I bought my current 15" uni MBP refurbished. It had a bad airport setup when it came. However, I took it to the apple store and they fixed it on the spot. They replaced the whole screen along with the airport setup. The only way you can tell the difference(actually looking) between a refurbished and a new mac is by the box it comes in. You have to remember, you are buying the same thing at a considerable price advantage.
so basically, if budgets a problem, refurbished mac + applecare basically solves everything?
i just got a macbookpro 13'', am a switcher, and my gf is pretty impressed with it. but she's stuck with a 2 year old acer which is still working pretty well. so im trying to scout for cheap alternatives for her and came across the refurbished section.
If you are on a tight budget, you could buy Applecare later, within the first year of the purchase date.
I think the warranty is somewhat worth it specifically because of the cost of replacing a bad LCD. Still, I consider it an expensive option. I have ended up using it to replace the power supply which had a frayed cable. I did that exchange in Canada but bought the computer in the U.S. where I live. On the other hand, Apple refused to replace an exhausted battery because of the high recycle count!
I don't think so - you buy it as it is. Anyway, you would do much better buying extra RAM, hard drive etc. from somewhere else and installing it yourself. It is considerably cheaper.
idrinorbarsaku, interestingly I also recently purchased a refurbished MB Pro 15" and had the network card die after about 2 months of use. Seems a little strange. They fixed it and replaced the display in 2 days over at the apple store, so it was similarly no big deal.
I've also bought an airport express and an apple tv refurbed, and those actually came in the same box and everything as the retail. Never had a problem with either of those.
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