Refurbished Mac. Need advise Please!!!!

[unlimiteddisney]

DH wants a mac. for Christmas. There is no way I can affors a brand new one. I am looking for a refurbished one. I am so nervous, I know very little about Mac. What do I look for? Where do I look? I have seen some on Ebay, just nervous I will end up with junk. Please help

 

[minnie1928]

DH wants a mac. for Christmas. There is no way I can affors a brand new one. I am looking for a refurbished one. I am so nervous, I know very little about Mac. What do I look for? Where do I look? I have seen some on Ebay, just nervous I will end up with junk. Please help

I bought my refub MacBook directly from Apple. They warranty them just like their non-refurb units (I know, I had warranty work done - minor). They list them on their website, if you do a search for "refurbish" in the Apple site, you should be able to find them. Availability does fluctuate, so if you don't see it today, check again tomorrow.

 

[Lisa_M]

I don't have a mac, but the only refurbished one I would consider is from the Apple store (apple.com). I wouldn't even bother with Ebay or Craigslist. I believe that Apple has a warranty on their refurbished products when purchased through them.

 

[unlimiteddisney]

What are things I should be looking for? Componets and memory? This is just a everyday laptop. He has a businees one.

 

[dex08]

I'm an IT consultant and while I use PCs at work, I use Mac at home. Just like PPs, I would only ever purchase a refurb directly from Apple.

What is he planning to do with it? Just email and surf? Gaming? Photos and editing? Do you want a larger monitor or smaller for more portability?

 

[princessbride6205]

I would think you'd want the MacBook (lowest priced laptop).
Right now Apple has one for $799 on their website:
Refurbished MacBook 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - White
When you go to apple, click on store, then scroll all the way to the bottom and look to the left - should have a "special deals" section.

If you want a desktop, there is an iMac avail for $849.

If you go into the actual stores, they will often have these avail too - you might have to ask.

 

[I Believe n Fairies]

My dh bought one last year refurbed from Apple. He is a music guy and wanted it for the recording side of things and it suits his needs perfectly. We saved LOTS of money buying the refurb and would do it again if we needed to.

 

[Swimalie]

I would think you'd want the MacBook (lowest priced laptop).
Right now Apple has one for $799 on their website:
.

We just bought a brand new MacBook for $884 so for a little more, you can get a brand new one. We got ours through MacConnection.

But, if you are looking for refurbished, we have bought from Mac ResQ (now iREsQ) http://www.iresq.com/ before and had great luck. In fact the machine we bought from them is about 11 years old and still works (my husband refuses to get rid of his old Macs )

 

[Lovemydog]

I bought a refurb imac from Apple webiste about six months ago and LOVE it! I have bought all of our ipods this way, too and have never had a problem.

 

[Beavers5]

I bought a refurb imac from Apple webiste about six months ago and LOVE it! I have bought all of our ipods this way, too and have never had a problem.

What they said, except I've been using my refurb iMac for close to 4 years.

 

[dfchelbay]

DH wants a mac. for Christmas. There is no way I can affors a brand new one. I am looking for a refurbished one. I am so nervous, I know very little about Mac. What do I look for? Where do I look? I have seen some on Ebay, just nervous I will end up with junk. Please help

What about the Mac Mini? That's the hard drive of an Apple computer. Read about it on the Apple website to see if that will work for your DH. It cost way less too.

 

[Golf4food]

We bought a refurb iMac a little over two years ago from the Apple website. Suffered a component failure about six months later and they replaced the whole thing - even got upgraded to the newer year model and newer year software at no cost. Don't buy one from anyone but Apple direct, though.

 

[3boymthr]

Oh, and if you have a discovercard you can save a little more money if you buy direct from apple. Go to the discovercard website and log in and choose shop discover then look for all merchants. Apple is currently offering a 5% cashback rebate on all purchases bought on a discover card if you use the link. The cashback shows up in your account in about 6-8 weeks (two billing cycles) and on an $800 mac would work out to $40 - which you can apply it to your balance or add to by getting a GC or just take the cash direct to a checking or savings account.

ETA - we've been very satisfied with every purchase from the Apple Store online. Never ever had a problem, refurbed or not. DB also buys direct from them - several refurbed computers and he's never had a problem either.

 

[unlimiteddisney]

Thank you very much everyone!! I am still on my search.

 

[C-CMom]

We've bought from Apple Authorized resellers MacMall and MacConnection several times before and have been happy with them. They (at least in the past - not sure about currently) have offered refurb items, but we have bought new. We have found rebates or special offers with them to reduce the new price.