Refurbished buy...Good idea or not?

[Gucci Mane]

cookieronster is right...

www.appleserialnumberinfo.com

enter your serial number into that site, it gives you all the details of the macbook, including wether or not it is refurbished. If it is refurbished it affects the price that websites like SellYourMac will give you. Unless you intend to sheist someone a few years down the road and tell them it was purchased new, it will have lower resale value, period. it has nothing to do with the box, although that also lowers resale value.

 

[puma1552]

This should be common knowledge by now, but refurbs always have brand new exterior casings--any part you can actually see and touch is brand new no matter what.

Also to the guy who said that most refurbs are just machines that were turned on once or twice--think again...what do you think they are going to do with my problematic MBP that's being replaced? It will show up on the refurb site.

 

[Merkava_4]

Absolutely, 100% incorrect.
They would replace them Refurb units are not used units in the sense they are not used for 2 years and returned.

That's excellent!!

 

[Dublo7]

I just received my 13 inch Macbook Pro refurb and it is in pristine condition. As far as I'm concerned, the thing is brand new.

 

[GotMeAMac]

Applecare for a refurbished MBP

Newbie here. Just bought a refurbished MBP. Have been checking out some of the threads about applecare, specifically where to buy it for cheaper than what Apple.com and Store sells it for. Just wondering, would the applecare work bought off eBay still work on a refurbished? Or would I have to buy it through the Apple store? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[mcfly2]

Newbie here. Just bought a refurbished MBP. Have been checking out some of the threads about applecare, specifically where to buy it for cheaper than what Apple.com and Store sells it for. Just wondering, would the applecare work bought off eBay still work on a refurbished? Or would I have to buy it through the Apple store? Any advice would be appreciated.

You should buy from an Apple authorized reseller, else you run the risk of the Applecare not being valid. When I was researching this, I found many recommendations to NOT buy Applecare off of ebay. From what I've read, you won't find out that your Applecare is invalid until you actually go to use it. Here's the list of authorized resellers. When I bought it last month, Amazon was the cheapest.
http://solutionprofessionals.apple.com/catalog/

 

[Boe11]

I've bought many mac refurbs and have never had a single issue. They're always just as good as new and I'd never have any qualms about it.

 

[468837]

Its ironic to see this thread title today, as I was coming to the forums for help. I am opposed to refurbished units and will never buy another one from Apple. To clarify, I am an "Apple Household" -- iMac, MBP, 2 iPhones (our third version of them to boot), 2 iPads, Apple TV, previously owned various iPods.

My wife's MBP has been nothing but problems for us. I bought it refurbished because I could save something like $120 off of the retail price (it was the same model that was currently being sold). I've had 3 significant issues with it:
-- A weird creaking noise whenever you would close the lid. Determined to be some kind of flaw in the bar that the monitor connected to. Apple replaced the entire screen unit free of charge.
-- Non stop kernel panics. Eventually took it to Apple who did a complete system reinstall. Appeared to fix the issue
-- Now that I'm out of warranty (ended August 30), I started getting the beach ball of death on everything she would do. I tried a few different things: resetting PRAM, deleting preference in Safari -- both worked well enough until yesterday when the system just became unresponsive. After quite a bit of work, an AHT revealed code 4HDD/11/4000000: SATA(0,0)

Its basically bricked at this point. Won't boot or anything. My Google Fu indicates its probably a bad hard drive, though a few noted it may be the SATA controller (I hope not).

I recognize that the second issue I had was software, but I have to wonder if it ties somehow to the third issue.

Also, the trackpad looked used when we got it back last summer, though since it was cosmetic and my wife didn't care we didn't bring the issue up. Just the whole experience of buying refurbished has left a bad taste in my mouth and its not something I'm going to risk again to save a mere hundred bucks or so.