In the market for refurbed macbook. Red flags to look out for?

Greetings All,

I am new to mac and generally just frustrated with pc ownership. I am looking for a refurb macbook pro for use with dj software.

I have about $800 to put forward and would like to get an I-7 duo or quad with at least 2.6 ghz speed and 8 gb memory.

It looks like I can get a little more bang for my buck with the 13" models. Is there anything to be mindful of when looking at older models? Is there a place on the forum to look up reviews on specific model #'s?

Thanks in Advance.

Welcome to Mac-Forums..

Refurbs are a great way to buy a solid Mac for less than the brand new price. You want to ensure that you only consider Apple Refurb for starters. Anything less doesn't get you all the benefits. All Apple refurbs come with the same warranty as brand new Macs and some argue are better because they've been really scrutinized before going on sale..

The Core i5's on the MBP's are dual-core while the i7 is quad-core. I believe you have to step up to the 15" MBP to get the i7 quad-core processors. You'd have to bump up to the $826 to get the 13" i5 MBP with 4GB of memory. You can jump to 8GB memory for $1099..and then it just goes up from there..

If you are feeling lucky, you can try the used market on eBay, but you are definitely taking a bigger chance with those machines..

Thank you for your reply. I did see some 13 inchers with i7 duo cores. I also read something about older models (2011ish) having issues with video cards self destructing after prolong use with video and/or audio intensive software. Is this a concern with specific models or just a general wear and tear concern?

The 2011 video issues were limited to the 15" and 17" models.

I know you mentioned that your budget was $800. If you can stretch it a bit...you can get this 2015 13" MacBook Pro Apple refurb for $1099:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...-27ghz-dual-core-intel-i5-with-retina-display

It will be just like new...it will come with the exact same 12 month Applecare warranty as new computers. And if you decide to purchase extended Applecare...you'ld be covered for 3 years.

- Nick

Make sure the battery is still in good condition. See the following information:

Determining battery cycle count for Mac notebooks
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201585