Refurbished MacBooks

[cheesyapple]

Hi, sorry some of these questions may seem obvious to you pros, anyway

I am thinking of buying a refurbished macbook, when it is refurbished, what sort of things have happened to it and is it likely to have the same life as a brand new one?

Also does refurbished item have the standard 1yr warranty and 90day phone with the option of apple care?

cheers

 

[Sesshi]

Refurbished can mean anything. It can range from a straight "I don't want it after all" return to a persistent lemon which was finally exchanged for a customer. It's basically been recycled through the testing, repair and packaging stages.

Cosmetically it should be pretty much as new although frequently not actually as new, and yes, it'll come with a standard warranty.

Technically speaking, lemons aside it should have more or less the same practical life as a brand new laptop, but generally speaking modern laptop computers are very production optimised - that can mean repairs / replacements to certain components after production can result in a less reliable notebook unless it goes through a complete remanufacturing process.

 

[GlynJones]

The one I got was well used, quite a few scratches and a well worn trackpad.

I ended up sending it back and getting a new one.

It's the luck of the draw if you get a good one cosmetically or not.

 

[cheesyapple]

Thanks Glyn if anyone else has had any experiences please post

 

[ichii]

I got a refurbished macbook, it looked brand new except it was in a brown box instead of the apple box.

 

[ultimateceej]

I have a friend who bought a refurbished CD Blackbook last December. His main problem with it was that the trackpad button was not very responsive. But more recently, a pixel got stuck in the bottom left part of the screen. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it being refurbished or not though.

 

[taff007]

From my personal experience I can highly recommend a refurb. My macbook looked and 'smelt' new straight out of the box, had no scratches and had a perfect screen. The only problem was that the battery in the (unpackaged) remote had run out, but it only cost a couple of pounds to replace. They come with a one year warranty, and I've just bought applecare to extend this to three years, so if anything does go wrong I'll be covered.

 

[ivi7]

My friend bought a refurb Macbook. Just like new apart from the box it came in. I would recommend it .

 

[lord patton]

the opinion on these boards is always strongly in favor of refurbished Macs. Of course, there are exceptions, but given that forums like these draw more complaints than good reports, I'd say the record is pretty clear. Apple refurbs are good stuff.

I've bought two refurb MacBooks, and both came with more RAM than had been specified.

 

[cheesyapple]

thanks happy to say next mac will be a refurb, also is there anything stopping you from ordering a refurbished and if its in bad condition, just send it back and repeat until satisfied with the one recieved and can a refurbished mac be ordered from an apple store?

 

[GlynJones]

thanks happy to say next mac will be a refurb, also is there anything stopping you from ordering a refurbished and if its in bad condition, just send it back and repeat until satisfied with the one recieved and can a refurbished mac be ordered from an apple store?

I was not happy about it so sent it back for a full refund. Bought a new one instead.