Are Apple Refurbs a Good Idea?

[Loomish]

Hey everyone!

I am a very poor grad student in the market for a laptop. I would like to have one before I start the new semester, but the holidays are going to leave me pretty broke.

Anyways, I found refurbished ibooks for only $250 on the Apple website! Is this too good to be true? Does anyone think I should/should not go for it? (I would definitely get the AppleCare plan.) Any advice is very appreciated!!! Thanks!

Heather

 

[NYmacAttack]

Are you sure its apple website. Ive never seen any for $250

 

[Loomish]

Are you sure its apple website. Ive never seen any for $250

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...yig/0.0.19.1.0.8.63.0.0.0.0.0.0.3.1.1.0?60,98

I hope I'm not halucinating

Heather

 

[NYmacAttack]

Are you sure your not looking at the price of applecare which is $249

 

[grapes911]

I think you are looking at just the protection plan, not an actual laptop..

 

[Jestered]

That is the cost for AppleCare not the computer.

To answer the question about Apple's refurbs.... I would only buy a refurb from Apple and not from anyone else. What every other place calls a refurb is at best used and most are used and abused. Apple refurbs are the closest thing to a new computer you are going to get. The case looks absolutely brand new and has been tested. If someone told you it was a new computer, you would have no reason to think it wasn't. Ontop of that, Apple refurbs come with the same one year warranty as the new computers and is still eligible for AppleCare. No one does that.

 

[Loomish]

Sorry, my bad, I figured it out. I'm exhausted from finals. Thanks for your help.

 

[Loomish]

So how do you purchase Apple refurbs then? How much do ibooks usually run?

 

[Eidorian]

So how do you purchase Apple refurbs then? How much do ibooks usually run?

You have to buy it off of the Apple Store Online. There's a link in the right column to the refurb store. The prices for an iBook run from $799-1199.

 

[NYmacAttack]

So how do you purchase Apple refurbs then? How much do ibooks usually run?

Apple updates their inventory often, they just dont happen to have any referbs today. I think ive seen them as low a $699 for a pretty basic configured 12"

 

[generik]

I think you are looking at just the protection plan, not an actual laptop..

Lol, it is a bit like mistaking the price of a service plan on a Mercedes priced at $20K for the price of the mercedes itself

 

[danny_w]

I certainly hope Apple refurbs are a good idea, because I just bought an iMac 17" G5 (2nd revision) that should be here this week. We needed an extra Mac for when my son is home from college and leaves his at the dorm 3000 miles away. And the bonus is that we get an extra Mac around the house when he is gone! Maybe I can finally convince my wife to ditch Win98.

 

[Gokhan]

i

i brought a refurb pb a month ago soooooo happy refurbs are very good normally mine never had a mark on it

 

[Jay42]

I, too, saved $300 bucks on my refurb PowerBook. If you don't mind not getting a fancy box and installing the latest operating system yourself (a piece of cake since there's nothing to back up), then its a great deal! Aside from the box, I could not tell that my PowerBook was refurbished.

 

[generik]

Anyway does anyone know where all those returns for the rev-E "lines" PB go to?

 

[hasselhoff]

I just bought a 12" PB refurb for my wife from apple. The first one I received was a little beaten up, but apple quickly replaced it. The replacement was perfect... except for the pubic hair that was sticking out of the keyboard when I unpacked it.

 

[Dandaman]

i got a refurb pb a few months ago. besides a small part of the case being distorted (which probably could have been replaced by apple, but i didn't want to hassle with it) the powerbook works great. definitely worth saving that extra dough.

daniel

 

[Sunrunner]

Hey everyone!

I am a very poor grad student in the market for a laptop. I would like to have one before I start the new semester, but the holidays are going to leave me pretty broke.

Anyways, I found refurbished ibooks for only $250 on the Apple website! Is this too good to be true? Does anyone think I should/should not go for it? (I would definitely get the AppleCare plan.) Any advice is very appreciated!!! Thanks!

Heather

Refurbished Apple products are generally a good buy, as the general good reliability and quality of Apple computers makes the proposition relatively safe. The $250 laptop thing is a few levels below "never" though.