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Buying a used Mac from OWC?
- Thread starter crowe-t
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While I haven't bought a Mac from OWC before, I know that practically everything they sell is extremely overpriced, sometimes even going hand-in-hand with Apple.
I bought a used 2012 top-spec quad-core Mini from them in 2016. Apple discontinued the quad Mini in 2014, so the 2012 was actually 50% faster than the top 2014 Mini and consequently hard to find at the time. Very pleased all-around, it was like new and has been flawless ever since. It certainly wasn't a "bargain", but it was faster and about $100 cheaper than a new 2014 Mini and it had a 90-day warranty (which was a big plus for me).
But like they say, "your mileage may vary".
But like they say, "your mileage may vary".
Perfect disaster. $1,700 for an A-1990 15". Unit arrived with scratches and bald spots on the gray ink. Warranty was two weeks, and when I discovered this problem, the warranty expired.
Then the unit stopped responding three weeks after their warranty ran out. Apple replaced the upper case under a recall, but left the touch ID non-operational. Then, keys began to fling off, and a class action law suit gave a second upper case replacement.
OWC said their warranty did not cover any repairs and I could send the unit in for a price. They did not advise me of the recall and the law suit.
Use craigslist to get your macs, and get the older ones. Upgrade the RAM, SSD, and the wifi. If able to, reprogram the EPROM that governs SSD speed to maximize throughput beyond what the factory permits.
Then the unit stopped responding three weeks after their warranty ran out. Apple replaced the upper case under a recall, but left the touch ID non-operational. Then, keys began to fling off, and a class action law suit gave a second upper case replacement.
OWC said their warranty did not cover any repairs and I could send the unit in for a price. They did not advise me of the recall and the law suit.
Use craigslist to get your macs, and get the older ones. Upgrade the RAM, SSD, and the wifi. If able to, reprogram the EPROM that governs SSD speed to maximize throughput beyond what the factory permits.
There is a hidden switch in the BIOS chip established to deliberately keep SSD speed way down.
Find and desolder with a hot air gun the BIOS Chip on the motherboard.
Use a BIOS flasher RT809F SOP8 adapter. Attach the BIOS chip.
Read firmware contents to find the two A7B5 entries.
download the 0.28.0 UEFITool.
Reverse engineer EFI image by replacing the BIOS chip's firmware with a modified - 3.0 GUID file. Replacing the A7B5 file changes chip speed. Replace the two A7B5 entries using the RT809F.
Write and refresh the BIOS chip. Resolder using sodler paste and a hot air gun.
Speed goes from roughly 1,362 MBPS to 2,800 MBPS.
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Thats beyond my technical skill but that would be pretty impressive results.
Maybe because the newer macs are of a poorer quality and perhaps they have soldered on RAM and SSDs that fail. Perhaps upgrading an A1278 from between 2012 and 2008 will yield a better laptop?
The newest Apple Silicon Macs are very good. Haven't had any issues yet it seems (apart from the obvious software compatibility challenges in the beginning). The 2016-2010 Intel MacBooks were a whole another story though.
You bought a known-defective Mac, mistake #1.
What exactly was this supposed to say?
Then that was Apple's fault and you should have taken it back? Where is OWC at fault here?
Apple has had an open service program on these for years, in place before the 2019 came out.
You still haven't established what that has to do with OWC.
Just spin in place three times while rubbing your head and say "Steve Jobs Steve Jobs Steve Jobs".
Disk controller chips are not 'double secret ultra throttled to punish the user'.
Lots of things!
They are still pretty fast if you get the i7 version, which is either a 3615QM or 3720QM. Both 4 core, 8 thread chips based on Ivy Bridge. Upgrade it to 16GB of RAM and add dual SSD's for either lots of storage or RAID0. Then, use OCLP to upgrade to Ventura. Performance will be good as the HD 4000 supports Metal.
Can do all modern simple tasks still.
what can "what" do?
so im gonna guess a Mac mini 2012
well everything, even on Catalina!
I using mine now watching Gotham on tv to a flatscreen
and sound through a JBL go speaker in my evening eaten place.
and typi'n on a MacBook Pro 2012- Mojave
this "old" stuff still works now!~)
I unfortunately have experience buying from OWC/Macsales.com and would emphatically NOT recommend that you buy a used Mac from them. I bought an M2 MacBook that was supposed to have a 1TB drive but only had a 250GB drive. That's a BIG price difference. Since I didn't catch their fraud as soon as I received it, they washed their hands of it and told me I could buy an external drive from them. I will not be buying ANYTHING from them ever again.
My issue isn't with Apple, it's with the crooks at OWC. While I don't always agree with how Apple does things--particularly with regard to the non-configurable RAM and storage on their devices--they are far more stable than any other computer I have ever used. And I've used a LOT of computers from different vendors over the years. Since I depend on my computer to make a living I need it to work, and I don't have time to rebuild a Windows box every so often (which I have had to do with every Windows computer I've owned, at least once a year). My old MacBook is 10 years old, and while it's a bit long in the tooth it still works just fine and hasn't required a rebuild even once. I still use it for some stuff. I do like Linux but the hardware and software support isn't where I need it to be yet, but it's getting there. Maybe once I move on from my current MacBook I'll evaluate putting Linux on a different type of notebook. I try to avoid using Windows as much as possible due to its instability, but for the few occasions I need it I can run it in a VM. I don't get religious about this stuff, a computer is just a tool to do a job, and sometimes good tools can be pricey. And all of them have their issues, no one has come up with the perfect technology yet.
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I’ve bought new and used from OWC for years and have been satisfied. Until… I sold a working iMac late 2013 that I bought used from OWC to a neighbor. Before selling it, I did a system restore to the newest compatible OS, Catalina. When I got to the setup screen it showed a screen that it was Remotely Managed by the University of Colorado at Boulder, and wanted my university login. I was able to bypass this by completely disconnecting from the Internet at reboot, but my neighbor is still getting this screen. You’d think a system restore would get rid of something like that. Weird because the Mac was working normally before I did the restore. OWC should have wiped it better before selling it. And Boulder should have disconnected it, too.
As a whole, 3rd party refurbishment is a gamble at best. Theres no real standards there, not much in the way of guarantees (part quality, repair quality, etc), no way to know if your unit just had a spit shine then price jacked up or had all sorts of things replaced with lord knows what, and in the case of certain parts from OWC like Storage/memory/Batteries, you learn that a lot are not super trustworthy when you go through thousands of them. I've used OWC parts extensively at all the service providers I've worked at and truthfully i wouldn't give them to my family, let alone an entire system that may or may not be using some of those parts. Their Battery and Memory-based products just are not good, and in the past have had some pretty serious and egregious amount of failures Better now, at least on storage/mem side, but also just get Samsung or Corsair or whatever and save the headache to begin with. They also truthfully charge too much relative to what else you can find elsewhere for parts and machines.
By far the best outcomes come from used market deals, after you do some basic due diligence to make sure unit isnt ****ed by iCloud lock or DEP or similar things. Finding a used M2 Air, or whatever other apple silicon mac you prefer, ideally with remaining AppleCare+ for example, will often be far better outcome finanially with lowest odds of 3rd party involvement, and AC+ has your back if things go south especially since its renewable in a lot of countries when it expires.
Really depends on what your interests and needs are. The 2012 quad Mini that I got from OWC in 2016 has been perfect. After four years of heavy use for things like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, it was retired as a file server and has run 24/7 like that since 2020.
Would I buy a used laptop from them? No. But I wouldn't buy a used laptop from anyone. OWC sells used 2014 Mini's for as low as $69, 2012 quad Mini's for $99, 2018 Mini's as low as $395. At those prices, I wouldn't expect much more than a "spit shine" and don't know how high they could have "jacked up" the price on something that inexpensive. For me, the main attraction would be the 14 day return period and 90 day limited warranty which is something you wouldn't get from a private seller.
No plans to buy any used computers at all these days, but the two old Mini's I use as servers are getting old and OWC is certainly an option I'd consider when they need replacement. My first choice is usually Apple's own refurb store, since you get the same warranty as new, my experience has always been great with these. But you're only going to find recent models there and the discount is usually only about 15% vs new.
Would I buy a used laptop from them? No. But I wouldn't buy a used laptop from anyone. OWC sells used 2014 Mini's for as low as $69, 2012 quad Mini's for $99, 2018 Mini's as low as $395. At those prices, I wouldn't expect much more than a "spit shine" and don't know how high they could have "jacked up" the price on something that inexpensive. For me, the main attraction would be the 14 day return period and 90 day limited warranty which is something you wouldn't get from a private seller.
No plans to buy any used computers at all these days, but the two old Mini's I use as servers are getting old and OWC is certainly an option I'd consider when they need replacement. My first choice is usually Apple's own refurb store, since you get the same warranty as new, my experience has always been great with these. But you're only going to find recent models there and the discount is usually only about 15% vs new.