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Refurbished 15" MB Pro via Ebay from Afford A Mac

Christopher11

Christopher11

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 10, 2007
715
75
Hello all. I'm in the market for a new Macbook, upgrade from my white plastic one from 2008, and was considering this 15" refurbished from Afford a Mac on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201335946053?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I'm perfectly fine with it being a few years old. It's i7, has a Superdrive and Firewire. I like these specs, with the 1TB hard drive, and 16GB of RAM. I don't mind at all that it's non Retina. I just wondered if any of you thoughtful people had any experience with this company, Afford a Mac or Mac Express Outlet. It's a refurbished Macbook Pro with 90 days warranty. Their feedback looks good. Please feel free to share any thoughts, most appreciated before I take the plunge. Thank you in advance for any replies.
 
I'd hold out and buy a newer Mac. The mid 2012 non-retina models show up in the refurb store from time to time and they'd come with a full 1 year warranty.
 
z31fanatic said:
2011 was not a good year for that model. A lot of problems with the AMD video cards. I'd skip it.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for that heads up. That's definitely good to know. If a machine is refurbished from 2011, four years later, could that AMD card still go? Would it have shown problems already if it was going to?
 
For some reason there are no refurb 15" MBPs on the Apple Store so I can't compare specs and pricing, but I'd get one of those instead of the eBay one. Full 1 year Apple backed warranty on them.

You also may be able to get a 2012 Retina model for not much more.
 
Jawnathin said:
For some reason there are no refurb 15" MBPs on the Apple Store so I can't compare specs and pricing, but I'd get one of those instead of the eBay one. Full 1 year Apple backed warranty on them.

You also may be able to get a 2012 Retina model for not much more.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jawnathin. So it sounds like you feel that this risk with the 2011 model is serious enough that it's worth holding out for the next year model. I was just attracted to those specs: 1TB HD, 16GB RAM, etc. If the risk is that great with the AMD card though, then I'm sure you're right. I'm going to email these guys and put the question to them, see what they say.

What are your thoughts by the way, on buying a 2012 MacBook pro from Ebay just from a private seller, with no warranty? This one for example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-3-i7-2-9-GHz-16GB-RAM-1TB-Hybrid-/251972740304?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aaabee4d0 Of course i understand the risks of buying anything used... and would check out the seller and item as best I could. But would you tend to hold out for something with a warranty, from a reputable resaler of some kind? Thanks.
 
Last edited:
If he actually purchased it new in March of this year then it will be within the 1 year warranty.
That's actually a good deal if you want to go with a cMBP.
Send him a message and ask him about the serial number so we can check the purchase date.
 
Christopher11 said:
Thanks Jawnathin. So it sounds like you feel that this risk with the 2011 model is serious enough that it's worth holding out for the next year model. I was just attracted to those specs: 1TB HD, 16GB RAM, etc. If the risk is that great with the AMD card though, then I'm sure you're right. I'm going to email these guys and put the question to them, see what they say.

What are your thoughts by the way, on buying a 2012 MacBook pro from Ebay just from a private seller, with no warranty? This one for example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-3-i7-2-9-GHz-16GB-RAM-1TB-Hybrid-/251972740304?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aaabee4d0 Of course i understand the risks of buying anything used... and would check out the seller and item as best I could. But would you tend to hold out for something with a warranty, from a reputable resaler of some kind? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I don't have any experience with the 2011s but given the problems I hear, I'd probably just buy a different one just so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

My main point was that at the prices you're looking at, you're probably not all that far removed from an official refurbished model from Apple. Their selection isn't very good online right now, but check back every day or and see what they offer. Apple's official refurbs are very good and comes with one year warranty.

Now if the ones you were looking at are cheaper, then I'd say go for it. But when spending over $1100 on a laptop, having a warranty is nice.
 
z31fanatic said:
If he actually purchased it new in March of this year then it will be within the 1 year warranty.
That's actually a good deal if you want to go with a cMBP.
Send him a message and ask him about the serial number so we can check the purchase date.
Click to expand...

Great idea, thank you! This auction actually ends in 90 minutes and I wasn't quite ready to buy today... so I will probably scoop it up next time if he relists it. He emailed back and forth with me, and stated yeah, it's within the Apple Care Warranty period. I will email him and request the serial number. You guys are really helpful. Much appreciated.

I like that there's two 500GB drives... I thought of using one as an identical backup.
 
Will do as soon as he writes back my friend. Thank you.

Afford A Mac wrote back with this message, regarding the original link I posted to the 2011 15 inch MBP:

We test all of your 2011 MBPs with Apples VST (Video System Test) to make sure they are not part of the batch prone to fail. On the machines that do fail, we get them replaced through Apples program with a new logic board / video card.

We are confident on the quality of the Macs we sell. You shouldn't run into that issue if you go with one of our Macs.
AffordAMac

Would that reassure the concerns raised about the video card/logic board for you guys? Or were there other issues too with that year for Apple's MacBook Pros, and you would tend to stay away from them... ?
 
I too would recommend if you're buying second hand to get a refurbished model from Apple for the one year warranty and peace of mind. Also if I'm not mistaken and I'm sure someone will correct e if I'm wrong but you can buy extended AppleCare for Apple's refurbished models.
 
z31fanatic said:
Post (or private message) the serial number and I'll look it up for you.
Click to expand...


Thank you. The auction ended on that MBP 13; I encouraged him to relist it. If he does, I may go for it. He sent me the serial number though, it is C1MP616SDV30. Thanks again for all the great help I get from you guys here.
 
Mr.C said:
I too would recommend if you're buying second hand to get a refurbished model from Apple for the one year warranty and peace of mind. Also if I'm not mistaken and I'm sure someone will correct e if I'm wrong but you can buy extended AppleCare for Apple's refurbished models.
Click to expand...

You are right you can get the extended AppleCare warranty.
 
Christopher11 said:
Thank you. The auction ended on that MBP 13; I encouraged him to relist it. If he does, I may go for it. He sent me the serial number though, it is C1MP616SDV30. Thanks again for all the great help I get from you guys here.
Click to expand...

He relisted it at $900 now. Maybe you'll get lucky.
$900 is a good deal.

And it looks like it was bought February 8, 2015, so the warranty expires February 8, 2016.

Enter the serial number and see it for yourself. https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do
 
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