Refurbished MacBook question ...

Hi, here in Canada, I can get a great deal for a black refurbished Macbook from the Apple Store. My question is, how reliable are these refurbished laptops ? Do they usually perform as well as new ones ? Is it more risky to buy them or would you go for it ? Thanks for any inputs, opinions.

 

Hey vallaird,

Refurbished Macs are of great quality, and many times I've heard people say they wouldn't know it was refurbished until they were told it was. Defective parts are replaced, so I wouldn't worry about it being more risky/prone to have problems. Refurbished Macs come with their own one-year warranty as well, so if anything comes up Apple will take care of it.

And best of all, you can still get AppleCare for a refurbished Mac, so you can extend warranty for three years if you like (and I'd recommend you do).

 

Usually they are like new condition and you probably wont be able to tell the difference between a new one and a refurbished one. THey come with the same factory warantee as new units and you can upgrade the warantee within the factory 1 year warantee if you so choose, so yeah, I think you should go for it.

 

I wouldn't trust refurbished ones because they have a greater chance of coming with defects such as misalignment of the casing, or a stuck/dead pixel which are "acceptable cutoffs" of their "quality inspected" products. The casing is already opened because they already replaced a problematic component inside the notebook. If not, what would their excuse be? A product is returned because of a reason. They want to make money by reselling them.

I'm not saying that new ones don't have these defects, but with refurbished ones, I would say so with greater confidence.

 

I disagree. Refurb Macs have been checked for problems and fixed if necessary. Like I said, I've heard many many accounts where people didn't even realize that Mac was a refurb until they were told it was.

 

I've owned a number of Apple refurbished products. In all honesty, unless you really want that new box, I don't see any point in buying new. Apple refurbs are one of the best values in the business.

You can not look at a refurb Mac and tell that it is refurbished. The only way you can tell is by looking at either the brown shipping box, or the serial number. Most people wouldn't know a refurb serial number if they saw one.

These computers are as good as new.

 

Yeah my friend has a refurbished iMac and I've used it multiple times and I never knew it until I asked how much it cost, and found it was a refurb.

 

Thank you all for your inputs, I think I'll go for it then. If it has the 1 year warranty, then it's ok with me.

 

go for it. i have a refurb and its great.

 

The only reason I would say to skip the refurb is if you're a student. You may be paying $100-150 more, but you get a free iPod and printer with it.

 

Apple Store sells refurbs -$300 off its price. If you were too slow with technology and where ever you'll be using it can't share the printer with you, take the new. In all honesty, I'd just buy a refurb.

 

i dont understand your point.

 

This is an old thread, but I thought I'd ask the following about refurbished iMac's.

Firstly, I have been strongly thinking of replacing my desktop with an iMac 20" of the 2.4 GHz variety. I'm looking to save a little money and go with a refurbished iMac (Aluminum), and my time table on actually making the purchase extends way out to March. The one problem is that a few days ago I saw the 20-inch, 2.4 GHz version available but today it seems to be taken off the refurbished page. How often does the refurbished stock usually take to be replenished? I am definitely getting Apple-Care too, with the savings from getting a refurbished unit.