Risk buying refurbished macbooks?

chacha2chacha2
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'd like to hear your opinions on the risk of buying a refurbished MB.



There were quite a lot of problems early on. Is it reasonable to assume that Apple has check ed the machines it's selling now for $899 and up for these problems? Or should one play it safe and put out $200 more for a new machine?



In my case speed really isn't the issue, I'm simply sick of PC land and am buying apple to have a nice stable, well-made machine to work on. Saving $200 would be really nice right now, but if there is anything more than a tiny risk of getting a lemon, I'd rather spend the money and buy a new one.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    I wonder whether they have new batteries. I opted for a new one, because for education pricing, you can get the base model MacBook NEW for $1049 ($1099 non-educational), that's just $150 more. And even better: you get a free $100 printer, and $10 right now for some reason. Even BETTER: You'll definitely want to upgrade to a gig of RAM. So, that'll cost $110 now according to www.dealram.com because they are dumb and put 2 sticks of 256 meg RAM in that previous MacBook. On the new one, it's only $68 to upgrade to a gig of RAM. So you save there too. So its' $1117 when you upgrade to a gig for the new, vs. $1010 old. AND the new one has a Core 2 Duo, so it's around 10% faster. Just my opinion--go for new. It's a laptop, and you want it to be stable with a good battery.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    phillytphillyt Posts: 12member
    Off topic but is the printer deal an instant rebate or mail in?
  • Reply 3 of 7
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    I bought a refurbished MacBook two weeks ago for my daughter. The Macbook itself looked brand new. All of the accessories were still sealed in plastic. It ships in a plain brown box. I was surprised to find that the HDD was upgraded to an 80 gigger, and it had 1GB of RAM in it and no extra charge!
  • Reply 4 of 7
    chris vchris v Posts: 460member
    I haven't found any additional risks with refurbed Macs in general. I've bought 7 "modern" (G4 +) Macs new from Apple, 3 of which were refurbs, and they've got relatively equal service track records. Plus, there's the vague chance you'll get an upgraded machine. I've got 1 friend who got 1.5 gigs of RAM in a refurbed G5.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    adjectiveadjective Posts: 125member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Phillyt


    Off topic but is the printer deal an instant rebate or mail in?



    Mine was mail in.



    I still need to do it. :/
  • Reply 6 of 7
    jgeorginojgeorgino Posts: 1member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galley View Post


    I bought a refurbished MacBook two weeks ago for my daughter. The Macbook itself looked brand new. All of the accessories were still sealed in plastic. It ships in a plain brown box. I was surprised to find that the HDD was upgraded to an 80 gigger, and it had 1GB of RAM in it and no extra charge!



    where did you get it?
  • Reply 7 of 7
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jgeorgino View Post


    where did you get it?



    Uh, Apple. That's the only place you can get them. It's called the Refurb Lottery. You'll always get the specs for which you pay, but sometimes you'll get more.



    PLENTY of threads that aren't FIVE YEARS OLD that could have answered this question.
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