Need Help With 17 Inch MBP Bought at Best Buy

[patrick92260]

Hey, so today I was at Best Buy and found what I thought was a pretty good deal on an older open box 17 inch MacBook Pro (2.5ghz, 250GB HD, 2GB ram, 512 video) but I have a few questions about it...

First when I checked on apple's site, it says the computer is out of warranty, which I figured could be fixed. The problem is that I noticed when looking at the Best Buy receipt that the model number listed is for the 15.4 inch model but I bought the 17 inch... is this going to be a problem when trying to get Apple to update the warranty?

The next thing is when I bought it they had already restored the MBP but the restore CDs were lost, can these be replaced by Apple? I have a 15 inch Unibody MBP also but the discs for that MBP won't work in the 17 inch.

Lastly I paid $770 for the MBP, is this a good price for it or should I return it if the stuff above is going to be a problem later on down the road? (Especially in regards to if the machine needs warranty work as I have read a lot of problems about the graphics card in this gen MBP.)

Thanks for the help!

By the way, after using the MBP for most of today nothing seems wrong with it at all and it is also in excellent cosmetic condition which is nice considering it was open box!

 

[Ivan P]

First when I checked on apple's site, it says the computer is out of warranty, which I figured could be fixed. The problem is that I noticed when looking at the Best Buy receipt that the model number listed is for the 15.4 inch model but I bought the 17 inch... is this going to be a problem when trying to get Apple to update the warranty?

It seems that it's not the right number to begin with - if it was the right one it should definitely come up saying it's the 17 inch model.
Now I may be wrong, and please people correct me if I am, but I'm pretty sure the warranty can't be "updated" - from the initial day of activation it has a 1 year warranty and within that year you can purchase Apple Care to cover you for a further 2 years after that. I didn't think Apple "updates" warranties for people, just like they don't let you add Apple Care after the initial warranty has expired. If your warranty has indeed expired, then I think you'd be out of luck. But of course, if I'm wrong please let me know.

 

[patrick92260]

It seems that it's not the right number to begin with - if it was the right one it should definitely come up saying it's the 17 inch model.
Now I may be wrong, and please people correct me if I am, but I'm pretty sure the warranty can't be "updated" - from the initial day of activation it has a 1 year warranty and within that year you can purchase Apple Care to cover you for a further 2 years after that. I didn't think Apple "updates" warranties for people, just like they don't let you add Apple Care after the initial warranty has expired. If your warranty has indeed expired, then I think you'd be out of luck. But of course, if I'm wrong please let me know.

No, when I put the serial number from system profiler in apple's website it comes up as a 2008 17 inch MBP. The problem is on the best buy receipt, it says it is a 15.4 inch model (I think someone may have messed up the tag for the MBP since it was an open box.)

But I was also told at Best Buy since they are authorized to sell Apple computers, technically the MBP is "new" and since I purchased it from them, Apple would give me the standard one year warranty. I read on Apple's site that if the warranty date seems wrong, I should fax them my receipt and they will update the warranty for the MBP. The problem is though, my receipt from best buy says I bought a 15 inch model... Thats where I think there will be a problem.

 

[leavingwave]

hey pat... you will definitely need to have the receipt issue fixed.. that's your lifeline for getting your 1 yr limited warranty updated in apple's system. is the serial number on the receipt?

i recently bought an open box mb at bestbuy few months ago.. the limited warranty start date on apple coverage check was the date i bought the mb. that was the 1st thing i asked them about.

 

[patrick92260]

hey pat... you will definitely need to have the receipt issue fixed.. that's your lifeline for getting your 1 yr limited warranty updated in apple's system. is the serial number on the receipt?

i recently bought an open box mb at bestbuy few months ago.. the limited warranty start date on apple coverage check was the date i bought the mb. that was the 1st thing i asked them about.

Yeah after talking to Apple today and going back to Best Buy I was able to get it all fixed. Best Best definitely did mark the MBP as a 15 inch model which I'm guessing was just a mistake. They reprinted me a new receipt with the right model number but no serial number, I faxed it to Apple and a few hours later I got an email from them saying I now have a one year warranty starting today! Apple is even sending me a free set of restore discs since Best Buy had lost the originals...

The last thing is do you think $770 is a good price for this 17 inch MBP or are there better deals out there? (Specs are in first post.)

 

[HBOC]

uh, yeah $770 is a smoking great deal for a 17in MBP! How long was it used for? I am assuming a couple of months? Even used, that is a great deal! Just out of curiosity, why did you buy another one if you already had a 15inch? too good a deal to pass up? extra fire wire ports?

 

[patrick92260]

uh, yeah $770 is a smoking great deal for a 17in MBP! How long was it used for? I am assuming a couple of months? Even used, that is a great deal! Just out of curiosity, why did you buy another one if you already had a 15inch? too good a deal to pass up? extra fire wire ports?

Well I figured it seemed like a very good deal and I could always bring it back if it turned out not to be. I also never really got over loosing the matte screen from my old 15 inch MBP plus this 17 has the 512 vram. I'm not sure exactly how long this one was there for, all I was really worried about was getting the warranty updated and the fact that it is in very good cosmetic condition. It seems to make more sense now that it was obviously priced wrong since the store marked it as a 15 inch model...

 

[Ivan P]

Yeah after talking to Apple today and going back to Best Buy I was able to get it all fixed. Best Best definitely did mark the MBP as a 15 inch model which I'm guessing was just a mistake. They reprinted me a new receipt with the right model number but no serial number, I faxed it to Apple and a few hours later I got an email from them saying I now have a one year warranty starting today! Apple is even sending me a free set of restore discs since Best Buy had lost the originals...

The last thing is do you think $770 is a good price for this 17 inch MBP or are there better deals out there? (Specs are in first post.)

$770 sounds like an amazing deal! The store I got my uMBP from a couple months ago was selling an open-box (albeit barely used) 17" MBP for $2000 (non-unibody, and in Australian dollars) which I thought was a great deal - mind you, here the base model 15" is already a staggering $3200

 

[clyde2801]

You've got the deal of the century. Enjoy it.

BUT...I'd make danged sure to get extended applecare on it, considering it has the dreaded nvidia 8600 video card.

If the card goes out in a couple of years, you may even get a new unibody 17" as a replacement.

 

[patrick92260]

You've got the deal of the century. Enjoy it.

BUT...I'd make danged sure to get extended applecare on it, considering it has the dreaded nvidia 8600 video card.

If the card goes out in a couple of years, you may even get a new unibody 17" as a replacement.

Yeah I am definitely going to get the AppleCare for it sometime this year, thanks for the suggestion. I have AppleCare for my unibody MBP and it was worth every penny!

 

[Consultant]

The last thing is do you think $770 is a good price for this 17 inch MBP or are there better deals out there? (Specs are in first post.)

Congrats. You just won the lottery for >$1000 profit.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...it sounds like you got very lucky.

If the machine had been rego'd before, you wouldn't have been able to get the warranty updated.

I just went thru the same thing with a 17" iMac that was an open box for $476 dollars from our on base NEX - another authorized sellor.

Since the product was already rego'd and the one year original warranty over, applecare could NOT be added = I returned the iMac the next day.

 

[patrick92260]

...it sounds like you got very lucky.

If the machine had been rego'd before, you wouldn't have been able to get the warranty updated.

I just went thru the same thing with a 17" iMac that was an open box for $476 dollars from our on base NEX - another authorized sellor.

Since the product was already rego'd and the one year original warranty over, applecare could NOT be added = I returned the iMac the next day.

What do you mean rego'd? The MBP I got said on Apple's site that the warranty for it was already expired, but I faxed them my receipt and they changed the warranty so on Apple's site it now says I have a warranty through May 2010.

 

[J&JPolangin]

What do you mean rego'd? The MBP I got said on Apple's site that the warranty for it was already expired, but I faxed them my receipt and they changed the warranty so on Apple's site it now says I have a warranty through May 2010.

...registered, the machine I was looking at was already registered so the warranty had expired and therefore was not eligible for applecare either...

 

[Aboo]

...it sounds like you got very lucky.

If the machine had been rego'd before, you wouldn't have been able to get the warranty updated.

I just went thru the same thing with a 17" iMac that was an open box for $476 dollars from our on base NEX - another authorized sellor.

Since the product was already rego'd and the one year original warranty over, applecare could NOT be added = I returned the iMac the next day.

Actually the OP is correct, even if the system had been registered by the previous owner, if you a receipt showing a different date of purchase from an authorized Apple retailer, you can always call up Apple and fax the information to update the warrant. Recently, I ran into a similar experience where I had picked up a couple of older gen 160GB ipods from an authorized retailer. They were open-box and the previous owner had returned them to get something else prior to the end of their 30-day money back guarantee. Anyway, it appeared that the previous owner had registered the ipods as well. A quick call to Apple Technical Support and then being transferred to the warranty administration department, everything was sorted out and I just had to fax in a receipt for proof-of-purchase. The way they had explained to me was that this warranty-update provision was instituted for just this reason - i.e. someone buying the item, registering it, but then returning it for whatever reason, and then someone else coming by and purchasing it.