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!Need advice!: Refurbished Products

V

V.A.Toss

macrumors regular
Original poster
A friend of mine is buying a new powerbook, and needs advice on refurbished products as he is considering buying one.

So my questions are:

Has anyone here bought a refurbished product?
Do refurbished products go wrong? Are they more or less reliable than new products?
Is there any noticeable difference between a refurb and a new one?

Any help is appreciated as i have never used a refurb in my life. But in particular help from the UK, as we are not exactly known for our reliable retail sectors.

cheers.
 
Refurbished products are fine and come with the same warranty as new products from Apple, but at a cheaper price. The only thing that may be noticeably different is the box it comes in (most refurbs come in a brown Apple box instead of the original packaging for the box of the item). Tell him not to worry and save some money buying a refurb.
 
Mine is fine

I bought a refurb dual 2 and I have had no complaints at all. I inspected it in and out and could see no visible defects. I am very pleased with it, plus Mine shipped fast and came with extra ram, so that is a bonus. My parents bought a refurb 20" iMac and it is in pristine condition as well. Plus it was shipped with extra ram, bigger hard drive and bluetooth.
 
I had a bad refurb experience....

CaptainCaveMann said:
where is the best place to buy referb products from apple???specifically the ibbok and powerbook??
Click to expand...


Several years ago, I bought a Power Computing 120...one of the imfamous apple clones and a refurbished monitor Man did they stink! Crashed all the time, the clock battery always died! The monitor lost its color within 6 months and went nuts. It was a mess! Now, I've never dealt with Apple's refurbs. I imagine they might be much better in quality.

My advice is this: in most cases, somebody used that computer and gave it back because there was a problem with it. Do you really want to purchase that problem? While they may have rectified it, there's a good chance it could come back. This isn't always the case, though. If you're confident that you won't run into this problem, by all means, buy the refurb. Just take this into consideration.
 
I bought a refurb 1ghz 15" imac g4. There were a few minor scratches on the clear plastic boarder around the screen and on the metal apple logo above the optical drive.

The only thing wrong with it was that it was supposed to ship with a 10.3 update disk but didn't and only had 10.2 on it. 5 minutes on the phone with apple tech support and the problem was fixed and the disk was in the mail.

I think the $200 I saved made it worth it.
 
Apple Store. On the right side of the webpage, there is a "Sale" tag. Might need to scroll down...there is listed all Apple's refurbs or old stuff.

BTW, they are generally good quality. I have heard good things, and they come with a warranty.
 
You have to be quick about buying from apple's refurb/sale page. I seem to notice inventory going up and down real fast. (then I notice resellers inventory go up when apples goes down 🙁, and then charge $100 more for the same damn thing 🙁 )

Kimo
 
I bought a refurb powerbook and it was in perfect condition when it arrived, and still is. People say "cool powerbook, i bet that was expensive!" i say "yeah it was" and say "its a refurb ". Then i laugh as the person goes over it with a fine tooth comb. Just because its a refurb doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with it (well not anymore). I think its important to stress that if someone orders a computer and then decides not to have it for whatever reason then they send it back to apple. Even if the box hasn't been opened apple still have to open the box and do a full diagnostic on the computer because it may have been dropped etc on the way there or back. (it will have done alot of travelling by the time it gets to you)

So yes some refurbs might come with a scratch or two but apple do tell you that and ifyou aren't satisfied im pretty sure that it says that you have to the right to return it within 10 days or something.

Is ir worth it? yes! as long as you don't mind having the newest of the new. By my reckoning here in the UK it takes 4-6 months from when a new product is launched to when a refurb is available. For me it didn't matter because i saved alot of money.

Now i kinda feel bad for spending so much on my G5 when i know that a few months later i could have had the same computer for £££'s less!

But it was seriously cool to have one straight away with everyones jaws dropping! anyway, hope i helped!
 
i bought a refurbished 15" iMac about a year ago, and a 15GB iPod almost 2 months ago... couldn't be happier...
i've never had to call apple about anything... my only beef is that my iMac's fan is sort of loud(er than i think it should be), but that's a minor complaint
other than the fact that it comes in a brown "apple reconditioned product" box, and the feeling is a little odd at first, there's no difference whatsoever...
plus, i get to know that i'm the first one that scratched my ipod 😀

reality
 
hey v.a.toss. I bought a 12" powerbook, rev. C a couple of months ago, refurb. from apple.com

I know that there are concerns on refurbs being scratched, dented, dead pixels...etc. so I was definitely paranoid prior to receiving the powerbook. I talked to an apple salesperson on the phone and she said that there was a small chance there would be physical blemishes, but that she'd never had a complaint for an exchange. That settled my fears, somewhat.

When I got my powerbook, I could not tell the difference from a new one. There were no dead pixels, scratches, hardware problems, wobbling, warping, etc. I'm not sure if my experience is the exception to the rule or what, but I want you to know that I saved a lot of money and got a great deal. Don't know much about the UK experience though...hope this helps somewhat.
 
cheers

Cheers all, much appreciated. I think my mate is gonna buy a refurb.

Sadly not me buying it, but im looking at one soon too.
I might buy one at the next powerbook update using apples 0% finance bollocks, then sell it just before the powerboook G5 comes out. It makes sense for me.

Thanks again
 
Refurbished experiences.

I've purchased Apple-certified refurbs from Apple three times. Twice through Smalldog, once through the Apple Store. My experiences have been a little quirky, but I have to say -- I wouldn't even consider buying new after getting these refurbs.

The first was my AlBook 15" 1.25mhz. No dead pixels, beautiful case, and it's been working great for me since January. Came in an "Apple Recertified" enclosure instead of the standard box. The only issue? Two small scuffs on the bottom near the battery release.

I was so impressed with my refurb experience that I bought my girlfriend an iBook G4 800 Combo. It came without so much as a scuff, in the original packaging. But there was one very strange thing about it -- it came with an ancient-looking, beat-up power adapter that didn't work. I called Apple, they shipped me a new power adapter, and all is well.

Finally, I got a refurb 10gb iPod. Again, the unit itself was in perfect condition, but it came in horrible packaging. The elegant cube of the non-refurb iPods was nowhere to be seen; this was more like someone threw a factory new iPod and the accessories into a box. Worth the savings? You bet.

So, did the savings over buying new make up for the two scuffs, the faulty (and replaced) power supply, and the occasionally weird packaging?

Oh, yeah.
 
I've purchased a refurbished G3 PowerMac, G4 iMac, 17" flat panel display, and an iPod over the years (only the last one directly from Apple). Though I have heard horror stories about refurbs, I've never a problem with any I bought. The iPod even came in its original retail box, which leads me to believe that some of the gear sold through the Apple Store as refurbs are actually overstocked new products. Buy with confidence, I say -- and save some dough. If you're not happy, you've always got the warranty.
 
I bought a Refurbished Pocket PC off the internet 4 months ago and it runs perfeclty fine. Nothing wrong, but a tiny scratch on the screen. No defects or anything. If anything, I'd think refurbish products are better: 1 they've been used by someone 2 they replace most of the parts in them no matter what basically 3 they're perfectly fine and work and have same warranties.
 
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