Wait on 2020 replacement or buy refurbished 2019 model?

[iMi]

UPS lost the shipment of the 2020 iMac I ordered. They are "investigating." So, we'll see.

Meanwhile, I am debating if I should just order a well-speced 2019 model. The 2020 I ordered was:

8-core i7
1tb SSD
5700XT
64GB ram (self install)

The refurb I'm considering is:

8-core i9
1tb SDD
580X
64GB ram (self install again)

Thoughts? Should I limp by until a replacement 2020 arrives as late as mid-November or buy the refurbished one now? I need a computer. I could possible use my gaming rig for work but won't have access to certain Mac only apps I use daily.

There's also a refurbished iMac Pro that looks pretty good. Cost more though.

Refurbished 27 inch iMac Pro 3.2GHz 8 core Intel Xeon W with Retina 5K display and Radeon Pro Vega 64X - Education - Apple

Apple Store Search Results

www.apple.com

That's a big difference. 3K to 5K, but it does have double the storage. 64X should be close to 5700XT in performance. What do you think?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Where "in the world" are you?

Be aware that a very few vendors in the USA carry various "pre-configured" iMacs ready-to-ship.
Stock that the brick-n-mortar Apple stores don't even stock "as regular units".

One place is B&H photo in NYC. There may be a few others.
But you MUST be aware, that some folks object to their return policy on new computers.
That policy is: once you open it, you can't return it. However, it comes with the full Apple warranty, so you could get it serviced at a brick-n-mortar Apple Store if there are problems.

IF you are currently in decent shape with a working (even if it's older) Mac, you might consider "waiting it out"...

 

[iMi]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I checked B&H and they don't have the configuration I need. The problem is that I'll be without a computer after Friday.

I'll have an iPad Pro to do office stuff but no way to continue working on everything else. Apple is doing absolutely nothing to help. It's sad to see how much it has changed. They are basically saying "it is what it is" and say wait at least nine days. Ridiculous.

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd grit my teeth, and wait the 9 days.

 

[neuralengine]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I checked B&H and they don't have the configuration I need. The problem is that I'll be without a computer after Friday.

I'll have an iPad Pro to do office stuff but no way to continue working on everything else. Apple is doing absolutely nothing to help. It's sad to see how much it has changed. They are basically saying "it is what it is" and say wait at least nine days. Ridiculous.

Not to give you false hope but have you tried calling again at a different time? When I was dealing with them a few months ago there was a huge variance in the representatives’ attitudes.

 

[iMi]

Not to give you false hope but have you tried calling again at a different time? When I was dealing with them a few months ago there was a huge variance in the representatives’ attitudes.

They insisted on “investigating” and about an hour ago sent me an email saying they are replacing the lost package. Now it will be here early November. Completely not cool. They didn’t even upgrade the shipping or expedite the order... nothing.

Just call them again. They will expedite the shipment. 2-3 business days. At least it’s what they say. Order still shows “standard shipping.” Of course this thing has to be build again. Who knows how much longer it will take.

 

[neuralengine]

They insisted on “investigating” and about an hour ago sent me an email saying they are replacing the lost package. Now it will be here early November. Completely not cool. They didn’t even upgrade the shipping or expedite the order... nothing.

Just call them again. They will expedite the shipment. 2-3 business days. At least it’s what they say. Order still shows “standard shipping.” Of course this thing has to be build again. Who knows how much longer it will take.

That’s really not cool and really crappy customer service that you had to do so much work just to get them to do that.

I find the order page on apple.com and in the Apple Store app to be very slow to update so wouldn’t expect it to update to what they told you.

Good that they changed their mind to at least try to expedite it. I thought they had a process in place for BTO replacements where those orders jumped the line and got built faster, hopefully they'll do the same here.

 

[iMi]

That’s really not cool and really crappy customer service that you had to do so much work just to get them to do that.

I find the order page on apple.com and in the Apple Store app to be very slow to update so wouldn’t expect it to update to what they told you.

Good that they changed their mind to at least try to expedite it. I thought they had a process in place for BTO replacements where those orders jumped the line and got built faster, hopefully they'll do the same here.

Apple used to be a lot more customer centric. I've told this story a thousand times now. Years ago, I had a lemon MacBook and on the 4th repair where they decided it needed a whole new motherboard, I got a call from someone at Apple. She apologized, said this was "not the experience Apple customers should expect" and replaced that unit with the equivalent one-generation newer model. It arrived within a day or two. It was amazing. They could have sent a refurbish unit or just do the repair. I was stunned.

Fast forward to today... and I had to fight them to recognize that UPS lost the damn thing and to get a replacement.

 

[neuralengine]

Apple used to be a lot more customer centric. I've told this story a thousand times now. Years ago, I had a lemon MacBook and on the 4th repair where they decided it needed a whole new motherboard, I got a call from someone at Apple. She apologized, said this was "not the experience Apple customers should expect" and replaced that unit with the equivalent one-generation newer model. It arrived within a day or two. It was amazing. They could have sent a refurbish unit or just do the repair. I was stunned.

Fast forward to today... and I had to fight them to recognize that UPS lost the damn thing and to get a replacement.

That’s such a great story and, honestly, it was such a big part of what the Apple experience was. And it’s what the modern-day “well how do you expect them to make money” or “does the [glaring manufacturing/quality control defect] affect normal use?” responses totally miss. They did things that seemed impractical because they understood the long-term value of such interactions.

My favourite is how I once wrote to the sjobs@ email, frustrated that my MagSafe charger stopped working. I was on my third one in a couple years and was a broke student so I was pissed off. I didn’t expect anything to come of it but a few hours later I got a call from somebody at Apple Canada and a new, free MagSafe charger was waiting for me at a reseller (this was before Apple Stores were a thing here).