Apple Certified Refurbished

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I've been looking at a new iMac & was told to look at the refurbished items. I've never thought about buying anything other than new when spending this type of money. I was wondering what others have experienced, when purchasing refurbish from Apple ?
 
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Not a thing wrong with buying a refurb from Apple. Unless you have a problem with saving money.

Personally, I have purchased most of my Macs from Buy & Sell Refurbished & Used Mac Products | mac of all trades
They're usually at least a generation or two behind, but you save even more and still get a decent warranty and excellent service from them.
 

chscag

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+1. Apple refurbished Macs are mostly like new and come with the same warranty that a new Mac has. You can even purchase Apple Care for them. The difference is the way they're boxed. You don't get the fancy Apple box, instead they're packed in a more plain simple box. But.. you're not buying it for the box!
 
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Buy, Buy, Buy !!

Best bargains going.
 
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Every Mac I've owned since 2007 has been a refurbuished MAc for the Apple Online Store. I had one lemon which they replaced via free shipping within 48 hours. Highly recommended if you don't need the "latest and greatest".
 
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Have purchased 3 refurb iMacs for my workplace over the past year - PERFECT. It's like, what was refurbed? These all looked 100% new and acted like it. I kind of expected to find scuffs, or little flaws. NOTHING. Not to say you won't find any flaws, but I have not. Wouldn't hesitate to buy a refurb FROM APPLE.
 
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I've bought a Macbook Air and an Airport Extreme from Apple refurb.

- Macbook Air came without working sound (loose cable). I had to drive 45km per direction to get it fixed and again to pick it up three days later. Thanks Apple!

- Airport Extreme was most likely returned by its previous owner because it kept rebooting whenever he moved big files, but that didn't stop them from selling it unchecked via Apple refurb. There is now an Apple Store on my route to work, but I still had to go there twice because they didn't want to replace it with a new AirPort Extreme.

They fixed those lemons no questions asked but I am done with their crap ware.
 

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^^

I don't want to minimize that experience - getting anything new and having it not work properly can be extremely frustrating...
I believe that may be the first negative experience I've seen in this forum related to Apple refurbs.

While I've never personally bought an electronics refurb unit of anything - for those considering a refurb - I think the refurbs are still winning by a wide margin on user experience out of the box vs new.
 

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I've bought a Macbook Air and an Airport Extreme from Apple refurb.

They fixed those lemons no questions asked but I am done with their crap ware.

Just about nothing in this world is 100%.

- Are ALL Apple refurbs. sold 100% error/problem free...no!
- Are ALL BRAND NEW Apple products sold 100% error/problem free...no!
- Is any product (new or refurbished) from ANY manufacturer going to be a 100% error/problem free...no!

Then why would any sane, logical, intelligent person expect EVERY refurbished or Brand New product sold by Apple to be 100% perfect??

I have literally purchased 100's and 100's of Apple products over the years. If I only had 2 "less than perfect" experiences like you...I certainly wouldn't all of a sudden start calling Apple refurbs. "crapware"!:(

Apple took care of things correct?? Good deal!:) Apple has gotten rated #1 in customer service year after year after year. They got to be doing something right!:)

- Nick

p.s. Is receiving a less than perfect item a pain in the neck...and upsetting...sure. But you really must look at things in the "big picture" and the long term. No manufacturer of any product produces 100% perfect items 100% of the time.
 

bobtomay

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...
p.s. Is receiving a less than perfect item a pain in the neck...and upsetting...sure. But you really must look at things in the "big picture" and the long term. No manufacturer of any product produces 100% perfect items 100% of the time.

Even if a manufacturer could produce to a 100% standard (which is unlikely when producing tens of thousands of units a day just to keep up with demand), by the time any product is handled by a shipper to get it to your house or the retail store, who knows what type of damage may have been inflicted - both seen and unseen.
 

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Even if a manufacturer could produce to a 100% standard (which is unlikely when producing tens of thousands of units a day just to keep up with demand), by the time any product is handled by a shipper to get it to your house or the retail store, who knows what type of damage may have been inflicted - both seen and unseen.

Great point Tom...agreed!:)

@everyone: There are certainly circumstances out of Apple's control that can effect the condition of an item before the buyer receives it. I'm pretty sure Apple almost always requires a customer signature for an item when it is delivered (maybe things are different in Germany). But I'm sure sometimes customers don't sign for items...and the VERY last step of the delivery process (starting in China)...could be where the damage occurs (when a frantically busy delivery person) carelessly tosses or drops a package on the doorstep of someone home...and damage occurs.:(

We occasionally hear about stories where the delivery/shipping company of a item can certainly physically abuse an item (intentionally or accidentally). There are certainly a lot of steps getting an item from where the item is manufactured (China) to everyones homes all over the world.

- On & off planes.
- On & off delivery vehicles
- On & off very fast moving conveyor belts, sorting tables, etc. at distribution centers/sorting centers.

Accidents happen. Again..nothing is 100%. The important thing is...Apple tales care of the problem. Basically no questions asked, no hassles, no making the customer feel like it was their fault.:)

- Nick
 
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I went and bought a 21" 2.9GHz Quad Core Refurbished iMac today, and for a summly price of $1147
It gave me the $ to get a LaCie 4TB Porsche Design P'9233 USB 3.0 Desktop Hard Drive to go with it.

Refurbed = New = here in 2 days.
Now for a Desk and Chair to go with :D
 

=E=


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In Sweden, where I live. We don't have refurb Macs like in the states, so when I where on a roadtrip across the US I went home with a refurb Mac mini and it was as good as new, and so much cheaper. It even came with more RAM than the standard does. Its just great! Highly recommend it to anyone! I don't see why you shouldn't! And I honestly wish we had the same thing over here.. but nope, we don't. :(
 

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In Sweden, where I live. We don't have refurb Macs like in the states...

And I honestly wish we had the same thing over here.. but nope, we don't. :(

Do any stores in Sweden sell refurbished products (usually electronic items)? If not...maybe there's some sort of law against it.

- Nick
 

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Do any stores in Sweden sell refurbished products (usually electronic items)? If not...maybe there's some sort of law against it.

- Nick

Not that I know of. Yeah, wouldn't surprise me if there was a law against it.
 

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