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Refurb or New??
- Thread starter Xander562
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Not a refurb owner myself, but lots of people on here will tell you they're great. They've been gone over with a fine-toothed comb. They can sometimes be better than new ones because they've got not only the initial factory quality control but also a second one after the refurb process. They carry a full warranty and are eligible for AppleCare, so no worries there.
Some people will note that refurbs sometimes come in a plain brown box rather than the fancy-shmancy Apple box...that bothers some people.
Some people will note that refurbs sometimes come in a plain brown box rather than the fancy-shmancy Apple box...that bothers some people.
If it's a desktop, refurb probably is a good deal. Refurb laptops, on the other hand, are not - at least not in my experience. The screens are always bent or keys pop off and the trackpad sticks etc.
I wish the UK referb store was anything like the US's, in general you save 30% on a model that has a full warrenty and is still eligible for applecare.
I recently picked up a refurb Powerbook and I couldn't be happier. I honestly thought I could never afford a Powerbook but this made it possible. Also, when I ordered it my receipt said 60 GB hard-drive, I received one with 80 
My Powerbook arrived in perfect condition, no scratches or dents, no keys popping. Perfect. I examined it with a fine tooth comb. It even had that "new Mac" smell.
My Powerbook arrived in perfect condition, no scratches or dents, no keys popping. Perfect. I examined it with a fine tooth comb. It even had that "new Mac" smell.
It can go either way, i have heardf of people getting great machines like new, i have heard of people getting machines that acted like they were never looked at or fixed. Luck of the draw but when dealing with LCDs i would be worried about the dreaded dead pixels. I think its better to walk into a store tell em you want one and let them fire it up for you.Xander562 said:
i personally have not purchaseed a refurb, but i am looking into an older ibook or imac. But after reading other peoples responses on other sites and this one, it seems like usually you either get a great machine for a great price, or you are getting basically a "lemon". With the new 20" iMacs, i would be wary, because there have been a lot of people experiencing issues with the airport extreme such as mind numbingly slow downloads that oscillate in ther ping rates. As a result, they find the problem and just take it back for an exchange at the apple store. Many of the "geniuses" at the store dont know how to fix this problem, or even the source of it, so the machine might look beautiful but have a rediculously slow internet connection rendering it sometimes unusable. the ethernet is not affected by this since it is with the airport card though, so if it is a primary desktop, you should be ok.
I have a refurbished Power Mac at home. Love it. Works great. You'll also hear stories about unadvertised spec bumps, like the additional 512MB of RAM I got, and the bigger hard drive that came with the machine as well. They have to advertise the lowest common denominator, but they can, and do, ship higher spec'd machines on occasion.
The only bad part about my machine? I was one of those who got the brown box.
The only bad part about my machine? I was one of those who got the brown box.