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Refurb or not?

post #1 of 10
11/17/10 at 9:37am
Thread Starter 
I've heard horror stories about the 27" refurb displays and it's making me hesitant.

Refurb 27" Core i5 2.8 or brand new 27" Core i3 3.2 Ghz

I don't do anything intense at work, other than multiple excel spreadsheets at a time and will maybe require some Virtual Machine to jump into Windows, so the i3 should be able to handle those?

Thoughts?

PS - I'll be personally upping the RAM to 8gb regardless of what machine i get.
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post #2 of 10
11/17/10 at 9:55am
I've never seen an Apple refurb unit that didn't look brand-new. They have the same warranty as a brand-new unit, they qualify for AppleCare ... You get the same machine for a discounted price, why NOT get a refurb? (Assuming they have the model you want available.)
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #3 of 10
11/17/10 at 10:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post

I've never seen an Apple refurb unit that didn't look brand-new. They have the same warranty as a brand-new unit, they qualify for AppleCare ... You get the same machine for a discounted price, why NOT get a refurb? (Assuming they have the model you want available.)

Exactly. My last MBP was from the refurb store and other than the outer box (it's regular corrugated cardboard instead of the fancy box) I couldn't tell that it wasn't a new unit. Still have it today (picked up a late '08 EC/34 when the Spring '09 MBP refresh happened and got $650 off new pricing).
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post #4 of 10
11/17/10 at 4:02pm
I've looked at refurbs too but what worries me about them if that, if presumably they've been used previously and then returned for whatever reason.. well what if somebody downloaded something dodgy onto the hard drive or something?

I guess it's paranoid of me but I'd just worry about that. I know they probably wipe the hard disc and install a fresh OSX but doesn't data sometimes survive which wiping?

Excuse my ignorance if I'm wrong!
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post #5 of 10
11/17/10 at 4:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RSteve View Post

I've looked at refurbs too but what worries me about them if that, if presumably they've been used previously and then returned for whatever reason.. well what if somebody downloaded something dodgy onto the hard drive or something?

I guess it's paranoid of me but I'd just worry about that. I know they probably wipe the hard disc and install a fresh OSX but doesn't data sometimes survive which wiping?

Excuse my ignorance if I'm wrong!

Ignorance excused.

Yes, Apple puts a brand new install of OSX on the HDD... it comes to you in the same condition as a brand new one. No, old user data and various nefarious code does not survive that.
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #6 of 10
11/17/10 at 6:43pm
i recommend this to as many that will listen, get a RB and apple care, especially for the macbook line its the cheap way to get in
remember macs have a longer useful life span than a pc
apple care is awesome for the very few times i've used it, it exceeded my expectations
even my wife was shocked as how simple apple makes it to get something fixed
I APPLE THEREFORE I AM
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I APPLE THEREFORE I AM
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post #7 of 10
11/17/10 at 8:34pm
We have over five refurbs at work, no problems.

A core duo would handle Fusion and excel. If that is really the kind of work tour doing, get the cheaper one and save $$$.
Hard-Core.
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Hard-Core.
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post #8 of 10
11/17/10 at 9:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post

Ignorance excused.

Yes, Apple puts a brand new install of OSX on the HDD... it comes to you in the same condition as a brand new one. No, old user data and various nefarious code does not survive that.

Aww, thanks again King! You're really helpful, especially to a daft newbie like me! It's a great idea for me, if I do get a new Mac I'll have a good look at what Apple has in refurbs before I buy new.
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post #9 of 10
11/17/10 at 9:46pm
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post #10 of 10
11/19/10 at 1:23am
Frankly, I would not buy a new computer from Apple (unless I were a student or otherwise able to swing a large discount). Refurb all the way.
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