anyone recently buy a 27" iMac i7 refurb?

[ThirteenXIII]

I'm looking at picking up the refurbed machine, as I could get the Back2School promo but would rather save the extra bucks to snag the Refurb model.

at any rate, what is experience with these as refurbs as they have gotten quite a bit of a uneasy reputation? you completely satisfied with it?


I have picked up refurbed macbooks & macbook pros, ipod touch, nanos, etc and they were all flawless but never had as many acknowledged issues as the iMac in my finding.


I'm going to say theyre alright to pick up refurbed, but thought I'd get an opinion from those who first hand got them.



also, are the refurbs harder to resell say a year or two down the road when perhaps wants to upgraded to the next model?

 

[reberto]

I'll have had my refurb 27' i7 iMac for 2 weeks tomorrow, and it's been perfect. No loud hard drive (Seagate ST31000528ASQ), no fans randomly going to full blast, no yellowing of the screen, everything is flawless. My only complaint is that when I want to boot into Windows 7 is the it hangs at the grey screen before the Apple logo for a longggggg time (~1-2 minutes).

 

[Archmagination]

Just bought one.. I will tell you saturday when it is delivered how it is going.

Pulled the trigger because I thought the i7 wont be very upgradeable for the next year or so. The only thing they could realistically upgrade(besides blueray and I am not interested in that) is the graphics card to the 5xxxx series.

Unfortunately for Apple there is only really two options in the 5xxxx series that are better than the current card and that can fit within the power/thermal envelope of an imac. Both of the options are a lot more expensive than the 4850 and quite simply I don't thing Apple will put them in the imac.. though they may make one of them a premium upgrade of like $300.

The only real reason to want a 5xxxx card is for the Direct11 support.. something which would be nice to have, but I a least wont need for another year or so.

 

[JBD007]

I have had my i7 27" model since this last Saturday, and so far i could not be happier with my purchase.

This is my very first mac and im glad i made the cross over.

 

[Stonefly]

My only complaint is that when I want to boot into Windows 7 is the it hangs at the grey screen before the Apple logo for a longggggg time (~1-2 minutes).

Have you tried a virtual machine? I am trying it out now with vista and it works really well. You can do a install with a dvd disk (is what I did) or run your bootcamp installation with it. Here is a link to the free trial and all the info.

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

 

[reberto]

Have you tried a virtual machine? I am trying it out now with vista and it works really well. You can do a install with a dvd disk (is what I did) or run your bootcamp installation with it. Here is a link to the free trial and all the info.

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

Virtual Machines are horrible for gaming. I've tried everything and nothing is even close to running actual Windows.

 

[cryer]

I'll have had my refurb 27' i7 iMac for 2 weeks tomorrow, and it's been perfect. No loud hard drive (Seagate ST31000528ASQ), no fans randomly going to full blast, no yellowing of the screen, everything is flawless. My only complaint is that when I want to boot into Windows 7 is the it hangs at the grey screen before the Apple logo for a longggggg time (~1-2 minutes).

Did you check for any dead pixels? I've got two.

Also, can you hear your fan if you put your ear to the Apple logo below the screen while you're only using Safari with some windows/tabs open and Hulu playing in another?

 

[reberto]

Did you check for any dead pixels? I've got two.

Also, can you hear your fan if you put your ear to the Apple logo below the screen while you're only using Safari with some windows/tabs open and Hulu playing in another?

That is the first thing I did, my monitor is flawless.

And yes, I can hear it if I stick my ear right up next to it. Hulu uses Flash, which uses a good amount of CPU power so then fan kinda has to kick on faster. It's a powerful computer in a small case, the fans are gonna make some noise whenever you do something that requires the CPU or GPU

 

[cryer]

That is the first thing I did, my monitor is flawless.

And yes, I can hear it if I stick my ear right up next to it. Hulu uses Flash, which uses a good amount of CPU power so then fan kinda has to kick on faster. It's a powerful computer in a small case, the fans are gonna make some noise whenever you do something that requires the CPU or GPU

What if it was all a bunch of Safari windows without Hulu? Do you still hear anything if you put your ear up to it?

Have you heard any sort of hungry stomach grumbling sound from the HD (even if it was slight)?

Also, let's say you found two dead pixels but otherwise your machine is fine. Would you do a replacement or keep it? They are located on the screen here in this pic: http://imgur.com/659NV.jpg

 

[reberto]

What if it was all a bunch of Safari windows without Hulu? Do you still hear anything if you put your ear up to it?

Have you heard any sort of hungry stomach grumbling sound from the HD (even if it was slight)?

Also, let's say you found two dead pixels but otherwise your machine is fine. Would you do a replacement or keep it? They are located on the screen here in this pic: http://imgur.com/659NV.jpg

I put my ear right up to it and yes I could hear my fans, but that's because my ear was right up to it. You'll hear it no matter what, it's a computer

Not once. Only my external makes noises.

If I did, I'd take it in to get fixed. This computer was too expensive to have any flaws (even though I got it cheaper than usual. Yay refurbs!)

 

[cryer]

I put my ear right up to it and yes I could hear my fans, but that's because my ear was right up to it. You'll hear it no matter what, it's a computer

Not once. Only my external makes noises.

If I did, I'd take it in to get fixed. This computer was too expensive to have any flaws (even though I got it cheaper than usual. Yay refurbs!)

I see... I also bought refurb and i have a grumbling iMac with two dead pixels and a very slight yellow at bottom left that i can live with. You don't even have a slight discoloration anywhere? Did you try the grey bar test?

If yours truly is perfect, then maybe i should go through with that replacement for an entirely different refurb. I could get a perfect one too if you did.

Also, from all the noisy fan talk on the forum, i assumed the iMac was supposed to be 100% dead silent. Thats why i asked about the fan sound. I guess they aren't supposed to be?

Ps. I heard all the 1tb drives make some noise but the 2tb don't. Which do you have?

 

[reberto]

Also, from all the noisy fan talk on the forum, i assumed the iMac was supposed to be 100% dead silent. Thats why i asked about the fan sound. I guess they aren't supposed to be?

Ps. I heard all the 1tb drives make some noise but the 2tb don't. Which do you have?

It's a computer, it's gonna make SOME noise, but the iMac can not be 100% dead silent. It has 3 fans, an i7 860, an HD4850m, all living in the same super thin case with the ODD, HDD, and PSU, it's gonna produce some heat and there for some minor fan noise at least.

Mine has the 1TB, it's silent. Not once has it ever made a single noise.

 

[int3rnal]

My refurb came in a couple of days ago and I had it all but 2 hours before shipping it back. It had dust under the glass and the yellow tinge (obviously not exclusive to refurbs). So I think i'm just going to buy new so I can see it before I take it home. I'll make up the extra cost by taking advantage of the b2school deal and selling the ipod.

 

[cryer]

It's a computer, it's gonna make SOME noise, but the iMac can not be 100% dead silent. It has 3 fans, an i7 860, an HD4850m, all living in the same super thin case with the ODD, HDD, and PSU, it's gonna produce some heat and there for some minor fan noise at least.

Mine has the 1TB, it's silent. Not once has it ever made a single noise.

So as I understand it - constant small fan sound is normal but any noise from the hdd (stomach grumbling) is not? According to this guy, it's normal: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/9875682/

Do you have istat pro? What are your 3 fan speeds (optical, hdd, cpu) when just using Safari with some windows open and Hulu playing?

 

[Archmagination]

I have gotten a perfect i7. Ran the yellow test.. perfect. Ran the grey bar test... perfect. No loud sound from hard drive.. almost no backlight bleed(very slight on the bottom right corner.)