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Another "refurb vs new" question.

R

RuneLateralus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 12, 2010
5
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I was considering buying the refurb i7 right now due to it being like it would be a nice way to save some money for a good price, but I wanted to just get some opinions.

Basically, the machine will be used for Maya, Photoshop, After Effects, and the such. The only real gaming I plan on doing is WoW, Starcraft 2, and, in the future, Diablo 3 (maybe some other light gaming, but my PS3 and 360 pretty much take care of those needs).

The comparable new machines I was looking at would be the i5 dual core and the i5 quad core and wanted to know if that video card will make the difference in the long run (though any game I would play, I well know that I won't be getting amazing performance at the native resolution with either card, but I don't mind lowering that if need be). I seen the bang for your buck guide, but from I know, geekbench doesn't measure GPU factors from the comments in that thread. And if it would really matter for what I would want it to do with it.
 
I dont' have any figures just my opinion... but i'd say if you are not getting a student discount and a free ipod then go refurb hands down.

However if you are a student then get the i5 quad, because I feel that the limiting factor in the imac will always be that graphics card as far as games.

But even getting $150 from the ipod (ebay) and $100 student discount on that i5 the i7 still looks very appealing. I chose the i5 because I was to impatient to wait to get an i7 refurb... also the apple store is within a mile so now with my hard drive issues it is no big deal for me to return my imac... which I have already done twice...
 
No, not a student, so I would be spending $300 more for the quad i5. While I don't think $300 is worth 5850M over a 4850 but I want to see if I am on the right level of thinking.

Besides, all my friends would say "buy a PC," so it would be better to ask here (and if gaming was my biggest concern, I would have done that in the first place...but it is only a side concern).
 
Buy the best spec you can afford. As the systems are not upgradable except for ram and maybe hdd (if you don't mind taking it apart for the latter), any upfront cost will be offset by the longer time before you need a new system.
 
RuneLateralus said:
No, not a student, so I would be spending $300 more for the quad i5. While I don't think $300 is worth 5850M over a 4850 but I want to see if I am on the right level of thinking.

Besides, all my friends would say "buy a PC," so it would be better to ask here (and if gaming was my biggest concern, I would have done that in the first place...but it is only a side concern).
Click to expand...

Apple markets imacs like cars which is to say the difference between models is negligible and the cheapest model will get you to the same location. I agree with your thinking as all my recent Apple purchases are refurbs.

The only exception would be a user who has a very specific need which is tied to productivity and financial reward.
 
Both my wife and I qualify for the education discount. However, we still chose the 27" 17 refurb from late 2009. Neither of us need the Touch (she has one, I've got an iPhone), and personally, I didn't want to waste the the time/energy dealing with the rebate process and then trying to sell locally. The time wasted would have eaten up the savings.

At that price, it really is the best deal across the new/imac refurb line.
 
Waiting for the new models, i7 2.93 GHz and i5 2.8 GHz, to appear as refurbs seems like a good option as well. Hopefully, the two will be priced at $1899 and $1699 USD like the ones before.
 
I just bought the i7 refurb for $1799CDN. I also qualified for the education discount and iPod but as was mentioned scienide09, I don't think it's worth the hassle to process a rebate and deal with someone purchasing the iPod to get a minor speed bump and slightly better video card (although the heat reduction might be)? For the performance/price, I don't think there is any better deal available at the moment than the i7 refurb.
 
I have to agree with the i7 refurb price great deal. however tried 2 units both had screen issues. one yellow, one flickering. watch what you get test it out throughly, and if not satisfied apple is really good at returns so nothing is really lost. the new ones seem to have better screens though
 
I ended up buying the refurb. Did the screen test (which was on my mind a lot), and couldn't tell if there was an issue (and if there is one down the road, I believe that is what Apple Care will take care of).

Thing is really nice and they there was a 2 TB drive in there instead of a 1 TB. Got to call that some good luck.
 
My two cents

I was in the same position you were in. And I have a student discount but chose not to use it. (Didn't want a soon to be outdated Touch). I purchased the new i5 for 1850 shipped.

Based on your post, your purchased will be based on the GPU. The question you have to ask yourself is, will you have regrets? Once you purchase a refurbished i7 you cant upgrade the graphics cards(technically you CAN) but it would be very difficult. So your going to be stuck with 512mb until you decided to upgrade your iMac system. Or you can get the 1GB and have a more up to date system.
 
Beast10101 said:
I was in the same position you were in. And I have a student discount but chose not to use it. (Didn't want a soon to be outdated Touch). I purchased the new i5 for 1850 shipped.
Click to expand...

You could have sold got the touch for free and sold it for 150+ on craigslist...
 
Where I purchased, they sold an 2010 i5 for 1850(with tax)...Apple sells it for around 2163(with tax). Selling the ipod touch on craigslist I get credited...lets say $200(Retail). For a total of $1963. I still saved $100.

And save myself the headache of having people on craigslist change their mind minutes before theyre suppose to show up haha :D
 
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