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24" Alum Refurb w/ Fan Noise..

D

danny-bonaducci

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 3, 2007
30
0
I ran a few searches and found a bit of other info around MB and MBP's in terms of fan noise, but not as many on the iMacs.. I had two 24" delivered on Tuesday, both refurb's, the first one was perfect as could be. Beautiful screen, no gradient issues, silent and an mouse. The second one, just started setting up last night has a noisy fan.

I spent part of my morning on the phone with support and they booked me an appointment with Apple this evening.. Does anyone know if I have a good chance in walking out of the store with a replacement, or are they going to want to "repair" it and send me something? Does the Apple store actually have refurb's in stock for thus purpose? I know when I had to exchange my iPhone the one they handed me was a refurb, but I was not sure about the iMac's.

My hope is that I am driving home later tonite with another unit. Anyone have any experience with this that could provide some insight? I know some people out there will assume because it is a refurb that I should expect nothing less, but to be honest, this is not my first Apple refurb purchase, I have three other iMac's I have purchased this way and have yet to have any issue at all. Of course, I also pick up AppleCare just to be safe (but I would do that even with a new one)..

Thanks!!

-DB
 
Hi
Sorry I can't answer your question, but out of curiosity when you say your iMac is silent, do you mean it is absolutely quiet? It's just that I received my 2.8GHz iMac last week and though very quiet it is not 0% silent. There is always a small amoutn of noise from one of the fans.

b e n
 
lazydog said:
Hi
Sorry I can't answer your question, but out of curiosity when you say your iMac is silent, do you mean it is absolutely quiet? It's just that I received my 2.8GHz iMac last week and though very quiet it is not 0% silent. There is always a small amoutn of noise from one of the fans.

b e n
Click to expand...

When I put my ear to the computer, I hear nothing.. It is a 2.4, could be that this has a slower fan and is quieter? Not sure.. Does not sound anything like the noise my defective one has, which reminds me of playing cards inside of bike spokes..

-DB
 
I have to say, I am not that thrilled with Apple tonight.. Drove all the way up to the Apple store (about a 70 drive for me) only to find out since my machine is a refurb that I have to have AppleCare handle my return. I am fine with working directly with AppleCare, but I wish they would have not instructed me to drive up to the store so they could "fix the issue" when everyone involved knew this would require a new unit.

I realize I take my chances with refurb machines, this is #4 and the first one I have had any issues with... But, why send me to the store only to have store tell me I SOL unless I call AppleCare... Oh well, hopefully my pain will get me some kind of fast shipment..

So, a word to the wise, if you buy refurb's from apple.com do not expect to be able to exchange them at the physical store. I suppose they could handle repairs (which in my case was an option, but given that I just un-boxed it, I did not see the point) but not exchanges or refunds...

-DB
 
danny-bonaducci said:
When I put my ear to the computer, I hear nothing.. It is a 2.4, could be that this has a slower fan and is quieter? Not sure.. Does not sound anything like the noise my defective one has, which reminds me of playing cards inside of bike spokes..

-DB
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! Much appreciated.

b e n
 
danny-bonaducci said:
I have to say, I am not that thrilled with Apple tonight.. Drove all the way up to the Apple store (about a 70 drive for me) only to find out since my machine is a refurb that I have to have AppleCare handle my return. I am fine with working directly with AppleCare, but I wish they would have not instructed me to drive up to the store so they could "fix the issue" when everyone involved knew this would require a new unit.
Click to expand...
That is bogus. I have had close to two dozen refurbs between my personal machines and ones at work. I have had to take 5 in to the Apple store and never have they told me they couldn't help me because its a refurb. I would get on the phone to Apple and tell them what the Apple store told you. That's not right.
 
topgunn said:
That is bogus. I have had close to two dozen refurbs between my personal machines and ones at work. I have had to take 5 in to the Apple store and never have they told me they couldn't help me because its a refurb. I would get on the phone to Apple and tell them what the Apple store told you. That's not right.
Click to expand...

They could help, but could not give me a different machine on the spot. The guy mentioned something about not having the refurb part numbers in his system so he could not do the exchange onsite. He was willing to repair it, but not exchange it. I called AppleCare this morning and I have a new one on the way, but the original one took 2+ weeks to arrive because of some FedEx screw up, I hope this one does not take that long...

That leads me to another question... If I purchase a refurb iPhone will the store be able to swap that out for me if I have a problem or will that have to be a mail-in as well? This will stop me from purchasing refurb, I always felt safe because I had an Apple store near by and I could get help from a person... I am doubting that now..

All this being said, I am very thankful that when I call Apple support I do not end up on the line with some call center in Banglore. I work for a very large computer company, I will not name any names. I have had to contact support for our products and it is terrible, absolutely miserable.. I end up talking to someone in India and spend 20-30 minutes just furious trying to explain the issue to 3 or 4 different tiers of support. At least Apple appears to employ decent call center employees and they seem to be native English speakers which is very nice....

-DB

-DB
 
danny-bonaducci said:
They could help, but could not give me a different machine on the spot. The guy mentioned something about not having the refurb part numbers in his system so he could not do the exchange onsite. He was willing to repair it, but not exchange it. I called AppleCare this morning and I have a new one on the way, but the original one took 2+ weeks to arrive because of some FedEx screw up, I hope this one does not take that long...
Click to expand...

A brand new machine or a new refurb?
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
So did you really think the Apple store had a refurb on hand to exchange you or did you expect them to hand you a brand new machine? I've never heard of getting a defective refurb and ending up with a brand new machine, be it the iMac or the iPhone.
Click to expand...

I was hoping for a replacement refurb. I had no idea if they had them in stock or not. That was my original question in this thread :). I kind of thought they might as when I had to exchange my iPhone, I was given a refurb on the spot to replace my original with dead pixels. I seriously doubt they would ever trade up a refurb to a brand new unit, unless they had no other options (e.g. no refurbs available)...

-DB
 
A phone call to the Apple Store would have saved you the trouble. If it's that far a drive, why didn't you call first to see if they even had any rerfurbs?

You sound upset that they didn't exchange it, but since it's a relatively new machine, there probably aren't that many refurbs around. I'm sorry you're having a problem, but you really have no right to be upset with them. You chose to make the drive without checking first, and that's not their fault.
 
hologram said:
A phone call to the Apple Store would have saved you the trouble. If it's that far a drive, why didn't you call first to see if they even had any rerfurbs?

You sound upset that they didn't exchange it, but since it's a relatively new machine, there probably aren't that many refurbs around. I'm sorry you're having a problem, but you really have no right to be upset with them. You chose to make the drive without checking first, and that's not their fault.[/QUOTE

I do not agree, but it is water under the bridge. I have a replacement machine on the way. This thread no longer has value so this will be my last post..
Click to expand...
 
What´s the default fan speed on the 2.4 machines? I currently own a 2.8 device and the lowest my computer goes is a clearly audible 1200rpm.
 
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