Apple Macbook Refurbished Section

me-skywalker

can anyone clarify what the refurbished section on the apple website is. These laptops are cheaper than the normal ones are they second hand? or upgraded old versions?

PCPhoto

a refurbished model is ...... ah feck this ... click here

iKeith

refurbished items are usually items taken back to the manufacturer because it was faulty or there was something wrong with it. so what manufacturers do is replace the faulty part and then sell the whole thing for less than the original price. well, this is what ive learned as a tech support.

if the system becomes faulty, we usually replace the part, then repair the faulty part and brand it as refurbished. if the customer isnt happy with the product, or had the system taken back for some other reason, we also brand the system as refurbished.

i know it sounds vague lol

doccy

Sounds terrible but I woudn't touch a refurb. My dealings with refurbs were that the product has had a serious fault. And that includes Apple products too.

Sad Professor

Apple refurbs are perfectly safe. Same warranty as new and you can get Applecare. They often go through more testing than the new ones. The most that you should expect wrong with them is a scratch or a few scuff marks. But usually people report getting what seems to be a new machine. There are exceptions of course, but if you are not happy just send it back. Even buying new involves a risk - look at the problems with the current 27 inch iMacs.

Some great deals on refurbished models and - if you are lucky - they sometimes come with larger HDDs and more RAM than advertised.

silvine

I bought a refurbished iMac a year and a half ago and have had no problems with it. Saved €300 on it too.

me-skywalker

cheers might just spend the extra €300 on a new one tho jsut to be sure.

Jev/N

doccy wrote: »

Sounds terrible but I woudn't touch a refurb. My dealings with refurbs were that the product has had a serious fault. And that includes Apple products too.

I know it's your own opinion but that's a load of BS, especially when considering Apple's standard in refurbs

(Posted from a 2 year old MBP refurb)

edit: OP, if you can get the model you want (i.e. specs, colour, design etc.) through the refurb store, then get it - it'll save you a decent amount and they come with a 1 year warranty, like a "new" machine and you can extend this if you wish through Applecare.

You're just, if not more, likely to have a problem when you buy a brand new machine so don't listen to those who tell you otherwise. In fact, some posters on here have said how they ended up receiving a higher spec'd machine that what they had ordered when getting a refurb!

doccy

Jev/N wrote: »

I know it's your own opinion but that's a load of BS, especially when considering Apple's standard in refurbs

Yup it's just my opinion. However in my defence, I have sold refurbs in the past. Including Apple.

unclebill98

I bought a Refurb Powerbook G4 form the USA refurb site 5 years ago as there was none here at the time. Still using the laptop at this very minute.

Never had any problems with it. Had a key fall off but had no issues getting it fixed under warrenty. You can still buy the extended warrenty for it too.

I'd not buy a mac any other way.

WizZard

doccy wrote: »

Yup it's just my opinion. However in my defence, I have sold refurbs in the past. Including Apple.

Apple refurbs are only available direct from Apple AFAIK

doccy

WizZard wrote: »

Apple refurbs are only available direct from Apple AFAIK

haha was waiting for that. I'm not going down that road, at the time it was available for staff of a certain retailer I worked for. For the record I'm not against Apple in particular, I just don't like refurbs in general. Like I said, it's a personal thing, most people here seem to recommend them from Apple.

drunkmonkey

i can,t wait for my next refurb, bought a few of them, not an ounce of trouble with them, keepin a keen watch on the refurb store, once a 15inch, 500gb 7200rpm mac book pro appears for less than 1500 i'm buying......couln't care less which department it comes from onces it's got full warranty... i really thought this thread was about keepin an eye out for bargins on the outlet store, 15inch mbp there last night for a tad over 1000, bargin..

drunkmonkey

no products on the refurb store tonight, they might be updating it with all the christmas returns, could be a few bargins there tomorrow;)

sashasdad

it arrived today and I couldn't be more pleased with it! I don't know why refurbished products aren't more popular.

cornbb

Apple refurbs are pretty safe. My Mac Pro is a refurb, never had an issue with it, cosmetically perfect. More often than not products are returned due to buyer's remorse, products aren't necessarily faulty, and they're covered by a full warranty. All the refurb work is done in Cork too!

ipodrocker

any one know if anywhere selling referbs besides apple, im after a imac.

Talisman

ipodrocker wrote: »

any one know if anywhere selling referbs besides apple, im after a imac.

What's wrong with ordering from the Apple refurb store?

ipodrocker

Thinking if other places are selling them cheaper than apple....

Sad Professor

No. Apple are refurbishing them and selling them with the same warranty and right to return as a new machine at a fairly significant discount. You won't find that anywhere else. If you want cheaper again you'll have to go second hand.

whiterebel

cornbb wrote: »

Apple refurbs are pretty safe. My Mac Pro is a refurb, never had an issue with it, cosmetically perfect. More often than not products are returned due to buyer's remorse, products aren't necessarily faulty, and they're covered by a full warranty. All the refurb work is done in Cork too!

I don't think that's right. They always used to be done in the UK.

Richy06

whiterebel wrote: »

I don't think that's right. They always used to be done in the UK.

Not all the refurb work is done in Cork but a lot is. It was when I worked there anyway!

whiterebel

Richy06 wrote: »

Not all the refurb work is done in Cork but a lot is. It was when I worked there anyway!

That must be recent, because when I left there 6 years ago, they barely had people in the plant who could fix macs. They only started training people in repairs with the volume of call-centre Macs on site. In fact, in the beginning there was only 2 places you could buy Apple refurb.....one was the Apple UK Store and the other was Cancom , also in the UK. If you compared the Refurb stores, they used to have exactly the same machines for Ireland and the UK, just different prices. Used to drive us mad that peole rang in with machines with such a discount, and yet we couldn't buy one, even though we worked for Apple. Still, the 27% discount helped for the first one.....:D