Should I buy this used Mac Mini (late 2012)?

[iancflam]

Hi all,

I'm currently looking to buy a used Mac for document and graphic work.

I got an offer of current Mac mini for US$850...should I pull the trigger this time?

As this is going to be my first mac and I would like to have more inputs...

-OSX 10.8.3
- 2.3GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
- HDD replaced with 240GB OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD (w/ receipt)
- 240GB OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD
- 16GB (2x8GB modules) 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM (w/ receipt)
- Includes Bluetooth Apple Wireless Keyboard & Bluetooth Apple Magic Mouse & power cord.
- six months warranty left (Should I buy AppleCare afterwards ?)


OR should I buy a refurbished 2011 21'5 iMac for $975? .....coz for $125 more it seems to have more like monitor and graphic card and 1 yr warranty

Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 2.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core5

Thank you again for any suggestions!!

__________________________________________________________
I found this deal from local Craigslist for US$1150: (edited: rejected this offer, thanks to firedept and TheBritishBloke )

2010 27" iMac 2.93GHz i7

has an Apple Care Warranty that is valid until July 2013.

 

[firedept]

Stay away. I had a 2011 27" iMac with just as many problems. I can tell you that the problems will continue to happen. Mine was eventually replaced by Apple, but that was only because I expressed my concerns to the higher ups at Apple with a polite email. And what will you do when AppleCare expires? There is not much that hasn't been replaced. Which also means this iMac has been opened and closed many times. And has spent many weeks in the shop for repairs. They are expensive to fix without warranty and I believe you can get a better deal elsewhere. They are selling it because they are tired of the problems themselves. Just speaking from personal experience. Not saying iMac's are bad, as I still own 2 of them that have never had a single problem and one of them is 6 years old.

 

[TheBritishBloke]

I'd also steer clear, my MacBook Pro has had numerous problems. It's already been replaced once as I had 4 major repairs on it, this new unit is just as bad, I've already had the trackpad replaced once, logic board twice, hard drive once and it's going in to have the entire top case (the metal around the trackpad etc), the trackpad and the display replaced again, so I'm just going to try for another replacement unit, especially as I've just bought a new iMac so that I actually have a computer for all the times this has to go in for repair.

Seriously, stay away. A problematic computer is always going to be problematic.

 

[iancflam]

Thank you

Thank you very much for all your advices. I decided to skip the offer as I was quite worried what to do if applecare expires.

 

[iancflam]

New offer: 2012 Mac Mini i7 (used)

Btw, I got another offer of Late 2012 Mac mini i7 for US$900...should I pull the trigger this time?

If yes then this is going to be my first mac and I would like to keep it longer...

-OSX 10.8.3
- 2.3GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
- HDD replaced with 240GB OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD (w/ receipt)
- 240GB OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD
- 16GB (2x8GB modules) 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM (w/ receipt)
- Includes Bluetooth Apple Wireless Keyboard & Bluetooth Apple Magic Mouse & power cord.
- six months warranty left (Should I buy AppleCare afterwards ?)

What do you guys think? I'm looking at the refurbished store and found that 2011 21.5'' iMac costs $975...can't decide which way to go for