Be Excellent To Each Other

Hi gents and lasses...

I have now gone two years outside the Cult Of Steve Jobs (with the exception of my iPhone) and cannae take it nay more! I really, really want a new Apple laptop and am simply now trying to weigh up whether or not to keep my Skynet-class PC for the gaming and go for the not-fantastic-specced, but super lovely and portable MacBook Air, or ditch the PC and go for the decent specced 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Thing is, I'm thinking about saving myself some dosh by buying one from the refurbished stock on Apple's website.

Has anyone got any experience of these? Am I opening myself up to a world of pain and greif by going for a refurbished laptop instead of a pristine new one? Will it be all scratched and dented to fuck?

I do know that one of the two speakers on my old Powerbook didn't work when I bought it, and rather than just repair it they scrapped it and sent me out an entirely new one as Apple consider any hardware fault to occur within 14 days as being a DOA job. I can only presume my original laptop got fixed up and sold on as refurbished, which would've been good for whoever got it since that really was in totally new condition when I sent it back to them.

My mate bought a refurb 15 MBP. It's been excellent, and looked like a brand spanker.

Look on Jigsaw24 / Cancom too for older models at discount prices.

I got an iMac from the refurb store, a couple of years ago.

There was a fairly good discount and I've had no problems with the hardware (touch wood), and it was in perfect condition cosmetically.

The only thing to watch out for is if you're looking at something that is end-of-line or about to be upgraded, it might not seem like such a great deal after a couple of months, so ask on reputable forums about the specific model before you press the button..

The MBP I'm typing on at the moment is a refurb. So is my mates. Opinion is that only a fool would buy new as Apples refurb standards are so high.

I have a Power Mac G5 and a MacBook from the refurb store. No blemishes or problems.

To be honest, I'm more inclined to trust a refurb than a brand new machine. A refurb has been repaired, serviced and (this is the clincher) tested by a trained Apple engineer, and is certified as 100% a-ok. A brand-new computer came off the production line.

ETA: One difference is with the refurb store, you don't always get the proper box. Both my MacBook and my iPod came in generic cardboard boxes. Properly packaged and all, but not the off-the-shelf presentation boxes. I doubt you could care less, but I thought I'd let you know anyway!

Oh, and everything I've ordered from the refurb store (three items) was delivered the next day. I've had things sent to my work address too, without any problems.

These are all good things you people are telling me, this pleases me muchly! Now, which one do I go for? Don't suppose anyone wants a Windows PC they can play Crysis on, do they?

For what it's worth, my experience is rather different. After 13 months, I discovered my Mac Pro had a manufacturing defect, and Apple basically told me to fuck off when I called them. (This was after the Mac had already been in twice for repairs to other components.) I'm one hundred per-cent certain that had I not been able to play the journo card, I'd have been lumbered with an expensive repair. The thing's totally fine now (and, ironically perhaps, is now due for eBay, because I want an iMac—so if anyone fancies a Mac Pro/5 GB/1.25TB/Airport/BT for £1100 ono, let me know), but I could have done without the hassle and getting one of my editors involved.

Things to remember when buying Apple refurb:

- All refurbs are NOT equal. Some are packages that have literally only been opened and returned. Others are units used, deemed defective and repaired.
- When you buy over distance, you have your regulation seven days. Apple also gives you an additional three days for 'cooling off'. During this time—in fact, during the first few days—use your Mac a lot. If there are user-accessible areas (RAM, drives, etc.), look at them all and check they're OK. (I didn't do this and ended up in a 13-month pissing contest.)
- If you are not happy with your purchase, don't wait—send the thing back.

Personally, I highly recommend Jigsaw24 over Apple. Jigsaw's customer support is generally very good, and its refurbs seem to be on the level. Last time I looked, they had a small pile of MacBook Pros and iMacs on offer.

Personally, I'd go for the MBP. The Air is very nice, but no optical drive? That would get on my tits. Ask yourself, do you really need it to be that portable? Also, you could buy a MBP and a Netbook for the same price, giving you a laptop for general use and an ultra-portable laptop for when ultra-portability be required.

Hmm, my iMac came in the original retail box. Maybe it depends on the condition of the returned box whether they reuse it..
As you say, it doesn't matter anyway

CraigG: what was the fault you only discovered after 13 months?

Yes, I like Jigsaw24 too. I bought an external drive from there, but returned it due to a fault with the FireWire bus. It was replaced with no problems whatsoever.

What's the processor on your Mac Pro, BTW?

As did my G5, though my MacBook and iPod did not, and nor did the iPod I got for my sister. Perhaps some of these were ex-display models?


Quite!

Question: has anyone seen original iphones on offer in the refurb store? That section is empty just now.
I might need to get another one for a family member, and I don't particularly want to do the ebay lottery unless I have to.

And they seem to be holding their value a little too well!

Re: boxes, I've bought four refurb products. Two iPods both had standard boxes; an Apple monitor came in a plain box; and the Mac Pro came in a standard Mac Pro box, like you'd get new.


One of the hard-drive connectors was damaged. I only found this when upgrading the hard-drives, obv. Apple argued the toss, making me very angry, since this wasn't something I could have done myself. One I got my case escalated to the exec. team, Apple's attitude changed dramatically, unsurprisingly, and everything was repaired.


Full spec is:

Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 5 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Bluetooth/AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x87)
+ 1 x 250 GB and 2 x 500 GB h/ds.

The Mac cost about £1500 new about 18 months back, and I added Bluetooth/AirPort, 1 TB storage, 4 GB RAM. Mac2Sell reckons £1310 is the current value, but I think that's probably OTT.

My brother got a refurb MBP and he's had no problems with it and from what I can remember it pretty much looked spanky when he got it. Came in a plain cardboard box though

Be aware there is an issue with current 15 inch MBP's where, very occasionally, not all the LED's light up coming back from sleep or when you turn on.

The fanboys are having nervous breakdowns over this on the Apple forums, but it's not a problem. It's very occasional and when it does happen you perform a simple keypress for a screen reset and the problem goes away.

I don't know what causes it but it seems to affect most 15" MBP's manufactured this year. But for me it's a total non-issue frankly. It's so rare and so easily fixed that there's no point worrying. Even when it does happen you can barely see it unless you run the screen at full brightness.

But then again the fanboys are so terrified their MBP might not be perfect they get seriously worried very easily.