[Archived] Mac Book Pro - Refurbished

[Paul]

My youngest has been on work experience all summer as part of his college course and is itching to invest his hard earned in a Mac Book Pro. He can't afford a new one unless I stump up the extra, which may still happen as he hasn't asked for any help, but off his own back has been investigating the refurbished Mac Books from Apple.

Bit of guidance here please:

1. Is the Mac Book Pro a good machine, I've never used one but I know Mac users love their machines

2. Are the refurbished machines a good buy? The savings seem to be in the region of £4-500. Normally I'd say go for new but the differeenc is such that a refurbished mac looks like a very good deal?

3. Anyhting to be aware of when buying Apple Macs over a standard PC?

[Guest Kamy100]

1. Is the Mac Book Pro a good machine, I've never used one but I know Mac users love their machines

I was a PC users until 2 years ago when I bought my first mac book which was awesome, I recently upgraded to a Macbook Pro and really like it, what will your son be using the macbook pro for? I use mine for graphic editing so appreciate the extra power but in most cases a normal macbook with a ram upgrade (costs an extra £80) would be just fine. But in answer to your question yes the Macbook Pro is a superb machine, it is really well built and I have had no problems with it.

2. Are the refurbished machines a good buy? The savings seem to be in the region of £4-500. Normally I'd say go for new but the differeenc is such that a refurbished mac looks like a very good deal?

If it is a official apple refurbishment then you will be fine, also make sure it is one of the new model macbook pro's which came out early this year (silver coloured ones)

3. Anyhting to be aware of when buying Apple Macs over a standard PC?

The Operating System is slightly different to Windows but people pick it up within an hour or so, it is all one click which again takes getting some used to, some programs are PC only and if he wants to use it for gaming then be aware that very few games come out on the MAC, other than that stuff like Microsoft Office have mac versions available.

I would give serious consideration to buying just a MACBOOK if your son is just using it for general stuff and not for processor heavy stuff like advanced graphics editing, also good idea to go up to the Apple Store in the Arndale Centre or Trafford Centre and have a play around with both and take it from there.

[BlueWhiteDynamite]

In the latest range of the Mac book, Apple have introduced a smaller mac book pro at about £900

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop...ily/macbook_pro

I have a standard Macbook for Uni and its great. It runs photoshop very well, I have all the office applications i need (Excel, Word, Powerpoint) and a few games(football manager works very well) My machine is a few years old now, but its almost the same as when i bought it. The battery life is fantastic, I know a lot of people who have HP, compaq laptops etc and their battery life has reduced significantly, but mine is as good as new (it also lasts longer in general). The support you get from the phone team or the shops is also amazing. Generally they can fix any problems in store if you book an appointment. As for the OS: it may take a few days to get used to, but when you go back to Windows you'll see how much the Apple OS makes sense.

I would suggest he thinks why a Pro is needed over a standard Macbook (as the graphical units have improved in the standard Macbooks) and then would suggest looking at the prices on the apple educational website. I think now, you can only access it through the educational institutes internet, you just click through to education store (whilst on a college PC) on the main apple store. Here the prices are reduced by upto 20% usually. and if your lucky they can even offer buy now pay in 6 months intrerest free.

Hope some of this helps

[Lee]

After going through five PC laptops in my eight years at Blackburn Rovers I finally convinced the bosses that a MacBook Pro was the way to go.

I've got the 15" version, and it a truly tremendous machine. I also run Windows XP on it via Parallels software as the content management system required to put content on the website is Internet Explorer only. Even though it is via emulation, Windows XP runs so so much quicker than it did on my previous Samsung laptop.

The amount of programs I run at the same time would be nigh on impossible on my former computer which would need rebooting during the day to help it cope. Aside from applying software updates, I've not switched the laptop off yet in the month I've had it.

Battery life is astounding, I'm no light user and I get on average 5-6 hours of heavy use. I never got anything like that out of any of my former laptops, plus it is really light too which is a bonus.

Paul, you'll never get a word out of your son if he gets a MacBook pro, he'll be on it all the time.

[M-K]

Apple refurbs are great. I know a couple of people who have bought them (not laptops, mind) and they say the refurbs are indistinguishable from new ones. Quite often they're computers that have had a minor fault, been swapped for a working one at the Apple store and sent back to Apple for a repair, so they haven't been used and abused too much.

Go for it!

[Ricky]

Groobs... what happened in Cambridge though...... was it a dead laptop????

[Drummer Boy]

I am a Mac user with our home having a couple of G4 Powermacs, a G3 iMac, a G4 iMac and an intel MacbookPro and, since quitting Windows 8 years ago, have never had a problem with either hardware, software or cross-platform compatibility. I can run all MS Office apps, access all web hosted e-mail services, play more games than I need and know I have a a level of reliability I could only dream about with Windows.

Taking your questions:

Is the Mac Book Pro a good machine?

It's an outstanding bit of kit that is hugely capable, of superior build quality and rock solid reliability

Are the refurbished machines a good buy?

Don't know to be honest - but I have bought a few secondhand Macs with no major problems at all, so can only imagine the refurbished models will be "as new" especially if they are from the Apple refurbished site

Anything to be aware of when buying Apple Macs over a standard PC?

Yes - apparently identical specifications will not produce identical performance. I don't know why but, for example, if you get a Mac with 2 Ghz processor and a PC with the same the Mac will perform faster. I guess this is something to do with Operating System architecture but would refer to someone more geeky than me for a definitive answer. Also, because of the level of performance, reliability and automatic software updating, your machine will provide an acceptable level of performance for a longer period of time and you may want to consider this as part of your whole-life cost when comparing with a seemingly cheaper Windows machine that will be obsolete and break down 2 years and one day after your purchase thereby lasting long enough to take you out of warranty and nothing more.

On the downside, if you like to "dabble" with the innards of such machines, Apple laptops are probably not for you but the desktop machines will suit you down to the ground as they are eminently upgradeable within the carcass in the same way as most Windows machines

Finally, I have yet to meet or speak with a convert from Windows to Mac who would ever contemplate going back to Windows - that's a pretty good testament!

Hope this helps

[Lee]

Groobs... what happened in Cambridge though...... was it a dead laptop????

Bad networking configuration by the office!

That laptop died out in Italy the night we drew with Roma. Woke up to find pink goo oozing from it!

As for Apple refurbs, go for it, you can get some very good deals and like has been said, there is often little to distinguish between the brand new boxes.

[M-K]

One other thing to bear in mind, if your lad is in college - he can get a bit of a discount on a new Macbook, and if you buy an iPod at the same time you get a £145 rebate, so pretty much a free iPod (that you could sell on) as well. May well add up to something comparable to the refurb price, or at least not too far off.

[Lee]

http://www.apple.com/uk/students/

[Paul]

That's all very helpful, thank you. My boy is studying the BTEC National Diploma at Blackburn college, - currently heading for a merit and then Uni - in computer networking. He's beginning to show some interest in website design but doesn't have a specific use for the machine in mind. Gaming doesn't come into the equation as we have an embarrassing array of games consoles, most of which I can just about plug in!!! As this is primarily his own hard earned cash I wanted to be sure he was making a good investment, it sounds as though he is. Secondly if he heads off to Uni and needs a good machine it would be nice to have this already available. I wasn't aware of the potential student discounts, so we need to look into those. I'd vaguely heard something about the iPod deal and was planning to look into it later.

I had a feeling a refurb would be as good as new if it came from Apple, they simply can't afford to sell duff equipment if they want to maintain the brand.

Thanks again and if there are further commenst please keep them coming.

[Hasta]

Nothing new to add other than I've had 2 imacs and a Mac Mini, used for browsing, general office stuff and some light - medium graphics work and all have been superb. My friend works as a freelance graphic designer and saved quite a bit by buying a refurbished G5 a few years back. That has also been perfect.

[BlueWhiteDynamite]

Because of the cost, I'd really get him to think ahead at what he wants to study at uni. because if its a computer programing/network course then i would have thought a standard PC with windows would be better.

[Lee]

But with a Mac you can run both Windows XP/Vista/7 as well. I run both side by side.

[Eddie]

I've got a mac question, bought one of the new macbooks back in October, but I see that the new macbook pros have a longer battery life, is that a result of a new battery, or other changes? Basically, can I buy a new battery to get an extra 2 hours or so?

[M-K]

It's a new type of battery - an absolutely massive one that takes up about a quarter of the space under the keyboard, so you can't put it in one of the older Macbooks.

There's a load of pictures of the insides here:

ifixit.com Macbook Pro teardown

[Lee]

My MacBook Pro currently states I've got 8 hours and 25 minutes left of battery power

[M-K]

Mine says 7 hours 20 mins. It never actually lasts that long though.

Are you using Snow Leopard?

[American]

Think I'm going to wait a bit on snow leopard until they get the bugs out.

I usually recommend Macs, as I've always used them, but if you don't do graphics stuff, you're overpaying for the name. I believe they have about a 45% profit margin built into every machine they sell, because they refuse to license the OS.

[M-K]

I find them better to use for all things, not just graphics stuff. Anyway, the price of a Macbook Pro is fairly similar to what you'd pay for something really nice like a Vaio or whatever, so as long as you're not comparing them to the kind of things you get free with mobile broadband contracts they're not that overpriced.

The new OS only cost £7.95. Not that I can tell the difference, other than Quicktime looks a bit shinier and there's almost 10GB of extra space on my HD.

[Eddie]

It's a new type of battery - an absolutely massive one that takes up about a quarter of the space under the keyboard, so you can't put it in one of the older Macbooks.

There's a load of pictures of the insides here:

ifixit.com Macbook Pro teardown

Nevermind

[Lee]

As my MacBook is only a month old I got it for just £7.95, and installing Snow Leopard was a breeze plus I gained 20GB in the process.

I had one program that didn't work (Cyberduck FTP) but that was quickly sorted by downloading a new version on their website.

[American]

I've heard it is worth it, and will upgrade, just like to wait a few weeks until most of the bugs are found.

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

Paul,

I'm not sure what the deal is at Blackburn College, although I'd presume it is not so different, but universities offer heavily discounted software licences to their departments, students and staff. As an example, at one institution I know of you can currently get a copy of Microsoft Office for the Mac or PC for 15 quid. Others I can remember off the top of my head - Corel Draw is 4 quid and Photoshop is 80 quid, with the latter only available via departmental applications. So... make sure your son finds out what he can get through the university before he buys any software for his new machine.

Also, if you have a full version of Windows XP lying around spare, you can install it on a MacBook (Pro) and have a dual boot system in addition to being able to access Windows from within Mac OS X via virtualisation software such as Parallels and Fusion.

Finally, the refurbished MacBook Pro is a brilliant deal, but for peace of mind you might want to extend the warranty by taking out an AppleCare warranty.

Hope that helps.