Anyone here buy a refurb from Apple? (1 Viewer)

I'm set on getting a 20" iMac, but I'm cheap by nature. I noticed the refurb section of The Apple Store has the 20" 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo for $1,299 which is $200 less than regular price. Good deal? Think I should just pony up the extra $200 and go new?

Is it the exact same computer, for $200 less? Is the warranty the same? Do you think a 15% discount for buying a used product is a good deal?


I don't think there's any concern about buying a refurbed item. You just need to make sure you're comparing apples to apples, as it were.

I've personally bought a refurb MB Pro and it shipped as if it were brand new. I've also have several friends buy refurbs and they've been perfect as well. The warranty is the same and other then the fact they come in a boring brown box there's no difference at all. I'm going to be picking up a 20" iMac for my wife in a few months and it'll be purchased as a refurb as well.

Purchased refurbs from Apple many times for myself and clients. Recently they started using flat brown boxes with a clear indication to refurb. Before it was the same factory box on iMacs and G5s, or first gen Pros.

The computers are new IMO. They do not send scratched or dent product.
The best deals are on 1 gen old product.

They can't be new, if they're refurbished. Apple notes they "test and certify all ... refurbished products", implying they've been previously enjoyed. Likely, many are stock that were returned and are sold as refurb rather than new. But I wouldn't been surprised that they're all physically unblemished, looking good as new.

Personally, if we are only talking $200 I'd go new.

On the other hand, my friend at work just bought a refurbished
Macbook Pro and it looked like new.

IMO - as in close enough.

Many are stock that failed QC and doesn't return to stock until end of production time. All of the machines I've opened look brand new. I.E. they go through much more than just being repacked.

Agree - 200 off is not a deal - the ones at 600-1000+ off are the deals.

A deal is in the eye of the purchaser, but I advise additional scrutiny on the items with larger discounts. They're often for discontinued stock, perhaps a year or more out of date (in terms of product line revisions). To me, you need to think about the true "discount".

Like Ron, I prefer to buy new in such a case. But for others, certainly, it's a good way to save some cash, get a good computer, but not have to risk buying a used computer off ebay.

I got real luck with a refurbished MBP 15" model off Amazon, it was with one of their sister companies (warehouse deals or something like that) and the price was $1959 or something like that, so around $500 off the original price. Since it wasn't amazon directly, I was al ittle nervous, but they had the same return policy as Amazon, full refund within 30 days etc, so I took a chance. The description said the box was dinged up and repackaged or something of that nature, and when it arrived it was taped to seal it up, but other than that, it was in mint shape.

I am not a Mac user (a PC guy), but I have bought referb PCs before from Dell and had not problems. I agree with Ron in this case...the $200 discount doesn't seem like that good of a deal and I would just go new. I think the discount should be at least 25% to consider a refurb.