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UK store has dropped 'refurb' prices - Decision time!

P

pixel-vs-pencil

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
60
0
London
I just noticed today that the prices for the i5 and i7 previous generation quad core machines have dropped substantially on the UK store.

Imac i5 quad is now £1269 (£365 off - 22% discount)
Imac i7 quad is now £1399

I'm guessing most are not refurbs, they're just selling through old stock at more of a discount.

I'm not sure whether I should buy the new quad iMac i5 for £1451.13 (higher education discount) or buy the new quad iMac i7 for £1592.13 (higher ed discount) + printer rebate £30 + ipod touch £30 + student applecare £45

= 1546.13 for imac i5 combo after rebate
= 1687.13 for imac i7 combo after rebate

My iPod touch broke this weekend, so due to the cheaper student Applecare and needing the iPod Touch, I'm not going down the refurb route I don't think. But I can't make a decision between the new quad i5 or i7!

My usage is Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Flash, Final Cut Pro, internet, Microsoft Office. I currently have an iMac quad i5 that arrived on Monday, which I will return & I'm in the UK there's no fee for this. But now that the update has arrived I'm not sure if I should push the boat out and get the i7 for an extra £141. Is it worth it for hyperthreading? Can the programmes I listed even utilise hyperthreading?

I guess the other option is phoning Apple and seeing if they will do a price match on the i5 refurb, due to the fact I ordered so close to the update. I need to ring them anyway.. This could be a good option, though the current model has one stuck/dead pixel and the box had no seal / the security sticker on the screen cover was torn so I'm already suspicious they fobbed me off with a refurb and the April build date adds to this.

What do you guys think?

Any advice would be very helpful, thanks in advance.
 
You get the printer, iTouch and AppleCare if you buy the new one so definitely get it. The i7 should be worth it as your usage seem pretty heavy, at least AE will benefit from HT
 
pixel-vs-pencil said:
I just noticed today that the prices for the i5 and i7 previous generation quad core machines have dropped substantially on the UK store.

Imac i5 quad is now £1269 (£365 off - 22% discount)
Imac i7 quad is now £1399
Click to expand...

Those prices seem brilliant.

What are the actual difference between these refurbs and the new iMacs?
What would I be losing out on if I bought a refurb? I was planning on getting the 21.5" i5 model of the new iMac.
 
Hellhammer said:
You get the printer, iTouch and AppleCare if you buy the new one so definitely get it. The i7 should be worth it as your usage seem pretty heavy, at least AE will benefit from HT
Click to expand...

Thank you, I was hoping you would see this and reply! :eek:
Good advice as always - if it helps in AE then perhaps that extra £141 is worth it.

nataliamck said:
Those prices seem brilliant.

What are the actual difference between these refurbs and the new iMacs?
What would I be losing out on if I bought a refurb? I was planning on getting the 21.5" i5 model of the new iMac.
Click to expand...

Here's a link to the refurb store:
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac

From what people say, refurbs are great value. Apparently they come in a brown box but I've heard that's pretty much the only difference, most people report here that they are as new. All the refurb macs go through lots of testing before they are resold. If you're in the UK you can try it out for 14 days and get your money back if you don't think it's up to scratch. It comes with exactly the same warranty as a new one, and you can get the extended Applecare to push the warranty to 3 years. You might be lucky and get a brand new one because they're probably using the refurb store to sell through old stock, not guaranteed though.. it's just my guess! If I was you I'd get the 27" i5 refurb, the only thing it doesn't have is hyperthreading, but the quad cores would be very powerful anyway. Plus it's cheaper than the 21.5" i5 dual core and has a massive screen. However, I'm not a techie so you should probably take advice from someone who knows more than me!
 
Are refurbs damaged and not mint condition?

Hellhammer said:
You get the printer, iTouch and AppleCare if you buy the new one so definitely get it. The i7 should be worth it as your usage seem pretty heavy, at least AE will benefit from HT
Click to expand...

I can't see this offer on the UK site?
 
Are you sure you can't get any of the rebates and cheaper Applecare with a refurb?
 
Is this okay for me?

Yeah i may have to pull the plug on the i5 Quad core with these great prices and they are bang on with my budget and my needs. I will use this for School work, iLife i will use iMovie for video editing iWeb to create a website for Youtube channel just basic website really. Just editing using footage from my flip video ultra HD. Do you think this will be okay for me. As for encoding i will only rip DVDs a couple of times a month for my ipod touch so not really that much. I will NOT be doing gaming as i have my Xbox 360 for this i have never been fussed on PC gaming just isnt for me i mean controls ect. I would like to know your opinion i put it here instead of having another thread.Many thanks. Just to add my current computer has a Geekbench of 762 so im guessing this will be an upgrade and how does this model refurb compare to the new i5 im guessing not that much.
 
nlr said:
Are refurbs damaged and not mint condition?

I can't see this offer on the UK site?
Click to expand...

cmellis said:
Are you sure you can't get any of the rebates and cheaper Applecare with a refurb?
Click to expand...

The iPod and printer offer is for students - you can't get further student discount on refurbs so I don't think they can apply the rebate offer.
Will double check when I call them later.

Oh, and @nlr, I've never bought a refurb so I can't be sure, but the majority of people on this forum seem to rate them. They are either repaired or 14-day return computers, but because of the update I think it's quite likely that a lot of them may be brand new stock they're trying to shift in the wake of the refresh.
 
pixel-vs-pencil said:
The iPod and printer offer is for students - you can't get further student discount on refurbs so I don't think they can apply the rebate offer.
Click to expand...
But you're still a student. It shouldn't matter if you're not getting the further discount because it's a refurb.
 
pixel-vs-pencil said:
From what people say, refurbs are great value. Apparently they come in a brown box but I've heard that's pretty much the only difference, most people report here that they are as new. All the refurb macs go through lots of testing before they are resold. If you're in the UK you can try it out for 14 days and get your money back if you don't think it's up to scratch. It comes with exactly the same warranty as a new one, and you can get the extended Applecare to push the warranty to 3 years. You might be lucky and get a brand new one because they're probably using the refurb store to sell through old stock, not guaranteed though.. it's just my guess! If I was you I'd get the 27" i5 refurb, the only thing it doesn't have is hyperthreading, but the quad cores would be very powerful anyway. Plus it's cheaper than the 21.5" i5 dual core and has a massive screen. However, I'm not a techie so you should probably take advice from someone who knows more than me!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I was looking at the 27" i7 refurb actually... it's not that much more expensive and I figured since I'm saving so much anyway.

Do you think it's worth it?
 
Refurbs lowered in the US Store too!

Thanks for the update. They dropped the 2009 i5 iMac to $1530 in the US Store so I went ahead and finally made my purchase. While I would have liked having the latest model the $500 extra to me wasn't really worth it I don't think.

I just hope now all hardware issues are okay and that down the line I can add a 2nd SSD drive like the current models can (assuming a 3rd party releases a bracket to do so).
 
Foxglove9 said:
Thanks for the update. They dropped the 2009 i5 iMac to $1530 in the US Store so I went ahead and finally made my purchase. While I would have liked having the latest model the $500 extra to me wasn't really worth it I don't think.

I just hope now all hardware issues are okay and that down the line I can add a 2nd SSD drive like the current models can (assuming a 3rd party releases a bracket to do so).
Click to expand...

Let me get this straight.. $1530.. I just converted it on xe.com and that's only £977.59. That's an incredible deal! I can't believe how much they overprice Apple products in the UK.
 
pixel-vs-pencil said:
Let me get this straight.. $1530.. I just converted it on xe.com and that's only £977.59. That's an incredible deal! I can't believe how much they overprice Apple products in the UK.
Click to expand...

U.S prices dont include tax on thier price tags like in UK. But we still pay a bit more than the americans.
 
Foxglove9 could i please ask you what you will be using this iMac for as i am interested in the same model and would wonder whether based on what you will use it for will be fine for me you can read my other post and i would count myself as a base user.Do you think that model will be fine for me.
 
I use it for everything. But I also use Logic Express when I dabble with music, lots of photoshop and design software, and some iMovie projects (just a hobby).

I think the i5 should handle HD iMovie/final cut express projects (my macbook cannot), and also more stable dealing with Logic as well.

My design apps worked okay on the macbook so I won't notice a huge speed increase. Or will I? lol

Oh it was about $1650 with tax.
 
Thanks Foxglove!! I think this iMac will be great for me looking at my current computer it should be alot faster looking at the Geekbench score i got on my current machine around the 700 mark and the i5 has around 7000 i believe so it should be able to handle my tasks and i also have been told before that even the older imacs can easily handle iMovie i am only using standard definition at the moment however im sure it will handle the new Flip`s HD after all i have used the core 2 duo imacs at the apple store with iMovie and i thought it ran pretty fast i dont know whether they use HD video their though.

Just to add i am going on holiday on Tuesday and if i ordered one today would it likely come before then? Would these iMacs still be available in the refurb store in about a months time when i return home.
 
Foxglove9 said:
Oh it was about $1650 with tax.
Click to expand...

That's a great deal - still about £200 less than the UK refurb i5 quad.
Given the low prices, do you think it's worth buying new? Considering the i5 refurb is now £1269, it is now £380 less than the refresh. Is £380 worth the difference for the refreshed version I wonder?
 
pixel-vs-pencil said:
That's a great deal - still about £200 less than the UK refurb i5 quad.
Given the low prices, do you think it's worth buying new? Considering the i5 refurb is now £1269, it is now £380 less than the refresh. Is £380 worth the difference for the refreshed version I wonder?
Click to expand...

I bought the new i5 but am having buyers remorse after the refurb price drops. Keep in mind the new i5 has faster ram, faster graphics and an sdxc slot.

Still can't decide whether our not to return the i5 and get the i7
 
dwd3885 said:
I bought the new i5 but am having buyers remorse after the refurb price drops. Keep in mind the new i5 has faster ram, faster graphics and an sdxc slot.

Still can't decide whether our not to return the i5 and get the i7
Click to expand...

Hmm, it's always nice to have brand new.. but I wonder if £380 is really worth it. Would you get the i7 new or refurb?
 
pixel-vs-pencil said:
Hmm, it's always nice to have brand new.. but I wonder if £380 is really worth it. Would you get the i7 new or refurb?
Click to expand...

i wouldn't get the i7 new because it's more expensive. but with the new i5 or refurb i7, i'm not sure. virtually the same price (even if I can't get the restocking fee waived). So I think the i7's hyperthreading might outweigh the gains in ram and graphics speed bumps.
 
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