Would you recommend buying a Refurbished Air?

[macdent]

For those of you that now have your new Air in hand(!) would you recommend buying a refurbished from Apple? Have a PB G4 for years and love it - not a gamer - mostly web, email, iphoto, music library, etc. Can get SSD for around 1800.00 - what do you think???
Thanks.

 

[six.four]

refurbished items from apple (from my experience) are in "like new" condition. I've bought a few refurb things here and there from apple and have never been disappointed.

 

[SuperCompu2]

With the small amount of space on the SSD, and depending on the size of your music library, I'd say this may not be the best option unless you actively use external hard drives.

Also note that the older MBA would also have the outdated micro-DVI port, which means the newest 23" cinema display wouldn't work. This might not be a big deal, but I feel its worth noting.

 

[daneoni]

Isnt the 64GB a wee bit to small. Also the overheating and core shutdown. Me thinks MBP/MB refurbs are better investments

 

[six.four]

Also note that the older MBA would also have the outdated micro-DVI port, which means the newest 23" cinema display wouldn't work. This might not be a big deal, but I feel its worth noting.

Why wouldn't it work? It wouldn't work natively with a 30" (2560x1600), but it should work fine with a 23" @ 1920x1200. And even with the 30", although it wouldn't work at native resolution, it still should "work".

 

[daneoni]

Why wouldn't it work? It wouldn't work natively with a 30" (2560x1600), but it should work fine with a 23" @ 1920x1200. And even with the 30", although it wouldn't work at native resolution, it still should "work".

I think he means the new 24" LED screen which only has a display port

 

[six.four]

I think he means the new 24" LED screen which only has a display port

gotcha. I forgot apple loves making proprietary everything

It'll work fine on pretty much any other standard PC display though.

 

[Lancetx]

gotcha. I forgot apple loves making proprietary everything

Actually DisplayPort isn't proprietary at all. It's a VESA industry standard interface, just a relatively new one is all.

 

[daneoni]

Actually DisplayPort isn't proprietary at all. It's a VESA industry standard interface, just a relatively new one is all.

Mini DisplayPort seems to be though

 

[yayaba]

Isnt the 64GB a wee bit to small. Also the overheating and core shutdown. Me thinks MBP/MB refurbs are better investments

Yeah, I actually feel the same. Note I don't own an Air but the hardware problems that I hear about it would make me leery of purchasing a refurb model.

The Macbook or Macbook Pro on the other hand I would go for the refurb. The Pro might die because of the faulty Geforce chip but Apple is offering replacements for quite awhile so you shouldn't have to worry about it dying.

 

[nanofrog]

Mini DisplayPort seems to be though

It is.

Mini DisplayPort is just a proprietary connector used with the DisplayPort standard. Apple strikes again...

 

[Satori]

Yeah, I actually feel the same. Note I don't own an Air but the hardware problems that I hear about it would make me leery of purchasing a refurb model.

With a refurb you are actually less likely to experience the problems that affected the early-built 1st gen MBAs. This is because the refurb models will be extensively tested in a way that factory shipped machines are not.

 

[Gee4orce]

I'm posting this from a refurb Air - it's better than new IMO: the refurbs get through testing. Mine had no scratches dints or any marks - as far as I can tell it was brand new.

I got the SSD - and saved 45% over the new price. So, I say hell yes, buy a refurb.

 

[citi]

I'm posting this from a refurb Air - it's better than new IMO: the refurbs get through testing. Mine had no scratches dints or any marks - as far as I can tell it was brand new.

I got the SSD - and saved 45% over the new price. So, I say hell yes, buy a refurb.

Same with me, I bought a 1.6 used on craigslist for 1175$ with applecare till 2011. The price was so good I couldn't pass it up, plus if I do have problems with the cores (which I have not had a single problem yet) I can send it in.

So let's see for what I am using it for, email, word processing, CMS updates and a little photoshop and flash, it's more than enough speed for me.

So 1.6 new is 1799$, plus tax = 1930$ add apple care at 350$ = 2300$ so I saved over 1100$!!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Yes, I would. Refurb is an excellent way to go for an Apple product; the product is tested and tried in a way that many of the factor-shipped models are not, has all of the warranties/guaranties of a new model and comes with a generous discount. Some of my Apple products are refurbs (my MBP, my 80GB iPod classic) and they work flawlesly.

Cheers and good luck

 

[AppliedMicro]

With a refurb you are actually less likely to experience the problems that affected the early-built 1st gen MBAs. This is because the refurb models will be extensively tested in a way that factory shipped machines are not.

Well... as far as I can see, the main problems have been problems of heat dissipation. And that's something Apple can't really do much about. Sure, they might optimize the amount of thermal paste, but whether they do thorough tests or not - they simply can't change the CPU and its heat dissipation.

In general, I'd really recommend refurbished products from Apple, at the right price. I wouldn't expect to see disadvantages in terms of build quality. Every refurbished product I have purchased from Apple was as good as new.

However, the biggest issues of the 1st gen Air seem to be rooted in its thermal design. That's why I won't get a refurbished 1st gen Air (even though the price seems really tempting in my country).

 

[ppc750fx]

Yes, if you're willing to strip the thermal paste and re-apply it yourself.

I may pick up a 1.6Ghz Air and do that myself -- but since Rev. B Airs feature a new heatsink design and a more sane application of thermal paste, they're probably your best bet if you don't want to take a chance / fix issues yourself.