Techsurvivors

Archives => 2006 => Topic started by: Frances144 on December 05, 2006, 03:38:46 PM

Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: Frances144 on December 05, 2006, 03:38:46 PM
Anyone bought a refurbished 'puter from Apple?  

What like?

What problems?

What scary stories?

What happy stories?

Huge savings?

Is it worth it?

F
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: kimmer on December 05, 2006, 07:36:25 PM
I had a refurbished 4400 that we bought from SmallDog. I never had a prob with it, and I'd consider a refurb again if the price was right.
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: kelly on December 05, 2006, 08:02:30 PM
Refurbs are a good idea, more often than not. smile.gif

With just a little luck you'll be happy with one. smile.gif
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: jepinto on December 05, 2006, 08:19:51 PM
2 refurbs 0 problems.  A classic, and a 6400.  Have neither now, passed them on.  But.... for a new(er) machine, particularly a 1st generation, would purchase Applecare.  Friend bought a first genration iMac 20, and logic board went after 4 months, Applecare to the rescue.

So, I guess I'm saying... depends... which machine?
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: Peter on December 05, 2006, 09:18:58 PM
We bought for intel mac minis that were refurbs

2 of the power bricks didn't work (DOA)
called apple and we had working ones free of charge within 3 days

We have had problems with the machines, but I believe that that is becasue of our software and network set up rather than the machines themselves.

currently contemplating a 15 in. Mac Book Pro refurb ( might be a graduation present) that way I'm compatible with the network at college w/ windows startup, but I can still run a familiar system whenever possible.  smile.gif

hope that helped
-Pete
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: Paddy on December 05, 2006, 09:31:01 PM
We bought a refurbed iBook G3 for my in-laws a couple of years ago. Absolutely zero problems. And the refurbs carry the same 1 year warranty that the rest of the Mac line carries - so your friend actually didn't use AppleCare to get the repair done, Jennie. I've bought AppleCare for our last three Powerbooks, but the only problem we ever had with any of them occurred within the first few days of ownership, and the remaining 3 years were fine for all three. I've not made up my mind on AppleCare for the newest addition to the stable (MacBook Pro) - I have until next fall to decide!

One of the thoughts with refurbs is that they actually get checked more thoroughly than "new" machines - every refurb gets tested, whereas not every machine rolling off the assembly line gets thoroughly tested. The MacBook Pro I wanted wasn't available as a refurb, or I certainly would have considered one as long as they were cheaper than the "new" with an ed discount.
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: tmx on December 05, 2006, 09:35:44 PM
The (new) Mini I bought was a lemon, just wouldn't work, and the one they replaced it with was a refurb, and the optical drive doesn't work half the time. They don't care, either. A guy at the store actually told me not to bother returning it because I'd just get someone else's messed up refurb. The Apple store in Emeryville.
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: Paddy on December 05, 2006, 11:24:38 PM
Judging by this Macslash thread, luckily, your experience wasn't typical, tmx.
http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/14/103225

More on the subect of refurbs on the MacWorld forums recently.
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: kbeartx on December 05, 2006, 11:25:59 PM
I bought my 12" G4 PB as a refurb more than 2 years ago.

I also bought the AppleCare extension, since I had never owned a PB before.

Not a glitch in all this time.
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: jcarter on December 06, 2006, 10:17:36 AM
I bought a G5 iMac from Smalldog last spring, its great!
But it did have the powersupply barbeque problem, so I shut it off quickly and posted what it did here. You sent me to the Apple page that had all the info on it, I called Smalldog and they said yes, Apple will pay the whole thing and the logic board too.
What a wonderful excuse to go to Vermont!
But I decided to have it done here, as our Mac store is only 6 miles from our house.
Fixed for free.
But I would recommend a refurb from Smalldog anytime. And the price was right!
Jane
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: jwboyd on December 06, 2006, 11:32:12 AM
I have purchased more than a hundred Macs through the years, most of them for the school district from which I am retired. I would be okay with a refurb direct from Apple, with AppleCare.

But my experience with "refurbs" from other vendors has been less than stellar. In one case, it took more than a year to get problems resolved.

Caveat Emptor.

Joe
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: danf63 on December 06, 2006, 11:53:41 AM
I have an iMac G5 that I bought from Apple.  I've had two problems:

1. Ran hot
2. Airport Card died

Apple fixed both nice and quick, but it did mean two trips to the Apple store.

Dan
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: krissel on December 09, 2006, 03:04:03 AM
Bought my sister a G4 iBook nearly two years ago from Apple.

Good price  and no problems. smile.gif
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: LR827 on December 12, 2006, 07:07:25 AM
I still have not bought an external hard drive + encasement ... I have thought about buying a refurb'd PB or iBook for that. I think I'll do it after reading this.

Any good bargains right now?
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: Parker on December 12, 2006, 12:13:52 PM
QUOTE
2 refurbs 0 problems. A classic, and a 6400.

how dusty are they, eh?
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: jepinto on December 12, 2006, 01:04:32 PM
QUOTE(Parker @ Dec 12 2006, 01:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
how dusty are they, eh?

Classic is at my Mom's so there is NO telling.  She cleans house like I do.....seldom.  I'll check and see if you're interested.
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: kelly on December 14, 2006, 09:44:30 PM
More feedback on Apple Store Refurb Macs

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/dec06/121306.html#S22121
Title: Ok, so who has bought a refurb from Apple?
Post by: jcarter on December 15, 2006, 07:04:39 AM
I had forgotten all about that, my refurb had twice the memory that it should have had.  I didnt know it until I had it on my desk. It was probably in the specs, but I must not have read it carefully.
And it came with Apple Care for free.  But interestingly, they had one digit in the serial number wrong, so I had to correct that, lucky I noticed. Took one looonnnnngggg phone call.
 Someone here was talking about serial numbers one day, so I looked, and indeed it was a Y instead of an X or something like that.
Jane