Forums | MacLife

save your money and get the refurb.

It's always been my opinion that you'd only see the benefit of the bottom- versus the top-of-the-line processor jump if you're upgrading your computer every year or so. Otherwise, in a couple yearsthey're both going to be equally as out of date. If you're planning on hanging onto this one for another 10 years, well, 200MHz ain't going to mean smurf.

Buy the low end refurb.

I just got that exact refurb last week. It's working great and looks as new as a non-refurb macbook. My mac mini croaked on me (logic board died), and I realized I needed a macbook since I was always borrowing my wife's.

Get the refurb.

Last edited by WalrusCP (2008-05-26 10:42 pm)

I always buy refurbs. Exact same warranty as brand new so there is nothing to fear. I've never noticed a single mark from a previous owner or anything that would make me believe it wasn't brand-spanking new. And as Donkey Butter mentioned, the surprise upgrades can also be a big bonus.

I got a pBook with like $700ish dollars of Apple HD and RAM upgrades that I didn't pay a dime for.

But can you get refurbs with a student discount?

Dante_m wrote:

Anyone else get into spousal/partner issues like this?

Yeah. My wife is always getting pissed of at me when I upgrade. She's like "Is that a new computer?" And I'm like "Yeah. I got it last week." So she sez "Can I have your old one?" And I sez "I already gave it to my mistress." And then she flips out for no reason. Look woman, I make the money and I write whatever checks I feel like. Don't try to change me, baby.

How can I not get the refurb?  I hope I get some extra RAM like some of your experiences.  That would really seal it.  But I think I will get the 2.4 GHz refurb.  I think it will be an easier sell to my wife.  I don't think I can explain that the 200MHz won't make a difference.  Her experience is from seeing our computer slowly get left in the dust as web pages got more busier, so from her point of view, how can we not get the fastest we can?  As for the refurb, I find it kind of funny she is not all over that since we live for garage sales and insane deals at thrift stores.  (I have maybe a half dozen name brand dress shirts for work that cost us $1 each!)  But that is an objective point to make--the refurbs pass the same QC that Apple puts its brand new models through and are covered by exactly the same warranty.  No brainer to me.

As for the discount someone asked, the refurbs aren't discounted but the Apple Care plan is.  $183 instead of $250...not bad.  Unfortunately, our local Apple store is in a 7.75% sales tax city, so that hurts.  (our local Best Buy however is in a 6.25% tax rate, so I may go there for other hardware)

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks,

Dante

beige desktop G3/233, 160MB RAM, 10GB hard drive, OS9.2
for now...

Ah, more sage advice.  But we don't really have time to wait, and I really need to buy the Apple protection plan.  To my knowledge, you can't get that anywhere but through Apple.  I don't have enough faith in my abilities to not have that support; and unlike my last job, I don't happen to have a coworker who was a total Mac guru.  [Gave me an old 10G hard drive for my G3 when it died and showed me how to install it!  I will miss that--I really loved how you can go in the G3 and mess around; I wish I learned that sooner!]

Thanks, I'll keep on eye out in those sources for peripherals and hardware.

Dante