Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

rMBP 15 Apple Certified Refurbished? Which one?

F

fcong

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
13
0
I'm thinking of getting a refurb rMBP 15 for myself, the machine will mainly be used for python programming or machine learning tasks, which one of the following should I opt for? I'm looking for a balance between price and quality

1. Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display (June 2012) $1469
2. Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.0GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display (Oct. 2013) $1489
3. Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display (Feb. 2013) $1489

or none of the above is worthy to get at this moment? Thanks!

******* Based on the following comments, it seems I'd better spend a little bit more and go get the following one?

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display (Jul 2014) 16gb/256gb - $1699
 
Last edited:
They aren't going to differ much in performance. I typically veer toward the newest for reasons of support longevity, which would mean the October 2013 one. Both of the others are from the previous hardware generation, although it had better graphics, which won't benefit you in either of those tasks. If you tend to run VMs, I would look for one with 16GB of ram. Otherwise those are fine. You can't upgrade ram after purchase on any of these. It's not just inconvenient. It's impossible. The next major component update will be this year, presumably spring or summer.
 
Raunien said:
What are the ssd and memory (RAM) sizes for each of these machines.
Click to expand...
Based on current refurb list they are all 8GB/256GB. So #1 is pointless as it is older and lower spec processor than #3. I'd vote for #3 for the dedicated graphics in case you ever want to do some light gaming. If the video card is really irrelevant then #2 has newer Haswell architecture and better battery life.

Any of them would be fine; none of them stand out as a "great" deal.
 
based on the vague info you got us, i would go with the last one because it is the most latest one. But that doesn't mean its the best out of those 3
 
thank you guys!

----------

so....I'm curious what kind of configuration and price range can be considered as a great deal?

austinpike said:
Based on current refurb list they are all 8GB/256GB. So #1 is pointless as it is older and lower spec processor than #3. I'd vote for #3 for the dedicated graphics in case you ever want to do some light gaming. If the video card is really irrelevant then #2 has newer Haswell architecture and better battery life.

Any of them would be fine; none of them stand out as a "great" deal.
Click to expand...
 
fcong said:
so....I'm curious what kind of configuration and price range can be considered as a great deal?
Click to expand...

He's gauging based on the cost of a refurbished model of an earlier generation compared to what is available today. The only time anything is really a great deal is when there's virtually no difference compared to the current model, yet the savings percentage is substantial. There are 0 items that fit that criteria at the moment. The last mid generation bump brought 16GB of ram standard to the base 15". That was previously a $200 upgrade. If the two were identical, the older haswell version (late 2013) would be basically the same thing for less money. This leaves you with tradeoffs on all possible options, making none of them a great deal. They're still fine. I would buy one if I needed one today.
 
OK, I see, that makes sense...
by the way, do you know how often Apple updates their refurb product list?

thekev said:
He's gauging based on the cost of a refurbished model of an earlier generation compared to what is available today. The only time anything is really a great deal is when there's virtually no difference compared to the current model, yet the savings percentage is substantial. There are 0 items that fit that criteria at the moment. The last mid generation bump brought 16GB of ram standard to the base 15". That was previously a $200 upgrade. If the two were identical, the older haswell version (late 2013) would be basically the same thing for less money. This leaves you with tradeoffs on all possible options, making none of them a great deal. They're still fine. I would buy one if I needed one today.
Click to expand...
 
fcong said:
OK, I see, that makes sense...
by the way, do you know how often Apple updates their refurb product list?
Click to expand...

It seems to vary. Others on here have mentioned some site that tracks it, but I don't recall the name. You might try googling it. As I said though, there aren't any fantastic deals at the moment out of anything that could possibly turn up on the refurbished site right now. You might look at how much it would cost for the 2014 base model, but even then it was a more minor refresh. You will see updated cpu / gpu generations this year for the first time since 2013.
 
I think perhaps this is the website you're talking about: https://www.refurb.me/us/notebook


thekev said:
It seems to vary. Others on here have mentioned some site that tracks it, but I don't recall the name. You might try googling it. As I said though, there aren't any fantastic deals at the moment out of anything that could possibly turn up on the refurbished site right now. You might look at how much it would cost for the 2014 base model, but even then it was a more minor refresh. You will see updated cpu / gpu generations this year for the first time since 2013.
Click to expand...
 
fcong said:
I think perhaps this is the website you're talking about: https://www.refurb.me/us/notebook
Click to expand...

Yeah that one. I forgot the name.

steveyo said:
:eek:

Apple resale value is that high?

Those machines are so out of date....
Click to expand...

Hmm? Those are refurbished units sold by Apple, and one of them is comparable to their current units, just with less ram. It's not the same thing as buying used. They come with a full warranty + new battery. You clearly missed something, or you didn't notice that Apple still hasn't released a broadwell based notebook. It's hard to call the presence of a haswell option "so out of date" when it's still the current hardware generation. 2014 was just a mild tweak on that aside from increasing the amount of ram.
 
fcong said:
Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.0GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display (Oct. 2013) $1489

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display (Jul 2014) 16gb/256gb - $1699
Click to expand...

One of these, definitely. Decide how much RAM you want, and there’s your answer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back