Experiences Buying Refurbished Apple Products: A Real User's Perspective

I've had great experiences buying used iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks from Apple, eBay, and Amazon. This article shares my insights on refurbished Apple products, the process of purchasing them, and the occasional challenges I faced.

Buying Refurbished Apple Products Made Easy

Buying a refurbished Mac laptop or any other Apple product is really straightforward. With careful consideration, asking questions, and ensuring proper protection, most issues can be avoided. Here's my personal experience:

When shopping on eBay, I always look at the seller's rating to make sure I'm getting a quality item. The vast majority of my experiences have been fantastic, with items often lasting many years like brand new.

Understanding the Apple Refurbished Program

Every Mac product I own is an Apple refurbished model of the current year, except for my new M1 laptop. Apple has a very flexible trial offer. You can use any Apple product for around 2 weeks and return it for a full refund. These returned computers cannot be sold as new, so Apple cleans them inside and out, ensures they are in new condition, then resells them at a discounted price.

The new buyer receives the same new item warranty, starting from the new purchase date. Some refurbished devices may have been repaired, where defective items are now resold as new. By repair, Apple does not mend a defective board; instead, they replace the board with a new one and that repaired system is now like new. These refurbished computers come with a full 2-year warranty. So, it is possible to get Apple Mac products of varying ages from the Apple refurbished program.

Save some money and buy refurbished. You are getting the same quality and Apple treats it like you bought it brand new on your purchase date. However, do not buy a private-party refurbished Apple Mac product unless the original warranty is still in effect.

Personal Experience with Apple Refurbished Products

In the past, I've never bought anything regarding computers refurbished except for two instances. The first time was in the early 2000s with a Lenovo desktop, which worked perfectly well. In mid-2020, I ordered a Mac Mini with the new Apple processor. After a year, Apple refunded me the full amount. Despite that, the new Apple processor was very quick and efficient and saved me a lot of time on video rendering/conversion projects.

I had been eyeing a MacBook Pro and intended to spend up to $3000 to get it maxed out with the latest Apple processor and 64GB memory, 4TB SSD. Unfortunately, the M1 processor was not available, limiting the memory to 16GB and SSD storage to 2TB. I ended up purchasing a MacBook Air with the M1 processor for $250 less than its new price, taking advantage of previous returns and credits.

I received the MacBook Air within two days and unboxed it with ease. However, I encountered several issues that required a lot of troubleshooting:

Internet speed was very slow, affecting multiple devices. Trying to perform a Mac OS update was extremely slow, taking 8-9 hours and eventually failing. Multiple calls to Apple Support yielded no immediate solutions. Apple Support suggested downloading Rosetta 2, but the process was circular. Eventually, I had to wipe the computer and start over. The process failed, causing frustration.

I eventually discovered the issue was with my router. After upgrading to a WiFi 6 router and adjusting the settings, the speed improved significantly. Once the Mac was updated, the machine started performing optimally.