Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Stevp1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 8, 2003
171
11
Hey all. Has anyone purchased a Mac through the Amazon Renewed site? Can you trust the hardware? They're vague on what exactly gets "renewed" other than it's inspected and working. I have to believe it's not as thorough as Apple's own refurb program. Thoughts?
 
Renewed is just used. It’s just, theoretically, inspected to work. Also to visually meet Amazons standards.

How good the product is. Really comes down to the reseller.

I don’t see any reason to prefer this over a used computer on eBay. Both are guaranteed. At least with eBay you can see pictures of the actual item. Plus likely pay less.
 
i have not but heard of some who received a macbook worthy of the value and most just simply screwed and the seller left or was in selling from another country were they dont impose any laws.
the reviews are very false and inflated while teethe actual MacBook is never shown
i would get one from  or craigslist were you have a reputable actual face to face seller, or better yet, here!
 
I'm developing a mobile web app but only had iPhones and wanted an inexpensive, rugged Android phone for testing. Got an Amazon renewed Oukitel WP5 for about $115 - the new ones were around $140. It was sold and shipped directly from Amazon, which is why I decided to take a chance. In short, it was perfect and had all the original accessories.

I was very concerned when it arrived, it was shipped in one of those heavy plastic (kevlar?) bags but when I opened it, there was a huge hole in the side of the box, like somebody had poked it with a pointed object. Almost returned it without opening the box, but decided to check it out. Everything was fine inside the box so I'm pretty sure this was a new item that was returned by the previous purchaser because of the damaged box. I guess Amazon checked it out and decided it was actually OK.

Anyway, the phone has been fine. Now, I only use this from time to time for testing my app, it was cheap and saved me some money, so I'm quite happy. Would I buy an expensive Mac this way? Hmm... probably not, although if it's sold and shipped directly from Amazon, it seems like you have pretty good protection.
 
Last edited:
If you want a refurbished Apple device that you will "know is good"... then buy it from Apple's online refurbished pages.

And that's all I've got to say about that...
 
I've brought 2 "renewed" PCs off Amazon. It's refurbished by 3rd parties, so it's hit and miss. If you get a laptop, you can expect to get a 3rd party charger, possibly the cheapest one available. Everything works...mostly. The HP laptop I brought had 3 USB ports, one didn't work. Not a deal breaker for me. The desktop PC I got works perfectly.

At 10%-20% of brand new, I'm willing to roll the dice. Especially since I can resolve most glitches myself. Unless the LB crapped out, it's all good. With Macs, I wouldn't trust Amazon renewed. Their certification is lower than my standards for refurbished. Caveat emptor.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.