Need to win the refurb lottery?

[AppleGoat]

Is the only way to get the base late-2013 15" model with 16GB of RAM through the refurb lottery? For clarification, this configuration:

2.0ghz i7
16GB RAM
256GB SSD

It seems strange there have been so few refurb configurations when there are endless configurations available for purchase new. While I don't necessarily think it's the best idea, I'm sure many have opted for the standard RAM and storage option (8GB and 256GB) but have gone with a faster clocked i7 at 2.3ghz or even 2.6ghz. And, I'm sure some of those people have made returns. It's odd those configurations (and other exotic configurations) haven't appeared on the refurb list. I think Apple is looking for set price points (like they do across all their product lines) and the 2.3ghz, 16GB ($1,949) model is enough of an upgrade to hit one of those price points. All other configurations are thrown in with the cheapest option to which they are closest specced. Anybody else agree?

 

[SBA]

There's a site called refurb.me that will send you an alert when your specified configuration pops on the apple refurb store.

I was keeping an eye out for a 16gb upgrade on an early 2013 model, and that only popped up once in over 4 weeks of watching or something, so some of those configurations do seem to be a bit rare.

 

[AppleGoat]

There's a site called refurb.me that will send you an alert when your specified configuration pops on the apple refurb store.

I was keeping an eye out for a 16gb upgrade on an early 2013 model, and that only popped up once in over 4 weeks of watching or something, so some of those configurations do seem to be a bit rare.

It's not an option at refurb.me. One would think the base model with only the RAM upgrade would be a popular buy new; how come they are so rare as refurbs?

 

[jakespeed]

I think Apple swaps parts to create the part numbers we see on the refurb site. For example, a 2.0 with 16gb gets its SSD pulled and replaced with a 1TB drive to create the high end configuration. So i would think...the lottery is your only hope. I have had a refurb.me alert on the 2.3/16gb/256gb for weeks and it shows up every few days with 5 or 6 in stock. They usually are sold out in an hour or two. I would have one but I keep waffling before i get it ordered. This config is probably the closest you are going to get. There were some this morning in fact, and there will probably be some show up around tuesday at noon.

 

[accountforit]

I think Apple swaps parts to create the part numbers we see on the refurb site. For example, a 2.0 with 16gb gets its SSD pulled and replaced with a 1TB drive to create the high end configuration. So i would think...the lottery is your only hope.

I highly doubt that. Why would you think this, and what reason would they have to do so? All of the refurbs sell, and in a short time.

 

[jakespeed]

Its just a guess. Figure it explains how they have only specific part numbers and configurations. I figure they calculate what are the next most common configurations (after the standard models) and then pick and choose refurbished parts to create them. I don't know for sure of course..but seems to make sense. After all they are taking opening them up, checking them and burning new part numbers. Swapping SSD Drives seems a simple task to get the number of models to be 8 or 10 instead of 20.

 

[accountforit]

Its just a guess. Figure it explains how they have only specific part numbers and configurations. I figure they calculate what are the next most common configurations (after the standard models) and then pick and choose refurbished parts to create them. I don't know for sure of course..but seems to make sense. After all they are taking opening them up, checking them and burning new part numbers. Swapping SSD Drives seems a simple task to get the number of models to be 8 or 10 instead of 20.

If that were the case, then they would be listing tons of 13" 2.6/16gb/512gb models because those sell out in less than an hour every time they are listed.

I think they sell what they get in with no changes. The 13" refurb versions seem to have higher specced models listed more often than the 15" simply because they are cheaper originally (meaning there are more people buying them).

 

[jakespeed]

Yeah. I suppose your probably right about how they do it.