Should I buy a refurbished mac?

Instead of buying a refurbished mac, you might want to wait until the new version of the macbook / macbook pro comes out. As people rush to upgrade their computers, you can pick them up for cheap on ebay or craigslist.

Just a thought.

I have bought a bunch of them. My record with refurbished ones is actually better than with new ones. They have the same warranty. And the case is the cheap part of the computer. All of the ones I have bought have been cosmetically flawless.

@atharkhan – I am actually in the market for a desktop. And recently I ran into some problems with my powerbook and was only able to moderately fix it because I couldn’t justify spending the amount of money required on a three year old computer. With that said, I would like to purchase an extended Apple Care Protection Plan on whatever I decide to get.

@johnpowell – Good to know. I’m less worried about the casing than about the actual performance.

All the ones I have bought work great. And the refurbished ones get much more testing before they ship than new ones do. The only reason I bought my current iMac new is that I got the EDU discount.

My MacBook is refurbished and flawless.

I bought a refurbished macbook pro in march and have had no problems since. I love my new MacBook pro and my wallet loves me for the hundreds of dollars I saved.

I’ve heard Apple never wants to see these machines again, so they make sure the refurbished equipment is in top shape before they sell it.

If it’s from the Apple Store, it’s been refurbished by Apple and has the same warranty as a new unit, so I’d say go for it – it’s same manufacturer, just cheaper.

Definitely go for it.
Another point: refurbished products are hand-worked on and hand-tested; new products are right off of the assembly line.

I have bought several over the years and every single one of them has been flawless and like brand new. I may never buy a new Mac ever again.

Thank you all for your repsonses! I just bought the refurbished iMac. I’m pretty excited. I’ll update later on for future flutherites who have the same question and want to know how it is working out.