All for one and one for all

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piquant

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WWIII is raging at our country estate over the word REFURBISH. One faction — including the inside servants, cook, gardener, chauffeur, et al (none of whom favor unemployment), agree that anyone who doesn't recognize that buying a refurbished 13" Macbook for $795 is like found money, needs psychiatric care.

The other dismal and abysmal group of malcontents, allege that the word REFURBISH doesn't rhyme with RUBBISH for nothing. To avoid bloodshed, we've agreed to submit briefly to the opinions of those of you who have opinions, but then to promptly resume hostilities with new ammunition,
 
piquant said:
WWIII is raging at our country estate over the word REFURBISH. One faction — including the inside servants, cook, gardener, chauffeur, et al (none of whom favor unemployment), agree that anyone who doesn't recognize that buying a refurbished 13" Macbook for $795 is like found money, needs psychiatric care.

...
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In the war, I am solidly on the side of your brilliant servants, cook, gardner, and chauffeur. Which side are the stable hands on? No matter. Having said that, there is the issue of price. The education price of new MacBooks start at $950. This price, you can get a brand new computer. For $150 less, you can get a computer that is "like new." The choice comes down to this simple question:

Do I want a brand new MacBook or do I want $150.
 
Refurbished essentially means that a product was returned for some reason and can no longer be sold as new, even though it's being delivered to you as if it is. Refurbished products are retested and verified to perform like new ones. Buy refurb and save! That way you extra money to upgrade memory, for example.
 
If I recall correctly, refurbished Mac computers purchased through Apple carry the same warranty as new computers.

Not sure if they're AppleCare-eligible as well, but I would suspect they are.
 
Refurb from Apple is a no-brainer. They come with full warranty and are fully eligible for AppleCare. There is no downside except refurb arrives in industrial brown versus high gloss white exterior packaging. That's it. Seriously.
 
In the broad sense I would say that there's nothing wrong with refurb products.

In the more specific sense, it would depend on what was wrong, and how it was fixed. If the defective component was replaced, the system was tested, and now works... It should be indistinguishable from a new product. Of course if some idiot who doesn't have any idea what they're doing is the one who "fixes" it, that's a whole other story.

Basically, new units fail too, otherwise we wouldn't have refurb stuff. And in the case of Apple, they go as far as to give the same 1 year warranty to refurb stuff as new. So, the only real difference is that the refurb unit costs less and someone's worked on it.
 
My innate modesty does not allow even a trace of exultation on my part, but I suppose regarding one's self as Einsteinian is modest enough for even my absent stable hands. That is, those who speak English, and who were probably shooting craps in my favorite polo pony's crib when I polled my retainers for their unvarnished opinions. It warmed the cockles of my heart that the overwhelming majority of opinion holders, agreed with me that REFURBISHED is not a dirty word in Scandinavian, or in Chile where the word means, "Here's to you." Well enough, enough of this foolishness, I've decided to buy Apple and refurbish my own computers.

I'm not sure what those funny fingers mean up there — but if they're not middle fingers, I endorse them. Thanks for your well informed views, I hope you'll look me up after my lawyers put the terminal squeeze on Apple, and leave me with a lot of openings to fill.
 
What now?, piquant. Was that a joke? I think we were collectively pretty clear that refurbishing your own Mac will not achieve the same level of quality as buying one refurbed by Apple.
 
earthsaver said:
What now?, piquant. Was that a joke? I think we were collectively pretty clear that refurbishing your own Mac will not achieve the same level of quality as buying one refurbed by Apple.
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I can refurb one as good if not better than Apple. But only refurbs done by Apple has the option of adding Applecare to it. So, yeah, I'd buy refurb from Apple and make sure I bought Applecare with it, because you never know why it can't be sold new anymore.
 
I will add a large plus for the refurbished models. They may have been found faulty at some point but have received more care and testing than the new models.

But only ever buy them from Apple who have a vested interest in not seeing the model back again.

I have resisted buying from Apple resellers after seeing the state of their "refurbished" models. Usually at ridiculously disproportionate prices and visibly not refurbished.

One particular local reseller should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Most of their models were untouched second Macs with not even all parts present in the box. I can only imagine the fools who actually pay what these people are asking.
 
djackmac said:
I can refurb one as good if not better than Apple. But only refurbs done by Apple has the option of adding Applecare to it. So, yeah, I'd buy refurb from Apple and make sure I bought Applecare with it, because you never know why it can't be sold new anymore.
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To be fair, any ACMT can... Or at least SHOULD be able to. We get the same parts any Apple employed tech would use. Though at least in the US, I seem to recall there being something in the whole AASP agreement/manual thing about how if you receive a DOA machine one of the options is to sell it as refurbished. I assume that's if you (as the AASP) buy it off the customer or the customer never pays for the work, etc. It's a bit light on the details.

I'd look it up and quote the relevant bits, but there's the whole blanket confidentiality thing Apple puts on all of that information. But I'm not really sure how Apple could really track that. If I buy a broken MBP off of someone, and fix it using parts ordered via my GSX account, then resell it... Not really sure how Apple could track that. And assuming the system was less than a year old... Now if the system were over a year old, then only Apple could issue a fresh warranty on it.
 
earthsaver said:
What now?, piquant. Was that a joke? I think we were collectively pretty clear that refurbishing your own Mac will not achieve the same level of quality as buying one refurbed by Apple.
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No, indeed not Ben, I was seriously serious. I've had so may persons depreciate refurbished products, that I felt I shold tap the cornacupia of informed knowledge out there. Yes, I did have a little fun with it, but I catalogued all your answers in my consciousness. I concluded early on that a properly refurbed Mac should warrent anyone's attention. I'm looking in that direction.
 
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