Thinking about buying refurb cMBP 15"

[ACE_350]

I've toyed around the idea of getting a Mac for several months now and I have bought them in the past but today I see a deal on the cMBP 15" refurb for just $1,109.00 and I'm almost thinking this is too good to pass up. I've always been wanting a 15" MacBook just to use as a desktop replacement. I have a custom built Windows 7 rig that I use for my all-purpose machine and gaming, but I really want a MacBook so that I can use to sync up with my iPhone and iPad and I may be getting into some video editing soon for my gaming videos that I record, nothing too major but just to play around with it.

I would barely travel with it other then maybe occasionally taking it to work or a friends house, this probably wouldn't happen very much, but I'm thinking this would be a good buy for a first Mac that I would mostly be using at a desk and not very mobile with it other then around the house. I love the fact that its upgradable, I would upgrade it to 16GB RAM and put a SSD in it, and maybe another drive in place of the optical drive. I know its ivy bridge and a little behind, but I do like the quad core processor, dGPU, upgradability. I do enjoy the Retina displays but I still find the display on the standard Macs like the cMBP 13 and Air to still be quite good, maybe my eyes aren't the greatest, I mean I realize the text is ultra sharp and clear but it doesn't seem that astoundingly better to me.

What do you all think? I just think the price is really good and I really like the upgradability. I just feel like I don't quite need a retina yet and would maybe like a few more generations to pass before I consider one of those.

 

[sevoneone]

I've toyed around the idea of getting a Mac for several months now and I have bought them in the past but today I see a deal on the cMBP 15" refurb for just $1,109.00 and I'm almost thinking this is too good to pass up. I've always been wanting a 15" MacBook just to use as a desktop replacement. I have a custom built Windows 7 rig that I use for my all-purpose machine and gaming, but I really want a MacBook so that I can use to sync up with my iPhone and iPad and I may be getting into some video editing soon for my gaming videos that I record, nothing too major but just to play around with it.

I would barely travel with it other then maybe occasionally taking it to work or a friends house, this probably wouldn't happen very much, but I'm thinking this would be a good buy for a first Mac that I would mostly be using at a desk and not very mobile with it other then around the house. I love the fact that its upgradable, I would upgrade it to 16GB RAM and put a SSD in it, and maybe another drive in place of the optical drive. I know its ivy bridge and a little behind, but I do like the quad core processor, dGPU, upgradability. I do enjoy the Retina displays but I still find the display on the standard Macs like the cMBP 13 and Air to still be quite good, maybe my eyes aren't the greatest, I mean I realize the text is ultra sharp and clear but it doesn't seem that astoundingly better to me.

What do you all think? I just think the price is really good and I really like the upgradability. I just feel like I don't quite need a retina yet and would maybe like a few more generations to pass before I consider one of those.

Whether it is a good deal or not depends on the specific model. Do you know the specs? Is it Apple Certified Refurbished or 3rd Party Refurbished?

 

[ACE_350]

This is from the Apple refurbished store.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...154-inch-macBook-Pro-23ghz-Quad-core-Intel-i7

The price is quite good considering last year this very same model refurb was running for about $1,449 if I recall correctly.

I've tried the 15" Retina and while I thought the screen was very beautiful, the cost, heat that the laptop produced, and the fact that I couldn't upgrade the configuration really bothered me. I've also tried the 13" Air and while it was nice too, I just didn't benefit the lightweight and portability advantages because I mostly use these laptops in my home and they're on my desk about 95% of the time. I just like the idea of the cMBP because I can max the RAM out and put a Samsung Evo SSD in it as soon as I purchase it. I just almost want to wait until a few more retina models are released before jumping into one. I just don't like the extra heat they cause and I do notice the laggy UI from pushing all the extra pixels. Maybe they've been fixed in the haswell versions but for a desktop replacement and the price point I think this would be perfectly fine for me for 2-3 years.

I think the retina screens are very nice but the standard screens are very beautiful displays too. I notice a difference but its not completely groundbreaking for me. For someone like me that just mostly consumes media and basic computer work I think I'm still okay with a non-retina screen for now. I'm upgrading from a Thinkpad T400 so any screen is going to look a million times better then that.

 

[yjchua95]

This is from the Apple refurbished store.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...154-inch-macBook-Pro-23ghz-Quad-core-Intel-i7

The price is quite good considering last year this very same model refurb was running for about $1,449 if I recall correctly.

I've tried the 15" Retina and while I thought the screen was very beautiful, the cost, heat that the laptop produced, and the fact that I couldn't upgrade the configuration really bothered me. I've also tried the 13" Air and while it was nice too, I just didn't benefit the lightweight and portability advantages because I mostly use these laptops in my home and they're on my desk about 95% of the time. I just like the idea of the cMBP because I can max the RAM out and put a Samsung Evo SSD in it as soon as I purchase it. I just almost want to wait until a few more retina models are released before jumping into one. I just don't like the extra heat they cause and I do notice the laggy UI from pushing all the extra pixels. Maybe they've been fixed in the haswell versions but for a desktop replacement and the price point I think this would be perfectly fine for me for 2-3 years.

I think the retina screens are very nice but the standard screens are very beautiful displays too. I notice a difference but its not completely groundbreaking for me. For someone like me that just mostly consumes media and basic computer work I think I'm still okay with a non-retina screen for now. I'm upgrading from a Thinkpad T400 so any screen is going to look a million times better then that.

The retina actually runs far cooler than the cMBP. Ventilation in retina is far better.

And this would be better, solely for the 1GB of GT 750M alone and antiglare screen: http://store.apple.com/us/product/G...154-inch-macBook-Pro-27ghz-Quad-core-Intel-i7

512MB may be underpowered.

I also can't stress enough how much better is the high-res antiglare screen. It's the only reason why I still carry my early-2011 15" outdoors, because of the antiglare display. Even my rMBPs can't beat that.

 

[maflynn]

Its a nice deal, and if you're happy for this model as your first Mac, then by all means get it.

I certainly can see why this is tempting, with the storage and ram being user upgradeable,. I do think that's a huge plus and I'm sad to see that apple decided to move in another direction with ram soldered onto the logic board.

 

[2984839]

That's a good deal. I'd go for it.

 

[TechZeke]

The retina actually runs far cooler than the cMBP. Ventilation in retina is far better.

And this would be better, solely for the 1GB of GT 750M alone and antiglare screen: http://store.apple.com/us/product/G...154-inch-macBook-Pro-27ghz-Quad-core-Intel-i7

512MB may be underpowered.

It's also a $530 difference. Plus, at that price, he might as well get a 15" rMBP. I had 512mb 650 Model before I went retina and it's more than powerful enough to plow through modern games at the native screen res.

$1109 is excellent for this machine. $200 for a MX100 512GB SSD(or just $100 for a 256GB) +$80-$100 for extra RAM and you have a powerhouse for good money.

 

[JHUFrank]

I buy all of my Macs from the refurb site, and haven't regretted one of them. If you scout it semi carefully, you will get some really good deals.