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Would you buy a refurbished Mac from Apple

maxrosecollins said:
No!!

i bought one (imac 24inch 3.06) and they have made such a fuss about fixing it in store.

still has problems now after being repaired a few times.

i even had to send it to a 3rd party repair center because the mac store in southampton wouldn't fix it!
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Sound like a problem with the store, not the refurb product.

I've bought a Mac Mini, my mother's 2010 iMac, 2 :apple:TV (gen 1), a first gen iPhone, 2 iPod Touches and ton's of accessories and have had no more issues than with any of my new equipment. Any issues I did have were completely resolved or the product was replaced immediately at my local Apple store. I won't buy anything but refurbs going forward considering the savings.
 
Yup, it's impossible to tell the difference between a used and new Mac from Apple. Except for the box, which I hear is ugly.
 
Yes I would, and I have! save lots of money and get a great machine. The Macbook Pro i'm using now was from the refurb store, and I love it!
 
For Apple stuff, always buy refurb. The price of brand new is just way too much. Just not worth it.
 
My first Mac was a refurb. Best decision I ever made.
I was able to purchase a MPB instead due to the refurb discount.
It came in great fashion. No marks or scratches. Literally looked brand new.
I wasn't surprised, as it's Apple.

I bought it Sep 09, and still amazing now.
Here's a pic
http://redrory.com/?p=1
 
No, because I live in CA with 9.25% sales tax. Since most Macs can be purchased online without tax and with rebates, there's not much difference between new and refurb (new is sometimes cheaper even).
 
Buy.

Looks exactly like new once out of the box.
Same, full warranty as new Apple products.

JustSomeDude said:
I haven't bought refurb from Apple, but I have bought refurbished PC from from Dell and I know others who have from HP, and thee have been no problems. I can't imagine Apple would be worse - I would have no problem getting something refurbished from them.

That being said, don't forget to consider buying from other sources. Places like Macmall sometimes beat refurb prices with new stuff (altough, I think it's usually closeout or last generation stuff).
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Not the same. Most manufacturers include only a reduced (usually 90 day) warranty with their refurb products, and non-Apple products are not guaranteed to look new.
 
Refurbs are great.
However, tax kills it for me.
I'd rather just pick up a sealed one off eBay for around the same price before tax.
 
My last 2 MBP's have been refurbs. No probs and worked like new. I also bought one of the ipad refurbs. The speaker was messed up on arrival but the Apple store exchanged it for me the next day, so no problems there either.
 
Sure thing. I am looking at getting a 27" iMac refurbished and save about $1000 at it too. So far all I am seeing is an i5 and by the time I am ready to purchase I hope to see an i7 with an SSD in it too. But I will settle for an i5 without complaint if need be.
 
nutmac said:
No, because I live in CA with 9.25% sales tax. Since most Macs can be purchased online without tax and with rebates, there's not much difference between new and refurb (new is sometimes cheaper even).
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Good point, depending on tax your may be able to get close to or the same price for a new one from one of the online sellers.

Quality wise refurbs in my experience are just like new
 
It's not worth it

I went ahead and took the majority of people's advice from here and bought a refurb. It has not worked out so well.

The laptop came and wouldn't make it through the set up assistant. After 11 days so far, 2 trips to the apple store, more than 8 calls to Apple, and A LOT of time on hold (more than 30 minutes at a time), they decided I should exchange it.

If I had bought a new one (from either the apple store online or the apple retail store, I could have walked in to the apple store and right back out with a new computer in hand.

With a refurbished computer you have to jump through a lot more hoops, wait for them to send you in an RMA, mail it back it in, and wait for them to send another computer.

Apple may resolve this, but It's going to be at least 15-20 days before I have a working computer. That's a lot of time to lose.
 
I have purchased three Apple refurbished computers and they all have worked great. Great way to save some bucks. My next buy will be another refurbished.
 
I actually just got my first refurb Apple product, iPad, for Christmas and it was in flawless condition, just as I expected.

Refurbs are a great way to go.

DynoMike3000 said:
I went ahead and took the majority of people's advice from here and bought a refurb. It has not worked out so well.

The laptop came and wouldn't make it through the set up assistant. After 11 days so far, 2 trips to the apple store, more than 8 calls to Apple, and A LOT of time on hold (more than 30 minutes at a time), they decided I should exchange it.

If I had bought a new one (from either the apple store online or the apple retail store, I could have walked in to the apple store and right back out with a new computer in hand.

With a refurbished computer you have to jump through a lot more hoops, wait for them to send you in an RMA, mail it back it in, and wait for them to send another computer.

Apple may resolve this, but It's going to be at least 15-20 days before I have a working computer. That's a lot of time to lose.
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That's unfortunate. It sounds like your experience is one of the few exceptions.
 
Yes

JustSomeDude said:
I haven't bought refurb from Apple, but I have bought refurbished PC from from Dell and I know others who have from HP, and thee have been no problems. I can't imagine Apple would be worse - I would have no problem getting something refurbished from them.

That being said, don't forget to consider buying from other sources. Places like Macmall sometimes beat refurb prices with new stuff (altough, I think it's usually closeout or last generation stuff).
Click to expand...

I have had several refurbs from Dell, and did not have problems and saved ~20% over buying new. I did purchase a refurb iPod, 3 years back and it is still going strong. The Apple MacBooks that I purchased were too new to have any refurb inventory, maybe I should wait a bit longer.
As others have said, and I agree, refurbs are usually better tested prior to shipping than new units.
So the answer is yes.
 
Have purchased several over the years, and they work like new. Happy with them.
 
Two MacBooks and two Mac Minis, as well as an Airport Extreme purchased as refurbs. Never any problems with them.
 
DynoMike3000 said:
I went ahead and took the majority of people's advice from here and bought a refurb. It has not worked out so well.

The laptop came and wouldn't make it through the set up assistant. After 11 days so far, 2 trips to the apple store, more than 8 calls to Apple, and A LOT of time on hold (more than 30 minutes at a time), they decided I should exchange it.

If I had bought a new one (from either the apple store online or the apple retail store, I could have walked in to the apple store and right back out with a new computer in hand.

With a refurbished computer you have to jump through a lot more hoops, wait for them to send you in an RMA, mail it back it in, and wait for them to send another computer.

Apple may resolve this, but It's going to be at least 15-20 days before I have a working computer. That's a lot of time to lose.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my uMB I bought as a refurb. It came with dead pixels so I sent it back and had to wait for a replacement. 18 months later and my trackpad needs a hefty press for the 'click' to work. However, that could have happened to a brand new one, I'd still consider another refurb.
 
I have bought 2 macs

I have bought 2 MACS that were refurbished within 2 months of eachother this year. I love them! I can't tell the difference at all. The sales people were really nice about everything with them. I used PCs and frankly, couldn't afford 2 MACS that were new. I am using them for my business as well as for gaming.
 
Yes, recently bought a MBP 13.3. Essentially looks brand new, even on close inspection I could not find anything to indicate prior use.:apple:
 
Refurb products I've purchased from Apple:

Powermac G5: It arrived in perfect condition and continues to work 6 years later.

iMac G5: It arrived with one stuck pixel and the keyboard looked like it had someone's food all over it. I called Apple who immediately replaced the keyboard. The screen still has the stuck pixel, though you never see it unless it's a black screen.

24" iMac: This one is a year old and arrived in new/perfect condition.

24" Apple Cinema Display: This one arrived in pieces (I think it was dropped during shipping). Apple replaced it, and although it took a month to get everything sorted and the new monitor to my house, it arrived in perfect condition. I'd swear it was brand new.

1st gen iPod Touch 32GB: Arrived in perfect condition, still works perfectly.

I've had really good luck with refurb products (except the one iMac G5, but it's been a good machine other than the mentioned issues). Would I order a refurb product again? Without a doubt, so long as the price is low enough to make it worth it.
 
I've purchased many things from Apple that were refurbished. Depending on what the product it though I might be hesitant, I would have absolutely no problem buying an imac or ipod, but I would actually be more reluctant to buy a laptop. But yes, they do give good deals and I would generally take advantage of them. Buying used/refurbished is they way to go though.
 
My last three new Mac's were purchased from the refurb store (17" C2D iMac, 2 MacBook's) and all of those machines were great workhorses and never gave me any problems. I've only purchased 2 new Mac's in my life and I can't tell a difference in quality between new and refurbished. When I purchase a newer Mac again, it will definitely be refurbished.
 
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