Anyone bought an Apple Certified Refurb

I did buy a iMac G5 1.8 Ghz from Apple as a Certified Refurbished.

Its a good computer, runs great now because it has 2 GB of RAM, only came with 256 MB of RAM and that was slow.

One other thing Apple did forget to include Mac OS 10.4 Tiger and iLife 06' , had to call Apple Support to get them, they shipped them out to me.

The imac case had some a couple of scuffs but was o.k.

If you can live with a Mac or iPod that has been used go for it!

I bought my mini from the Apple Store (in a store) in MicroCenter. They were very nice, and very honest. I asked the guy what he thought of the refurbs vs brand new, and he told there's nothing worth worrying about other than the full tests the refurb gets, and a little bit of the warranty time used up. Oh, and the nice drop in price! I got the full spec SuperDrive mini for the cost of the midrange 1.42GHz Mini. And it turned out the be a quietly upgraded mini to boot. It's quite worth money, as it got a better set of tests than any of the new Macs get from the factory.

I bought a Mini from Microcenter in Cambridge Mass in January, I went in looking for an ibook, but ended up asking if they had any open box minis. I ended up haggling a bit and walked out with an original 1.42 for $290.

i just bought a dual 2ghz G5 refurb.
the case was in perfect condition, and if i wouldn't have known better i woulden't be able to tell it from a new one.

i talked it over with apple for quite a while, and found out some interesting info.
when they assemble a new machine, it only gets a basic function check and QA before they send it out the door.
when they get a return they totally tear the computer down, test each individual part, replace anything thats bad, reassemble it, then they do a burn in stress test, where they run the thing as hard as they can for a while (don't know how long). only if it makes it through that process does it get out the door.
also, anything that comes back for any reason goes through the refurb process. even the ones that they get back from lease agreements with production company's

the ONLY complaints that i have are:

1. they sent me the wrong power cord. where it is supposed to plug into the computer the pin arrangement was totally different. unlike the 3 vertical pins on a normal compuer, they were all horizontal. i've never seen anything like it.

2. no aiport/bluetooth antenna

3. no little black studs to install an extra HD

a call to tech support got me the cord and airport antenna overnighted to me, but i couldn't get them to budge on the studs and BT.
but for the price i can't complain

I was looking at the $49 iPod Shuffles. I wonder what testing if any they go through? That price is really, really tempting.

i don't see apple tearing them apart to test everything... but who knows.
either way you cut it they come with the SAME warranty and applecare options as new. so even if it is messed up somehow they will fix/replace it

I also bought a iMac G5 1.8Ghz and it arrived ok. Keyboard was missing a key! So I called and they sent me a new one out right away. About 8 months later I was having some logic board problems, lockups, etc. Turns out it had a bad PS and board. Apple care repaired it twice before it was fixed 100%. Working like a champ now... Overall I recommend getting a refurb as they will support it as it was new.

Got one of those cheap $50 refurb iPod Shuffles. Good as new in every way - physical condition, no files left on the flash drive, brand new sealed earbuds, and all docs and accessories included.

I also bought an Apple refurb Powerbook 2400c back around '98, and it too was pristine. It was still working great and looking new when I sold it last year.

Matt

jumping in a little late here, but i got an Apple Refurb'd iPod photo 20 Gigabyte. about 3 months ago I believe. Absolutely spotless case, works great, very satisfied

with either the powerbook or the imac that I bought from Apple refurb.

Good values and with a year of Applecare how can you miss.

Cheers...

We just bought a refurb 30GB iPod Video from MicroCenter. It was $239, and we used the savings to buy a Griffin iTrip auto. That will work with both iPods unlike the original iTrip we got for my 20GB 3g iPod. We also got a pack of Speck SkinTight cases, of which I promptly cut a hole in the bottom of one so we could use the iTrip auto with it and not have to undo the bottom of the case all the time... ::rolleyes::

EDIT: And just as I predicted when Apple released the iPod HiFi, Speck has a compeditor: SpeckTone Retro

Which gives me an idea of what to do with that old dead RCA radio I've got laying around...