking things now. Should I give it another go with the refurbished store, and believe my case is an exception? Or pony up and get a brand new one and be done with it? Are the benefits worth this much trouble?
