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The day I said "screw it"

G

Gregintosh

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 29, 2008
1,929
558
Chicago
I've been waiting for the iMac refresh for a while but today I said "screw it" and broke down and bought.

For me, I bought a 27" i5 Refurb for $1699. For the wife I got a base model 21.5" for $999 (also refurb).

I figured, I am saving $500 over buying the machines new this way ($550 with tax). By the time the refresh comes out (could be a few months) AND refurbs become available of the new refresh it may be 4-6 months and I am definitely not waiting that long, especially for a minor spec bump.

I sprung for next day shipping and Fedex claims it will be here tomorrow by 3 PM. Hopefully I won't have any of the issues that others had with these models cause I'd hate to play online tag (this was a reason I really was leaning toward buying in a store, but I guess $500 savings is significant enough for me to deal with a few hassles in the unlikely event mine come defective).

I will be selling my 2007 Aluminum iMac on Craigslist, hopefully to recoup some of the cost (I figure I could get at least $700-$750 for it) and from then on out I will probably save myself at least a few hours a day of checking up on the latest rumors hoping that the refresh is finally here. I will probably look again to upgrade around 2012 or 2013.

FEELS GREAT!!! I can't wait to spend tomorrow evening setting both of 'em up.
 
Congrats, and also your chances of getting a bad iMac is reduced because it is a refurb and should have checked it before putting it back up to sell. I did use the word "should."
 
Thanks! Yeah, I hope you are right. Maybe I will get some freebies with it too.

I am just happy the wait is over. I just wish I could get all the time back researching whether to buy or not to buy! For all the fence sitters out there, if you are going to buy new I guess I would still recommend waiting. But if you are planning to buy refurbs, just get it now.
 
Gregintosh said:
I've been waiting for the iMac refresh for a while but today I said "screw it" and broke down and bought.

For me, I bought a 27" i5 Refurb for $1699. For the wife I got a base model 21.5" for $999 (also refurb).

I figured, I am saving $500 over buying the machines new this way ($550 with tax). By the time the refresh comes out (could be a few months) AND refurbs become available of the new refresh it may be 4-6 months and I am definitely not waiting that long, especially for a minor spec bump.

I sprung for next day shipping and Fedex claims it will be here tomorrow by 3 PM. Hopefully I won't have any of the issues that others had with these models cause I'd hate to play online tag (this was a reason I really was leaning toward buying in a store, but I guess $500 savings is significant enough for me to deal with a few hassles in the unlikely event mine come defective).

I will be selling my 2007 Aluminum iMac on Craigslist, hopefully to recoup some of the cost (I figure I could get at least $700-$750 for it) and from then on out I will probably save myself at least a few hours a day of checking up on the latest rumors hoping that the refresh is finally here. I will probably look again to upgrade around 2012 or 2013.

FEELS GREAT!!! I can't wait to spend tomorrow evening setting both of 'em up.
Click to expand...

Congrads Great decision on the refurb!!!.I feel like the Apple bad handle on the box police.
I suggest you try to be home and keep an eye out for the Fedex truck and make SURE they don't pick the box up by the handle..(they dropped mine in front of me when it broke..I FREAKED!)..just a friendly heads up.

Even though it didn't seem to be damaged it left a bad taste in my mouth for Apples lack of details and care for their customers on what should've been a given
Enjoy your new machine

BP
 
I purchased a refurbed i7 and couldn't be happier. The machine is flawless!! I have no regrets going the refurbished route. Saved me $350 and I won't be as bummed if they do release new models in the next month or so. You're going to LOVE your iMacs!!! I keep gushing to my wife how much I love this machine... I think she's getting sick of it. :)
 
Awesome!! I hope my experience is as good too. If everything checks out, I will get rid of my old iMac later this week and order some more RAM.

Yeah, the fact that we got some significant money off for going refurbished really helps take the blow out of imminent updates. My thinking on that is, sure, they could be updated in a couple of weeks, but lets say the update is a speed bump with the entry level 27" getting the i5. In such a case, I pretty much got the same machine for the same money. Total wash.

I can't imagine wanting any new features. The current crop already have SD-readers which is handy. I don't have any USB 3 devices, and I have a perfectly good home theater on which to watch my Blu-rays (the way they were meant to be seen).

The ONLY downfall I see with this current crop is that the video cards are a bit dated, but the truth is I haven't gamed much in the last 3 years since switching to Mac and with my busy schedule I probably won't be gaming much the next 3 years either.
 
isuryan83 said:
I purchased a refurbed i7 and couldn't be happier. The machine is flawless!! I have no regrets going the refurbished route. Saved me $350 and I won't be as bummed if they do release new models in the next month or so. You're going to LOVE your iMacs!!! I keep gushing to my wife how much I love this machine... I think she's getting sick of it. :)
Click to expand...

Maybe you should add "But I love you too, Honey!"
But don't suggest updating her to Snow Leopard :D
 
yea... screw it .. I think I also had lost my patient here... I will just go for the basic 21.5 iMac...
 
I would just like to add a me too. I downgraded from a Mac Pro to the i7 iMac refurb. It seems perfect. Fast, great screen, cool and quiet. I also like the better sound and built-in sd card reader.
 
The Fedex man just dropped off my new babies!!! They both seem to be working very well so far. I'll be putting 'em through their paces in the coming days, but in the mean time I checked the screen, there is one semi-stuck pixel but it is not bothering me as its in the lower right corner.

The pixels are so small on the 27" screen that you really have to look for it anyway. No yellowing issue, I don't think. Everything so far looks good to me. I will have to check my wife's 21.5" in a bit as well.

I did also notice small piece of dust stuck in the glass (partly sticking out), I wonder if I can use tweezers to get it out. Other than that I think I got a pretty decent unit!
 
Quick Shipping

Gregintosh said:
The Fedex man just dropped off my new babies!!! They both seem to be working very well so far. I'll be putting 'em through their paces in the coming days, but in the mean time I checked the screen, there is one semi-stuck pixel but it is not bothering me as its in the lower right corner.

The pixels are so small on the 27" screen that you really have to look for it anyway. No yellowing issue, I don't think. Everything so far looks good to me. I will have to check my wife's 21.5" in a bit as well.

I did also notice small piece of dust stuck in the glass (partly sticking out), I wonder if I can use tweezers to get it out. Other than that I think I got a pretty decent unit!
Click to expand...

Congrats. So you got this thing overnight, then? Did you order yesterday? If so, that is quick.
 
Thanks! Yep, I ordered yesterday around 1 PM or so and I chose overnight delivery. By 7 PM when I checked my e-mail it said it was shipped. That was very quick indeed. It shipped from California.

The 27" iMac said it ships within 24 hours on the refurb store while the 21.5" said 3-5 days, yet they both shipped the same day and I got them at the same time.

Apple definitely has their logistics well put together. :D

Now I will spend the rest of the day setting 'em both up.
 
I am writing this on my newly arrived refurb i5.

I gave my new baby a pretty comprehensive look-over when I received it (I've never had a refurb before). Honesly, aside from a smudge on the keyboard (which came off), it's absolutely perfect.

I hope you enjoy yours as much as I'm loving mine. It's really difficult to explain how good this screen is, and what this think looks like when you get it home.''

:cool:
 
Yep! I am enjoying it immensley. I am a freak for screen brightness, but after using it on full blast for a while I started getting a headache. Had to turn it down to about 70% (which is about the same brightness if not slightly brighter than my 2007 iMac on FULL).

Also, I am encoding a DVD in iDVD, and rather than taking 5-6 hours as is the usual case the estimate here is 2 hours. That's like 3x faster. Looks like burning DVDs is no longer going to be an "overnight task" for me!

And the best part? I am able to use my computer fully with no lag while it is doing it!!! I have already installed a few more programs and surfed the net a bit, and I don't even feel like I have anything running in the background.

That is quite amazing to me because on my 2007 Aluminum iMac (2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, ATI HD 2600 256MB), while a DVD was encoded in iDVD the rest of the computer would lag quite a bit making even internet surfing painful, much less software installations.

I AM SO GLAD I GOT THIS AND NOT PUT MYSELF THROUGH 4-6 MORE MONTHS OF TORTURE!!!
 
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