Refurbished Macbook pro - share your experience please

hacktheplanet · Post by **hacktheplanet** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:21 pm

The thing with Applecare, it's only another $250 for three years of service if anything goes wrong. Plus amazing phone support. Plus, it increases the resale value when you decide to upgrade. Buy Applecare or you will be kicking your own ass when your computer goes out. If it doesn't go out, you are a lucky guy and you still have a computer that is worth more than one without Applecare.

$250 is a LOT better than spending $700+ when your logic board goes out. ($700 was the quote for my iBook) You can get replacement parts on eBay and the like, but they are still pretty expensive and a real motherfucker to install.

the0verclock · Post by **the0verclock** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:42 pm

macbook refurb
macbook refurb (for the lovely lady)
G5 tower refurb
powerbook G4 12 inch refurb

i go to the store to kick tires, but i always buy refurb.
another piece of info that sometimes gets overlooked - tuesday is the day apple releases new goodies, also the day the refurb page gets updated, the machine i am using right now was on the "new page" on a Monday, but at midnight california time it popped up as a refurb and i saved hundreds.

- b

jonny72 · Post by **jonny72** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:21 pm

I don't think I can remember ever having a laptop (PC or Mac) have something go wrong that would of been covered by an extended warranty / care plan. They've all bitten the dust due to; me spilling a drink on it (twice), dropping a catalogue on it (once), treading on it (once) or just plain worn out (twice).

Besides I only expect a laptop to last a couple of years, if its still going great but either way its time for an upgrade by then anyway.

bicarbone · Post by **bicarbone** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:17 pm

mkelly wrote: Check Ebay - I got a half-price AppleCare for my MBP - completely shrink-wrapped. I was a tiny bit worried when it came to registering the code inside it, but it was accepted fine.

I would be worried too, but lucky you. I had a look on ebay and you're right, there's like a parallel market for applecare. The seller usually offers to send you the code via e-mail, so no box, no wrapping. A bit scary...

How can they sell them for half the price?

I smell a rat, what do you guys think?

dallas! · Post by **dallas!** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:06 am

logic_user99 wrote:I REALLY need to get a new Mac-top... off to the refurb shop I go!

(just out of interest, can anyone advise me on a guide price for a 12" G4 Powerbook 1.5ghz/1.25gb ram. I need to get mine sold before I can think about getting a new Mac!)

My 12" G4 Powerbook, 1.5ghz 80gb HDD and 512mb RAM cost me about £575 in Jan 2007 The prices at that point seemed to be all around that mark and this was one of the later models so a bit cleaner and had OSx installed.

I'd expect it to still get £450-500 if I sold it on and they seemed to hold there value well enough.

dallas!

oblique strategies · Post by **oblique strategies** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:47 pm

the_planet wrote:The thing with Applecare, it's only another $250 for three years of service if anything goes wrong. Plus amazing phone support. Plus, it increases the resale value when you decide to upgrade. Buy Applecare or you will be kicking your own ass when your computer goes out. If it doesn't go out, you are a lucky guy and you still have a computer that is worth more than one without Applecare.

$250 is a LOT better than spending $700+ when your logic board goes out. ($700 was the quote for my iBook) You can get replacement parts on eBay and the like, but they are still pretty expensive and a real motherfucker to install.

+1 big time for all of the reasons given above.

jonny72 · Post by **jonny72** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:52 pm

bicarbone wrote:
mkelly wrote: Check Ebay - I got a half-price AppleCare for my MBP - completely shrink-wrapped. I was a tiny bit worried when it came to registering the code inside it, but it was accepted fine.
I would be worried too, but lucky you. I had a look on ebay and you're right, there's like a parallel market for applecare. The seller usually offers to send you the code via e-mail, so no box, no wrapping. A bit scary...

How can they sell them for half the price?
I smell a rat, what do you guys think?

As long as their feedback is OK I wouldn't worry. There are quite a few people selling Logic Studio at half the RRP and they appear to be genuine (based on their feedback).

I'm guessing that either Apple offer some pretty hefty discounts on certain products to retailers, or its stock from a retailer that shut down.

mkelly · Post by **mkelly** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:01 pm

jonny72 wrote:As long as their feedback is OK I wouldn't worry. There are quite a few people selling Logic Studio at half the RRP and they appear to be genuine (based on their feedback).

I'm guessing that either Apple offer some pretty hefty discounts on certain products to retailers, or its stock from a retailer that shut down.

I bought my AppleCare from someone who was selling it on - it was new and shrink-wrapped. the one disadvantage I see of buying the "code only" option is that the box contains a CD with some diagnostic crap on it which you might be asked to use when you phone AppleCare.

WRT to the Logic Studio sellers - I also bought mine from Ebay (though wasn't quite half price at that stage). It was actually shipped directly from Apple - the delivery address was mine, and the "buyers" name was completely unknown to me. These peeps obviously have some serious discount codes that they're using with the online Apple Store. I'm amazed Apple haven't done something about it yet - makes the conspiracy theorist in me think they are doing it themselves to get more copies of Logic out there

ThrowAway · Post by **ThrowAway** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:02 pm

jonny72 wrote:I don't think I can remember ever having a laptop (PC or Mac) have something go wrong that would of been covered by an extended warranty / care plan. They've all bitten the dust due to; me spilling a drink on it (twice), dropping a catalogue on it (once), treading on it (once) or just plain worn out (twice).

Besides I only expect a laptop to last a couple of years, if its still going great but either way its time for an upgrade by then anyway.

I have heard from several people including two posts on this board saying apple care fixed spilled drink issues for free.

mkelly · Post by **mkelly** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:05 pm

ThrowAway wrote:I have heard from several people including two posts on this board saying apple care fixed spilled drink issues for free.

Will try calling them next time somebody bumps into me on the way back from the bar

jonny72 · Post by **jonny72** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:48 pm

ThrowAway wrote:I have heard from several people including two posts on this board saying apple care fixed spilled drink issues for free.

If there really is specific coverage for 'user being a twat' then I'' have to seriously think about getting Apple Care when I buy my next Mac.

Can anyone confirm if there is 'twat coverage'?

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:32 pm

Honestly I think issues like spilled drinks are the area where it's up to the individual customer service person at Apple you talk to, and not any policy. For instance I had a powerbook 667 (worst laptop Apple ever made), that i was able to get warrantee service for on a paint chipping issue that it seemed most people were not able to have repaired.

Refurbished are great, but if you think you'll sell in two years, (which doesn't sound likely, considering you still use a powerbook), then refurbs get a lower price on ebay etc.
Beyond that the poweerbook 800 I replaced the 667 with was a great machine, and almost twice as fast, clock speed isn't everything.

oblique strategies · Post by **oblique strategies** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:34 pm

I purchased a refurb powerbook in 2004. Didn't care for it. It had a rather obvious gap where the optical drive was. Made me nervous, thinking that it made it past Apple's "Stringent quality control". So I returned it for a new one.

I hate the idea of inheriting someone else's problem. You never know why it was returned to Apple. I don't want to risk it.

Last thing I want to do is go on a big round of troubleshooting, sending it to Apple, having it returned not fixed, sending it back to Apple again, etc.

Computers are enough of a pain in the ass when they work right!!!

duluxdog · Post by **duluxdog** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:47 am

Guys, i'm thinking of getting a macbook pro refurb - i've grown tired of XP and all the fun has gone out of using a computer to do anything. What's the situation with the Firewire chipsets? I'll be running a Presonus Firebox and i'm sure i've read that you are supposed to avoid getting non-Texas insturments
chipsets or something? How can you tell what you're getting, especially when buying a refurb?

oblique strategies · Post by **oblique strategies** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:10 pm

Machinesworking wrote:I had a powerbook 667 (worst laptop Apple ever made).

I had the powerbook titanium 550, & I feel pretty confident is saying that IT was the worst powerbook ever made! Crippled L2 cache, etc. I would have traded my 550 for a 667 any day!

+1 for AppleCare. Helped me numerous times with hardware replacements & repairs.