Mac Pro Refurb

[akm3]

I might be dumb, and I'm sure I'm not the first to have noticed this (use the search! akm3 you jerk!) but...

Is there any possible reason why any sane person would purchase any of the Mac Pro refurbs in the apple refurb store, instead of a new 2.8 4 or 8 core system?

My understanding:

Early 2008: Better video card, better cpu, lower power, quieter, cooler, more performance, cheaper.

Pre 2008: Cheaper to upgrade the RAM

Am I missing something obvious, or is Apple's Mac Pro refurb pricing completely insane? What would be reasonable for the old 4-core units? About $1800?

 

[TripleCore]

Believe it or not, people will still buy them. I assume if they are slow to move, Apple may bring down the prices a bit more.

 

[akm3]

Believe it or not, people will still buy them. I assume if they are slow to move, Apple may bring down the prices a bit more.

But will the people buying them have a rational reason I'm not aware of, or just not be paying attention and assume they are getting a deal because it is in the refurb store?

 

[akm3]

Well lo and behold I took a look this morning and they DID update them.

The 2.66 2x2core is $1999 and the 3.0 2x2core with x1900 card is $2299. Thats not a bad deal.

They also took $100 off all the MBP 17" models. Santa Rosa 2.4ghz 17" High Resolution with 160gb 7200rpm for $2499 isn't a bad deal either. Proves a 17" update is imminent.

-Allen

 

[trainguy77]

Proves a 17" update is imminent.

How so refurbs are just machines that were returned so now they can't sell them as new. It has no connection to a update.

 

[miloblithe]

How does the ATI Radeon X1900 XT with 512MB memory compare to the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB memory?

 

[Tracer]

The old 8-Core machine is now $2500.

Simply amazing. Should still be pretty competitive with the new 8-Core 2.8GHZ @ 2.8GHZ.

Downsides:

1GB of Ram
7300GT Graphics Card

Tracer

 

[akm3]

The old 8-Core machine is now $2500.

Simply amazing. Should still be pretty competitive with the new 8-Core 2.8GHZ @ 2.8GHZ.

Downsides:

1GB of Ram
7300GT Graphics Card

Tracer

Yea, they were still trying to get $3300+ or so for it last week on the refurb market, so that is a much more realistic price.

Also, the x1900 model of the 3.0 2x2 comes with 2gig of ram, instead of 1 gig the rest have, for $2300. That is a good deal as well.

 

[akm3]

How so refurbs are just machines that were returned so now they can't sell them as new. It has no connection to a update.

You are correct, I jumped to a false conclusion. They aren't directly connected. I assumed the haste to dump the 17" stock over the 15" stock indicated the redesigned 17" macbook pro would have an LED screen. That was a leap!

It probably means the 17" are selling more slowly in the refurb store than the 15" which probably still sells like hotcakes.

 

[trainguy77]

How does the ATI Radeon X1900 XT with 512MB memory compare to the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB memory?

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=728&model2=858&chart=318
the x1900 is faster hands down.

You are correct, I jumped to a false conclusion. They aren't directly connected. I assumed the haste to dump the 17" stock over the 15" stock indicated the redesigned 17" macbook pro would have an LED screen. That was a leap!

It probably means the 17" are selling more slowly in the refurb store than the 15" which probably still sells like hotcakes.

Yeah it probably means they have a build up of 17" so they are trying to prune that down some.

 

[miloblithe]

So that's an interesting option:

For $2299 you can get either:

Refurbished Mac Pro Quad 3.0GHz Intel Xeon
Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors
2GB (4 x 512MB) memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200 rpm hard drive
16x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon X1900 XT with 512MB memory

New Single Processor Mac Pro:
# One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (quad-core)
# 2GB (2 x 1GB)
# 320GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
# ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB (Two dual-link DVI)
# One 16x SuperDrive

So with the refurb you get a smaller HD (no biggie), much better graphics card, worse memory setup (4 vrs 2 DIMMs used), and , um, sometimes faster sometimes slower computer, depending on software and tasks? On the new Mac Pro you get blue tooth built in, and the option to customize things while ordering (like adding airport).

I guess the wise move is still new Mac Pro. Down the road I could always get a different graphics card as an upgrade. And if that add in the missing processor theory pans out, upgrade that way too.

 

[akm3]

Yea but for someone who needs a lot of graphics memory, getting the 512megs 'free', and the ability to max out to 16gigs much less expensively than the 800mhz RAM, that refurb might be the perfect deal for certain users.