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Powerbook and iBook and refurb owners chime in please

YoYoMac

YoYoMac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 22, 2004
148
0
Chattanooga, TN
Ok, just ordered a 17" Apple Refurb PB. I live in China. I bought from the US store and a friend is brining it to me in Thailand while we are both on Vacation. I'm an American teaching in China.

Here are my questions.

How many people have bought a refurbished product from Apple and it worked fine?

How many people have bought refurb and had to have it replaced?

Has anyone ever tried to get their laptop fixed in a different country? If so, tell me how it went.

Thanks.
 
I agree, all of the postings that I have read indicate that the Refurb. equipment is of excelent quality. At times it is reported that the new owner cannot even tell that the machine was previously used.

Kimo

maya said:
Do a search, I know there is a thread on this topic and all of the posters had positive experiences. :)
Click to expand...
 
I've never bought refurb. myself but I've assisted others in doing so. My cousin bought a refurb eMac. Never had a single problem. I also helped my friend get a 12" iBook refurb. It was his first Mac (switching from a Dell). We also ordered a refurb airport card. I installed it when it arrived but it was non-functional. Apple quickly replaced it an he's had no further problems since. I ask him everyonce in a while how his iBook is doing...he just responds "I love it!" He's in new york now so I'm not there to help him out with problems but it appears he hasn't had any! He's not very computer savy so that's saying something! I say go for the refurbs. They come with a warranty so if something does go wrong apple will take care of it.

Edit:

Just wanted to add...that when the iBook arrived there was no OS installed! It wouldn't boot up...freaked me out for a sec until I realized what the probem was. I installed the OS and everything was okay. Kind of annoyed me though because if I hadn't been there he would have assumed it was broken.
 
I have purchased over the years two refurbed powerbooks and one imac. All were exactly like new when I received them and I haven't had any problems with any of them. In fact, the oldest powerbook a G3 Wallstreet is humming along just fine. Most of the so called refurbs are simply open box returns and there was nothing wrong with them to begin with. But because they were returned for whatever reason they had to go through the reconditioning process to make sure there were no problems with them. They come in the original boxes, with original packing, books and disks and best of all come with the full warranty. Enjoy your purchase and be satisfied in the money you saved! :)
 
I bought a refurbished Powerbook 15" 1.5 back in Sept. 2004. I too figured most refurb products would just be open box items that couldn't be resold as new. The exterior and screen was near perfect, but, right away the modem had problems and the keyboard exhibited the sticky keys problem (see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/95349/ and Apple discussions:
Keyboard clunk noise fwhen using K, L, or ,
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@366.rM7Yaw2GKS6.1@.689123ae
Sticking command and option keys
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@366.rM7Yaw2GKS6.1@.689bc46e
Please Listen to My Powerbook Keyboard Story
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@366.rM7Yaw2GKS6.1@.68a18df7).

I figured a refurb would have every inch of it examined and tested before resale and couldn't believe the problems I had. So buying refurb isn't without risk. In all fairness, Apple did an immediate dispatch for repair and the modem (and everything else but the keyboard) then worked fine. The keyboard sticking problem, however is a different story. It is NOT isolated to just that unit. I exchanged mine for a new one after five repair attempts, then two new Powerbooks had the problem. In all I saw 9 or 10 keyboards with the problem, gave up and returned mine in December.

The issue must be acknowledged by Apple and resolved. They have yet to do that. Until they do so, I would advise against buying if you want a properly functioning keyboard.
 
I purchased a G4 imac and just last week a 12" PB. Couldn't be happier. Everything is tip-top. Gotta great deal taboot!
DO IT!!!
 
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