When will the new MacBook Pro be refurbished?

https://www.refurb.me/blog/when-will-the-new-macbook-pro-be-refurbished

by simoelalj • 5 years ago

89 103 5 years ago

ravenstine• 5 years ago

My M1 Macbook Air was the first computer I've bought in a long time that was brand new instead of refurbished. The only reason I bought new this time was because the keyboard on my old laptop kept burning out and I didn't want to keep replacing it.

Most of my electronics were bought as refurbished, and I've never regretted it. It's surprising just how "new' a refurbished item can be at a substantial discount. And not once have I had a issues with refurbished items. (the keyboard issue for my last laptop didn't manifest until after ~6 years of use).

gambiting4• 5 years ago

I keep buying stuff from Amazon Warehouse based on the same principle....heavy discount for a "like new" or "very good condition" items, everything so far has been pretty much completely new, or maybe I'd guess someone opened the box once. Either way, Amazon still offers no questions asked 30 day return and 1 year warranty on everything, so it's a no brainer really.

smoldesu6• 5 years ago

I'm fairly sure most of their "like new" products are just returned purchases that couldn't be repackaged for whatever reason. I bought a Samsung Galaxy phone off the site a few years back, and it came with 90% of the original packaging, and the handset itself had no visible blemishes. Pretty good for a 40% discount.

boplicity3• 5 years ago

I agree with this -- however, for bigger purchases, keep in mind that warranties are not always "transferable", and may not apply to used products.

dealforager3• 5 years ago

Same! So much so that I built a website specifically for this: https://www.dealforager.com

It's pretty bare bones, but the problem I was trying to fix was that it took me a long time to browse the Amazon Warehouse offers trying to find the best deals. Amazon doesn't make it easy since they don't show the new and used prices side by side if you search directly under the Amazon Warehouse category. There is also no way to sort by discount. I wasted many hours until one day I decided it was faster to spend a few weeks automating this process.

buildbot6• 5 years ago

This is no longer true about the returns - I may have to go to court with amazon over a warehouse item that was empty, and then they stuck me with the non-returned item when I returned the empty box, wiped my review of the 3rd party seller (fulfilled by amazon). They are currently lying to my credit card company about the chargeback. Not fun...

NikolaNovak• 5 years ago

I've been buying Refurbished Thinkpads for 15 years. I still have two 10-year-old T420s in active use around the household.

There are things I will NOT buy used/refurbished, such as hard drives (I always replace the drive in refurbished laptops and put the refurbished drive into secondary capacity).

ramraj07• 5 years ago

I still have fond memories of my 1000 dollar refurbished original Vaio Z. The one with a carbon fiber magnesium chassis and a Raid 0 SSD drive. Worked like a horse for years before going out. They don’t make laptops like that anymore!

nfoz• 5 years ago

I'd love to try one of the new VAIOs to find out if the quality is the same.

https://us.vaio.com/collections/vaio-sx

jcadam• 5 years ago

If a large number of the new MBPs start showing up in the refurb store in the very near future... that's probably not a good sign.

bombcar2• 5 years ago

Usually the first batch are all returns of custom configurations which can't be sold as new - and sometimes there are good deals.

outside12342• 5 years ago

These are "cold feet" returns usually - its a expensive machine and people have second thoughts.

Jasper_• 5 years ago

You know, I wonder if you could buy a new computer, return it for a refund, and then buy the same configuration back from the refurbished store a month later at a discount.

simoelalj11• 5 years ago

That was the case of the the first Macbook Air M1 (which was super popular): https://www.refurb.me/stats/macbook-air/macbook-air-13.3-inc...

106 days exactly since its first release.

The first batch would be more for people who bought it to review it and return it.

outside12342• 5 years ago

Context: Refurbished Apple machines are essentially new -- but significantly cheaper.

Apple runs them through the manufacturing process again -- including testing and repackaging.

simoelalj11• 5 years ago

Not All Apple refurbished products are created equal though.

Apple have literally the BEST condition you can expect on any refurbished product on the market. But all other refurbishers (Gazelle, Mac of All trades, Amazon Warehouse, Decluttr...) grade them in a scale (A, B, C) based on their cosmetic condition and add a year warranty as well.

bluedino• 5 years ago

> Not All Apple refurbished products are created equal though.

You're comparing 'refurbished Apple products' with 'Apple refurbished products'

Two very different things.

chrisBob• 5 years ago

I love getting Apple products refurbished, but I wish people on the internet wouldn't talk about it so much. I just bought a refurbished M1 Macbook Air, and had to settle for less RAM than I would have liked because my preferred configuration went out of stock while I was debating the purchase.

The experience is even better now than It used to be. I remember buying an iMac a long time ago and it came in an ugly brown box that screamed "you bought this at a discount". My recent Macbook Air just has a tiny "refurbished by Apple" note on what is otherwise normal retail packaging.

spicybright• 5 years ago

I know it shouldn't matter on a practical level, but I love apple product boxes.

For smaller devices I'll even use them as drawer organizers. They're so rugged!

mehrdada4• 5 years ago

Apple's own refurbs usually come with a box identical to the retail one except they don't have the graphics and they are just white and just have a wordmark, e.g. "MacBook Pro", in the center, so you can still use them for storage.

simoelalj11• 5 years ago

That was exactly my pain point back in 2007 when I wanted to get a specific configuration for the retina Macbook Pro. That's why I built RefurbMe as a comparison and monitoring service :)

floatingatoll• 5 years ago

You may wish to prefix "Show HN: " to your title.

k__• 5 years ago

Weren't the Retina displays for Macbooks released in 2012?

mnahkies• 5 years ago

I've only ever brought one Apple product and it was a refurbished "blackbook" - really was a no brainer, I got the top of the line model for the price of a base model MacBook with no discernible difference in quality. That laptop lasted close to 10 years with a few battery replacements along the way

fouc3• 5 years ago

I bought a white macbook in 2006 from the apple refurbished store, no packaging differences from brand new.

I bought a 13" rMBP in 2016 from the apple refurbished store, no packaging differences from brand new.

hajile• 5 years ago

That’s more a function of supply. 16gb M1 Air is almost special order. Mine from Apple had a couple month wait time.

A lot of walk-in places only seem to sell 8gb models with salespeople (falsely) claiming that 8gb is as good as 16 or 32gb on an x86 machine.

bombcar2• 5 years ago

If they went off "ship date" instead of "order date" they'd have more accurate info. Some Mac releases ship immediately upon announcement, others are announced well in advance of first shipments.

simoelalj11• 5 years ago

Generally it's around 2-weeks from the "announcement date" and "order date"?

christiangenco• 5 years ago

It's interesting to me to see that the outlier in time to become refurbished is the Late 2016 MBP (the first version with the Touch Bar).

I would've thought the new design would've meant more broken laptops sooner which (I would think) would mean quicker refurbished laptops.

andrei_says_3• 5 years ago

Louis Rossman has two videos discussing (and showing the boards of) refurbished Apple laptops.

I imagine the quality varies depending on the third party who does the refurbishing.

The videos contain some colorful language.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XaGHcBZjmWA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YhpDs3AJOyI

robertoandred6• 5 years ago

Refurbished by Apple or by Best Buy etc?

smoldesu6• 5 years ago

The refurbishes he's looking at are all Apple-authorized or first party.

fouc3• 5 years ago

I would expect computers from the Apple refurbished store are indistinguishable from brand new the vast majority of the time.

Third-party refurbishers would be a different ball game altogether.

mehrdada4• 5 years ago

I doubt this is the same thing as "Apple Certified Refurbished" store[1] which in my anecdotal (but quite a number of samples) have sold indistinguishable from new products in a sealed non-retail box which is the same as retail except it is plain white, which seems to sell immaculate products (that in my guess probably are either store returns or possibly even new ones under discount without admitting such thing). The board that Rossman highlights is effectively a fixed board from an old unit under warranty, which is probably a completely different pipeline. These specific boards had a known manufacturing issue that Apple is basically papering over.

Best Buy, et al refurbished units are not quite the same.

[1] https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished

andrei_says_3• 5 years ago

I have happily bought from Apple’s repair store, but may not do so with laptops.

mcintyre1994• 5 years ago

This website looks awesome, will definitely use it next time I buy! Super small feedback thing, on your support page (https://www.refurb.me/support) you have some HTML sneaking in:

Refurbished Products <p>Covering answers and tips about refurbished Apple products in general. We break down the answers into sub-categories.</p>

simoelalj11• 5 years ago

Thanks! I just pushed an update to fix that :)

hedgehog• 5 years ago

For a while my yearly OS upgrade strategy was to wait for the XX.2 release, buy a recent model refurb, and then sell the old one once my workflow was migrated. In that situation saving a few hundred dollars on a refurb makes a relatively large difference in net cost. Never had a problem I could attribute to buying refurbs (just some replacements due to the butterfly keyboard problems).

itake• 5 years ago

I'm skeptical this timeline reflects the current supply chain issues that Apple (and the world) is experiencing. Apple has delayed the friends and family discount on the iPhone 13 and does not allow in-store pick up for the macbook pros (Due to limited supply and in-store staffing).

simoelalj11• 5 years ago

I think there would still be a supply for refurbished products (maybe a bit less this time with the shortages) – as Apple cannot sell open-boxes or returned products as new.

jmole• 5 years ago

Bingo - I’m likely planning on returning my 16” for a 14”. After using the M1 air for the past year, the 16” just feels too big.

But even with a 14 day return policy, Apple cant just turn around and sell this as new. I have seen a few open box items at Best Buy though, usually discounted ~$100 or so.

gnicholas2• 5 years ago

They may not allow in-store pickup of online orders, but they did have plenty of stock of the new MBPs when I checked last week.

Also, for anyone considering an MBP, it appears Apple will again offer 6% back on Apple Store purchases over Black Friday/Cyber Monday. They had this deal last year, and it was offered to some folks (seemingly accidentally) last week. It was quickly removed, but they're apparently honoring it for anyone who got in under the wire.

pembrook• 5 years ago

Regarding refurbs, I’ve been buying refurbished gear for years without issue, however recently have had 2 bad experiences that make me question whether it’s worth it.

The first was a an official refurb 2018 MacBook Pro which ended up having a burnt out touchbar and battery issues a year later.

The second was an official Amazon refurb kindle, which never reached even half the battery life of a new model.

This is of course anecdata (these issues could have occurred with brand new items as well), but I would love to see blackblaze style reliability data from companies who buy large numbers of refurb laptops vs new stock.

I’m curious if there’s a correlation.

tarellel• 5 years ago

I've bought several MBP's over the years. The 2018 MPB is one of their worst models I've had ever had and still have. I've had the keyboard in-operable and repaired twice. The battery has been services twice and won't keep a charge again.

I'm honestly blown away by the latest version, but what to wait to for the hype to die down and ensure there's no Quality issues with this years model as well. But it appears they may have taken a step back and instead of pushing aesthetics this year, they looked at what its users "want/need".

mehrdada4• 5 years ago

Those issues would have likely occurred even on new MBP 2016-19 models, esp. on 2016.

singhrac• 5 years ago

I buy refurbished too pretty much every time, and I've had no real problems. Keyboard in 2014 MBP gave out because I dropped a Clorox wipe on it, and they replaced the whole motherboard for free (in warranty). Typing this on a refurbished 2019 16" MBP with no problems yet, though I swear typing lags every so often which I attribute to the Intel processor and some throttling.

fouc3• 5 years ago

The first was a an official refurb 2018 MacBook Pro which ended up having a burnt out touchbar and battery issues a year later.

Why do you consider this to be a bad experience when it was clearly still under warranty and they replaced your topcase for free - brand new touchbar & battery & keyboard?

gnicholas2• 5 years ago

Just a nit:

It should be noted that Apple itself is unlikely to sell the new MacBook Pro as refurbished. As soon as it’s released.

This should be one sentence, at least to my ear.

simoelalj11• 5 years ago

Thanks for the feedback! I rephrased the conclusion :)

adolph• 5 years ago

On average, the discount you can expect is 15% from the Apple store. So expect to see the refurb price for a refurbished 14-inch starting from $1,699 and the 16-inch from $2,125.

I'm a refurb-first shopper/buyer and something I've noticed about Apple's refurbs is that they often maintain their from-new discount as if products released later (sometimes with lower price tags than the returb) don't exist.

Reviewing the store today, it looks like they are doing a somewhat better job of price models for refurbs but maintain a silly discount for things. Example: refurb XS at $550, "save $340." Claiming $340 is fictitious--a new 11 is $500. Maybe XS to 11 is not an apple-orange comparison but the price competitiveness of a new older model phone speaks to refurbs as not always being bargains.

samstave• 5 years ago

I had a macbook pro which was under the recall for the 15" recall...

This fucking machine caught FIRE while in my bed as I fell asleep.

Apple had the machine for TWO MONTHS in the flagship San Francisco Store.

After TWO MONTHS they told me that I could not have the machine replaced (it was under RECALL for battery incinerations) -- IT INCINERATED and caught fire. IN MY BED.

After spending TWO MONTHS at the flagship apple store they said they couldnt replace the machine because at "some point" the liquid sensors were set off... and they wouldnt replace it.

So a machine that was under recall for specifically a battery explosion/fire incident, which actually caught fire was denied the recall because a liquid trigger had been set off was denied.

it took Apple, TWO FUCKING MONTHS to come to this conclusion.

Fuck you Tim Apple

mixmastamyk• 5 years ago

Small claims court might be a help.

When will the new MacBook Pro be refurbished?

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