A friend of mine used to work for an Apple retail store, and he likes to say that most often with Apple refurbs, the only part that needs replacing...is the user.
Fellow Apple Rep here: I cannot believe they sent you a Demo unit! Makes me really wonder how that happened in the first place. From my experience, seeing the user profiles named "demouser" or "demoadmin" tells me that MacBook likely came from one of our retail partner spaces (Best Buy, Costco).
My own refurb experience has been nothing but positive. One of my former employers bought nothing but refurb for new hires, and it made me realize how much I enjoyed MacOS, and how effective their refurb program was.
We still mostly use Intel MBP’s in our office, so I’ve been buying specific refurbished models. There’s never an issue with them and I’ve been buying them for 6 months now. They work just like a new one. Only difference so far has been limited availability of models and a different box.
Been getting mine on EBay for the better part of a decade, never had a single issue (Written on iPad Pro 12.9 m1 and magic keyboard that were both “refurbished” and working as good as new)
When Apple were having their whole butterfly keyboard fiasco, I actually recommended a family member buy refurbished, because there was a glut of refurbs on the store for a while, and they'd all likely had a keyboard fail, and had the slightly improved keyboard with the rubber protective layer installed. I still advised her never to eat anything crumby over it, because, you know, it's still a butterfly keyboard, but she saved a good bit of money compared to buying new, and hasn't had any issues in like two years.
@@IgnoreSolutions Oh it's not a great feeling keyboard, no. I could never live with one. On my desk I have a nice mechanical keyboard with a lot of travel on the keys, so there's no way I could ever grow to love keys that barely actuate at all before they bottom out. It was actually the deciding factor when I was choosing between the M1 Air and the M1 Pro, last year. That, and the only functional difference between the two machines was a fan, so gaining a fan and losing an acceptable keyboard didn't seem like a good deal for the extra cost. The butterfly keyboard is fine for my cousin, though. She's never been spoiled by good keyboards like I have. She's had a string of bottom of the market cheap laptops, and only used the keyboards that came in box with desktops, so in that context the butterfly keyboard might actually have been an upgrade to her.
Worked in Apple stocking warehouse in UK. Even slightly dented corner of the white box or plastic film around the box meant the mac went to refub department and was discounted and sold as refurbished despite the lack of damage to the mac. Mind you vendors might have different policy towards refubs.
As a MD citizen, it’s a real pain to deal with the “premium” resellers which are actually importing iPhones from Romania (mostly) and sell it with an additional 15-20% on top of the iPhones’ price in Romania. The authorised service provider is also super “useful” in a way that you’re unable to service your iPhone purchased from a different country and still converted by Apple warranty due to the regions restrictions. The funny thing is that the prices for the services are almost as high as in other EU country, despite the fact that we’re 100 times poorer than Russia which gets the best price in CIS. And on top of that the absence of Pay….
That is a bummer. You can always use a VM / hackintosh for the desktop/laptop. If you have eBay, buy a used phone off of there. I doubt the Romanian resellers are selling 100% new products anyways.
I've bought a few refurbished products and have had no issues, so it's always something I check first when buying through Apple. That said, I find it can sometimes be more worthwhile to stick to clearance deals right around when refreshed models come out. For instance, I managed to get a good deal on a 2018 iPad Pro from Best Buy right after the 2020 model came out. The refurbished store sold this iPad for $CDN 850, while Best Buy was offering it for $CDN 750. Same device, same warranty, way cheaper. This really depends just how much of a spec bump the new models are though, so this may not always be worth it.
That's what I'm planning to do once the M2 Macs come out. Problem is, I'm really hoping for a cheap 16GB MBA and aiming for 500GB minimum to future proof it with what I do.
@@oku1317 I'm not sure what you do for a living, but I do a mix of video editing/game dev and I find myself wishing I had at least 1tb all the time. 16gb of RAM is still treating me very well though
@@IgnoreSolutions At the moment, I do a lot of web design and web development, and I haven't been pushing close to the 256GB from that alone. However, that's not to say I wouldn't like to explore other areas, which could eat through storage.
Don't know about other countries but in the UK, to say warranty is the same if you bought it direct from Apple or from another retailer is rather...wrong. Our laws make the retailer that sold you the "thing" liable for warranty, not the manufacturer. This means that yes, I've had a situation where the employee at the apple store literally grabbed a new iPad in anticipation of being able to replace my cellular iPad with a faulty modem but because I didn't buy it directly from Apple, their internal system prevented them from swapping it. Oh, also, my mother's Japan bought iPhone developed a minor issue and Apple UK happily swapped it as their warranty is "global" whereas had she bought it from a retailer, she would have had to literally wait to go back to Japan to replace it. So yeah, I wouldn't call the warranty "the same" in most cases.
I’ve bought over 70+ macs, 40+ iPads for work. Several for family & friends and never had an issue. It’s the one refurb label item I don’t think twice about. Quality has always been A+. The fact that this channel gets a demo mode unit is really some sort of sick joke. Glad you covered this…. Although sucks more people know about the refurb store now the deals will go even faster. 🤷🏾♂️
@@SStarlight9614 For me it’s kind of like buying used underwear. I bought a refurbished galaxy s6 back in the day after s7 was released. But having to live with the wear and tear of another user really sucked. If my devices has damage I would want it to be my own fault, and not the mistake of another. Probably a spoiled take but…
@@oh-noe Your take is understandable which is why I think it depends on which company you buy from and how they do quality control with used devices. Take Apple for example, I wanted to upgrade my base 5th gen iPad for something new and had already ordered a brand new iPad pro 11". Then I check Best buy again and I see that they have a refurbished model exactly like the one I ordered but for cheaper. I cancelled the brand new one and got the refurbished model for $100+ less. Was happy with Best buys quality control that I bought the apple pencil to go along with it. Refurbished too and that was missing extra tips but it was way cheaper than a brand new one and both products had no wear and tear or visible damage. If that was my experience with Best buys refurbished program, imagine Apples program
@@ohHeyKev Yeah that is understandable. But I don't live in the us, so I don't have access to apple refurbished or best buy. So I had my refurbished from eBay.
Quick answer: Yes. All my machines I've bought over the last 15 years have been refurbs from Apple. Still working well and in daily use. It's as a good as new machine only cheaper with a different box. Often it has been upgraded from the one purchased. Better value for money.
Well, i bought once in 2015 around a 2nd hand 2010 15" MacBook Pro for 300€, was already outdated a bit but this was the "cheapest" solution to replace a 2009 15" which fell apart (a 2009 model typical failure point). Didnt regret this 2nd hand purchase from a private person, still runs great but i upgraded to a 2021 16" M1 Pro finally (and i love this machine) The 2009 15" i had for school and later and it was bought with a heavy student discount (at around refurbished prices :P) brandnew instead. Despite the weak point on the display assembly with the glue... it was probably the best notebook i ever had.
Now that storage is soldered on, it would be a real shot in the dark to buy a refurb, which might have had massive amounts of write cycles, leading to early drive death. I will never even consider Apple refurb, now.
I have noticed here in the US the education discount is often times slightly better than the refurbed ones. If you’re not a student you could always ask someone you know who is to order it for you.
That M1 MacBook Air is such a great laptop. I got it for 900 on a student discount with a free pair of airpods that I sold for 120. For 780 bucks? Best tech purchase I've ever made. Even for 900 it was a great deal.
This. Refurb for $850 makes less sense when it’s $900 + free AirPods and they don’t even check if you’re a uni student. Or when Best Buy sells it at a steep discount, brand new.
The biggest risk with Apple silicon products seems to be the SSD health. The one in this video was fine, but we don't know how representative that is of a typical refurbished Apple silicon Mac. There is another thing worth mentioning: there is a slight overlap in the time period in which you can buy a particular refurbished model and the time period in which Apple does not yet let you trade in that model. i.e. if you buy a product of that model during this time, it's not going to be one that someone else used for a year or two and decided to trade it in for something else. It's going to be one that was used on a display floor or that someone returned in the 2 week window that apply gives you for a new purchase.
I frequently consider refurbished, particularly if i’m thinking I want extended AppleCare coverage to cover myself for various reasons (say a laptop or ipad that is going to get a lot of abuse). It’s counter intuitive but if I’m going to buy a device with the intent of covering it with AppleCare to insure it from accidental damage then I’ll parlay the savings I get from going certified refurbished into the cost of the AC+ and it’s a win-win for me.
FWIW I bought my first Mac in September 2021. I got a refurbished silver M1 Air, 16gb ram, and 500gb SSD. I looked it over quite closely and I don’t think I could have been able to tell the difference between it and a brand new one. And it’s been absolutely solid and a pleasure to use… other than the learning curve after decades on Windows machines
I was saving money last year, was upgrading from a 2011 MacBook Pro, and I saw so many good things about the M1 MacBook Air, and got it through the refurbished store, and its awesome, it really did feel like a new one, new charger, zero scratches, I still can’t believe that i was refurbish, from now on ill try to look for the things I want at the refurbish store, next in my set up, would be a M1 Mac mini
Feels weird watching this on my refurb M1 air lol. Absolutely loving this thing Edit: Got it w/ 16GB of memory and 512gb storage. So it was still expensive but saved ~$630 USD for the equivalent spec bought new
Back in 2016, I bought an early 2015 13” MacBook Pro from the apple refurbished store for about $200 less than the regular price. It looked and functioned like brand new when I received it 6 years ago. That MBP is still going strong to this day!
My first refurbished Apple product was a 2009 Macbook Pro 15" which is still in use! Accept the superdrive, which was replaced under Apple Care three times and then I gave up on it 😊
I've been a fairly loyal Apple user since 2002, and I'm pretty happy to say that among all the MacBooks (and an iBook), iPhones, and iPads that I've owned, I've never paid full retail price. Some of this has come from very patiently waiting for the right sale at Best Buy (where I used both trade-in and reward points), carefully scouring eBay listings (where I bought my current iPhone SE 2nd edition), and buying off the Apple refurbished store (where I purchased several iPads for friends and family along with my 2015 MacBook Pro, which is my daily driver). (There was also my first iBook which my friend, an Apple employee at the time, used her employee discount to help me purchase.) Patience is definitely a key ingredient towards ensuring a good buy. Overall, I've always had pleasant experiences with Apple Certified Refurbished products. Although you had to spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone to remedy the Demo User issue, the fact that you were able to return the item and get a replacement in a respectable amount of time is one of the benefits of buying directly from Apple.
That’s a real random problem to have with that MacBook. Me/my work have bought literally dozens of refurb macs and never had anything more wrong with them than a few small scratches.
Over the past 30 years I've bought dozens of Apple devices, only three of which were not refurbished by Apple. Every refurbished device worked perfectly at the time that I resold them (after years of use), including the optical drive that I bought in 1992. I'm currently commenting using a 2013 MacBook air that Apple refurbished and was purchased in 2014.
I purchased a refurbished 9.7” iPad Pro two years ago and only had one problem, it thought it was in Europe. A few minutes with AppleCare on the phone and it was back in ‘Merica. Has worked flawlessly since. I am a Realtor and it is my work iPad so I got an Otterbox case, as I use it everywhere. Being previous generation the Otterbox was less than half price.
I bought a refurbished mid 2012 MBP retina back in 2013, the machine still runs great to this day, and other than a thermal paste replacement and a good clean to the insides a couple years ago, the machine is still very much usable, although it isn't getting as many updates as before. In short, it has been very reliable and still saved a few dollars.
I bought a MacBook Air 13-inch a few years back (2013, I think it was). It was the base model (i5 Intel), and that's what the invoice and packaging said. It turned out I actually got an i7 Intel CPU and double the RAM (or SSD storage, not sure atm). Pretty sweet, accidental deal!
In my over twenty years of using Apple products, I’ve bought a few refurbished products, and none of them have ever failed. The longest one I had was a 2012 MacBook Pro (the last model with the optical drive). It’s still working up to this day, granted I upgraded the HDD to an SSD and switched the optical drive to another SSD. But having a machine work in very good condition after almost 10 years is amazing. Even more amazing that it’s refurb.
Dude you don’t know how sad I was when I realised there’s no apple refurbished store in India Honestly they should have that in India, because lower prices and practically same computers could result in a lot of profits in India
I bough the 2020 iPad Pro 11” and the Magic Keyboard both refurbished and they arrived like new .. not a single scratch or any sign of use, I’m very happy with my purchase I spent $$612 for the iPad and $148 for the Magic Keyboard so together I spent less than buying a brand new iPad Pro. And they work perfect not a single issue .. And I still have the 1 warranty on both too. Can’t beat that !
To get out of demo mode: You need to put it in DFU mode, do so by pressing and holding "menu" + "home" until the led on the front flashes, then press and hold "menu" + "play/pause" until it appears in iTunes.
Previously to last year I’d buy brand new Apple products, but recently I've been buying from the refurbished store, got a Series 6 Nike Apple Watch (don't like the Series 7 tbh) and an M1 Mac Mini at a good discount, if I’m honest my next iPhone will probably be from there, I've always got new (3G, 4, 4S, 6, X) but after the good experience with the Apple Watch and Mac Mini, my next iPhone will probably be refurbished too. It's a really good place to save some money, get it from Apple, and with the upgrades becoming duller and duller in my opinion you're not giving up much over a latest device, and if there's the latest device on there at the time you check, even better. I did have to wait like 3 weeks for the watch I wanted to show up on there, but not to bad.
I've seen new m1 macbook airs at microcenter for $780, so I think that's the best place for deals I've seen so far. when you think about it, $150 off of $1000, is only a 15% discount. I get that if you're in a pinch, $150 is a lot, but if you are able to spend the extra $150, I think it's better to do so in order to avoid any problems that could come up later on. Like a 15% discount is not a huge discount, but if you're in a pinch $150 might be a big discount. But like I said, microcenter will have good sales. Plus you can get student/alumni discounts at university stores that are apple authorized retailers.
I've purchased two Mac laptops from the refurbished store. A 2013 MacBook Air in early 2014, and a 2018 MacBook Pro in early 2019. They both functioned like new and I never had any issues with them.
As some others here have said, Microcenter, B&H, Adorama, Best Buy, Amazon, etc. typically have sales where you can get decent sale prices on new devices, sometimes even cheaper than the refurbs. Just have to keep checking sites like Slickdeals or AppleInsider's price guide.
I logged in to the Apple veteran’s store and bought a refurb M1 MacBook Air, 16GB ram, 1TB SSD. 10% veteran’s discount on top of the refurb price and got a great MBA. 😀
We in Mexico don’t have that refurbished store but, in Amazon Mexico we can found very good refurbished Apple products, like my iPad Pro 11 inch that i’m using right now
I bought my first refurb Apple product last month. It was a Space Gray M1 MacBook Air. I got the standard 15% discount but balanced against waiting for the M2 Air with the new price bump, it was a "no brainer" for me. The product arrived packaged exactly like new except for the little label on the top. It was completely pristine with 100% of battery capacity and is running perfectly. I have an M1 iMac as well and did a performance comparison and they are identical. I will likely join the ranks of those that buy refurbished from this point on. The price drop is welcome and product quality is identical, as far as I can tell.
While things can go wrong with refurb as presented here, I've also had machines purchased new that needed to go back with friends who've had new machines that were DOA. I've bought almost exclusively from the refurb store in the last 5+ years with zero issues.
I too thought what could go wrong. However the iPad Pro I got randomly went black screen in less than a week and the genius at the store couldn't find out what exactly was the issue. They exchanged it with another refurb unit.
I've been using a MacBook Pro from 2015 (15in quad-core i7 unit) that I bought from the refurbished store. Saved 20% in doing so. It's been my full-time laptop for the last 7 and some years and it's been flawless. Battery is still fairly strong at over 3 hours of use, screen is still perfect, it runs all files and programs efficiently, and it's been a geniune delight. I'm an apple fanboy through and through, but I am also one that likes to save money where possible. This was a FABULOUS buy and I will do it again when the time comes. Great video, appreciate the transparency and the objective advice.
I bought two 13” MacBook Pro laptops (early 2011 model) back in 2012. They’re both still functional today. The sum total repairs I had to make was one of them needed a new hard drive cable a few years ago.
Got a refurbished M3 Macbook air 13" 16gb / 512 and then also got military discount so $1140. It is basically new even the unboxing experience is the same except no picture of the PC on box. Experiences may vary but mine was great. You also get the same warranty and Apple care options.
i've bought five refurb mac laptops since 2001, and they've all been absolutely perfect. (Well, except for the 2011 macbook pro 15", which, like many of its siblings, had a video card self destruct after a few years.) But two Airs (2020 and 2012), a Powerbook G4 (2006) and an iBook G3 (2001) all have served me flawlessly.
I finally bit the bullet and snagged an M1 Mac mini (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) for about $200 cheaper than an equivalent M2 model today in the Refurbished Store to replace my base model late 2014 Mac mini. For me the difference between M1 and M2 isn't big enough to justify the $200 price hike for the same spec otherwise. Hopefully it works out well!
I bought myself a 2020 iPad Pro (with A12Z) as a trade in/upgrade from my iPad Mini 5. I sometimes wish I got the newest Pro with the M1, but so far, its been indistinguishable from a new iPad Pro
In Germany there’s only Macs and sometimes iPads on the store. My old MacBook Pro was was a certified refurbished and never had issues with it and even had a butterfly replacement for free.
I've bought a 2018 15' Macbook Pro, I didn't buy at apple refurbished service, instead I bought it on NewEgg (Yes). And after almost 2 years the Macbook has been perfect, no flaws, no weird issues, nothing, when it arrived it was brand new I couldn't find any signs of usage before i bought it. The computer also was shipped across the globe and still no issues, they are a pretty good way to get a high end Apple product without the high end price tag that comes along it
Bought my refurb M1 Pro MBP around the same time this video came out. Ran into some issues with the delivery of a brand new MBP w/ the same specs and it ended up getting sent back to Apple without me ever receiving the unit. My friend advised me on the refurb'd ones directly from Apple. He said that the only part that was used was the case and I still qualified for apple care so I went with it. Honestly, there were times when I forget that I bought it refurbished. This may not be true for all refurb'd units but mine didn't even have defects or scratches on the case.
I got my M1 base MacBook Air (also in gold, of course) for a good $150 AUD off retail. I originally paid full price but then the store discounted them a few days later and they honoured the sale price for me and gave me a partial refund. So for any aussies wanting to get a deal without having to roll the dice on a refurb, JB hifi is a great place to buy. They have macs discounted reasonably regularly and will honour sale prices within a week of purchase, in addition to their price match policy.
Yea JB and (Officeworks that price beat) regularly do 10% off sales that matches education pricing anyway. And if you buy during back to uni season you get education prices + free AirPods worth $200+ to resell or use.
I can only comment on the French Refurb Store, it was great regarding the prices ears ago. I remembered picking my iPod Classic for half the price of a new one ! My first Macbook Pro in 2009 was 35% less than the new ones and my second one in 2012 (which I am still using to type this) was 25% less or so. I cannot remember the discount on my Apple TV in 2013 but I also got it via the Refurb Store. But those were the good old days, I would say since 2015 the prices match now the ones you mentioned, so still bargain but not so great. Note that there were no refurb iPhones available since around 2015. And by the way, I never had any technical issues on these products !
Bought a refurb 13" MacBook Air M2 with 16GB RAM, 10 core GPU and a 1TB SSD (Midnight) from the US that was less than half the price of a new one in my country (approx USD1300). I can't see what about it was pre-owned at all, the unboxing experience was identical to unboxing a new MacBook, battery cycle count was 0. It's as if someone owned it for a week and returned it - Or the only component that was carried over was the logic board and everything else was replaced. Absolute WIN! I would definitely buy from the refurb store again.
I bought a refurbished 2015 MacBook Air for around $600 from Best Buy. I’m not sure if it would be the same as the Apple citified store but I’ve had no issues with it. Maybe the battery isn’t all that great but it’s perfect for my use case. I’ve had no trouble and it works like a dream. 🙂
Still using my 2014 15" MBP that came from the refurb store. I've never talked to someone who had a bad experience with a device from there, and this video is the first bad experience I've heard of.
Ordered a macbook air m1, I was super excited to receive it, unboxed it, grinning like a kid in Christmas, opened the laptop only to be shown a ( ! ) followed by a contact support link, and a boot loop… returned it within the same hour and getting a new one… 🤦♂️ big fail from Apple…
The Demo mode is handled through Apple DEP. Apple probably wanted the device back because the ownership of the hardware was probably under one of their resellers' accounts. It's possible for Apple to remove the "Ownership" of the machine in Apple DEP if it's Apple who screwed up, so you can re-install the OS and use the hardware normally. Replacing the hardware in that case seemed really silly.
I exclusively buy from Apple Refurbished. Can’t beat the cost savings with a warranty. Never had an issue, and the product I’ve been set always appears brand new
I’ve always bought Certified refurbished on EBay, 2 year warranty if it’s through eBay and often times cheaper prices. Been doing this for the better part of a decade with not one issue. Bought probably 30+ devices now.
I have purchased around 20 apple refurb products (for myself and on behalf of others/clients) most were MacBooks, with the remaining being iPads. No issue on any of them, except 2 of the MacBooks, one had an SSD fail after 16 months (not covered by warranty of course), the other had the logic board fail in the first 9 months (covered), but then the same issue happened 7 months later (out of warranty, and $1,700 to repair). Likely a coincidence (ie. same issues would have purchased if purchased new) but on the $2,600 MacBook with the issues above, it was not worth the $200 in savings if there was even a chance that contributed to the issue.
My 2012 MacBook Pro was a refurb. Everything was as new except for the faulty caps lock key (fails about 4 out of 10 times). I think the caps key was probably the reason it got sent back, but since I was way out of an official Apple market, the time and cost of shipping it to the country it was forwarded from and back after repair was not worth it.
Out of the three Apple computing devices I own, two of them are from certified refurbished, which are my M1 MacBook Air and and 2018 11" iPad Pro. I had no issues with the MacBook Air at all. With the iPad, the power button was slightly loose when I got it, but it wasn't a big enough deal for me to return it. Although, after 4 months of owning it, I am starting to develop ghost touch issues with the iPad Pro. Idk if the issue was always there and I just didn't notice, or my usage of the device caused the display to being damaged in some way. If you guys can explain ghost touch issues on the iPad Pro, please let me know. Overall, I had a good experience with the Apple refurbished store, especially since I live in California which means that the choices I have for refurbished Apple products are much greater than other parts of the world.
Unfortunately the refurbished store in Australia is full of old stock and the discounts aren’t that great. An m1 MacBook Air with a 8/512GB costs $1679. A new one costs $1799 so it’s less than 10% off
Apple employee here. There is a way to remove demo mode, but you need a certain key combo as well as apple employee credentials. Not sure how you got a demo unit it without it being disable in the refurbishing process.
Yes. I bought my late 2013 retina MacBook Pro in 2014 and it’s still good condition beside the battery life. Look at refurbished before new. If it’s not there just keep checking
I got my refurbished iMac Pro in 2020. 2 years later it runs just as well as the day I bought it. I even run windows on it to play the occasional game when I’m not working. The refurbish store has some great deals!
Good to know. I'm looking at switching to Mac for music production once i get the space for another machine and it's good to know i can get a good discount with little risk
Apple’s 10% military discount applies to the refurbished store as well! Got anM1 MacBook Air for less than $800. Finally replaced my wife’s 2008 MacBook.
I bought my 15 inch macbook pro and thankfully it has been amazing! It's a 2015 production that I bought in 2018 and still running great with the latest mac os. saved around 350$ CAD
The education store also has approximately a 15% savings similar to the refurb store, and in some countries you don't need to verify your student status.
All of my Apple purchases have been from the refurb store for the past 10+ years. Always a solid experience. Not quite demo mode, but one of the iMacs came without a clean install. It was loaded up with some sort of variation of MacOS and all sorts of diagnostic data. Clearly something that wasn’t supposed to be handed out to the public. Was able to do a clean install no problem though.
I got a mac mini as a stopgap in case my intel mac somehow died, really died, before the M1 pro laptops came out. Sold it on a year later at almost exactly the same price, I had absolutely no issues whatsoever.
I bought myself a refurbished 13 Inch Macbook Pro (2020) a month ago. It smelled a bit funny and froze/crashed every day. Apple tested it and it worked fine during the tests. They re-installed the OS X but as soon as I had my stuff on it (including Windows 10 via Boot Camp) and started working, it crashed again once every day. I could sent it back, so no harm done.
I bought a 2015 iPad Pro, the original iPad Pro I think, on the refurbished store in 2017 and it is still going strong. With the latest software I almost have no reason to upgrade and will use the refurbished store again.
I just purchased an iPad pro 11 2020 from apple refurb which wasn’t easy for me because I like all the apple stuff I buy to be brand new but with a new battery+housing I figured a £200 saving was worth the risk. It arrived looking basically brand new with no marks that I can see and works flawless. The only issue I had was the charging cable (usb-c to usb-c) was not in this box the plug was but the cable was not, I called them and they said this was a mistake in packaging and arranged for me to pick one up at my local apple store so wasn’t a big deal. I would happily buy refurb again but only from apple 👍
I'm no Apple fan but I love the production of these videos. I kept rewatching it and eventually convinced myself to get an iPhone, from years and years of using Android, because of Jonathan.
I got my macbook air M1 for £220 under retail as it was apple refurbished. I also purchased the original Ipad air, and it developed an issue with the screen. Apples aftercare was excellent and they treated it like a brand new unit and straight swapped it in store.
A friend of mine used to work for an Apple retail store, and he likes to say that most often with Apple refurbs, the only part that needs replacing...is the user.
@Glory to Ukraine🇺🇦 believe me, we don't care
So most of the machines were just... perfectly functioning?
@@niko1even yes of course. when buying a new device Apple asks you if you have something to send in for $$$ off. Those devices can be perfectly fine.
@@niko1even That's what he says. Most of the time just people changed their mind or the like.
Can confirm this 👍
Fellow Apple Rep here: I cannot believe they sent you a Demo unit! Makes me really wonder how that happened in the first place. From my experience, seeing the user profiles named "demouser" or "demoadmin" tells me that MacBook likely came from one of our retail partner spaces (Best Buy, Costco).
He should've sanitized the Mac from all the customer trying it! Hahaha
You can just put it in DFU mode to get that Demo mode off.
Is that bad or good?
Retail partner space... Uuuugghhh
@@therealzeaxeyprop not
My own refurb experience has been nothing but positive. One of my former employers bought nothing but refurb for new hires, and it made me realize how much I enjoyed MacOS, and how effective their refurb program was.
Apple uses refurbs for their own lower level employees as well :P
Did any of the refurbs from Apple, show any signs of being used, like scratches or dents?
@@AlexN0me11 I have an iMac and an iPad and both devices were scratch and dent free. They were both virtually brand new.
We still mostly use Intel MBP’s in our office, so I’ve been buying specific refurbished models. There’s never an issue with them and I’ve been buying them for 6 months now. They work just like a new one. Only difference so far has been limited availability of models and a different box.
i wonder if you have the same issue as we have with the "security" tools not working on an M1.
@@nikolarun Nah, it’s just some dev/programming stuff needs to be redone by our engineers to get it working properly on M1.
Do you have to buy your own work laptop?
@@mikkelisaksenrobinson No, we provide them to employees.
Been getting mine on EBay for the better part of a decade, never had a single issue
(Written on iPad Pro 12.9 m1 and magic keyboard that were both “refurbished” and working as good as new)
When Apple were having their whole butterfly keyboard fiasco, I actually recommended a family member buy refurbished, because there was a glut of refurbs on the store for a while, and they'd all likely had a keyboard fail, and had the slightly improved keyboard with the rubber protective layer installed. I still advised her never to eat anything crumby over it, because, you know, it's still a butterfly keyboard, but she saved a good bit of money compared to buying new, and hasn't had any issues in like two years.
People are just too dirty with their devices
I wish just not eating over it was enough to keep the keyboard from sucking, but it still has its days.
@@IgnoreSolutions Oh it's not a great feeling keyboard, no. I could never live with one. On my desk I have a nice mechanical keyboard with a lot of travel on the keys, so there's no way I could ever grow to love keys that barely actuate at all before they bottom out. It was actually the deciding factor when I was choosing between the M1 Air and the M1 Pro, last year. That, and the only functional difference between the two machines was a fan, so gaining a fan and losing an acceptable keyboard didn't seem like a good deal for the extra cost.
The butterfly keyboard is fine for my cousin, though. She's never been spoiled by good keyboards like I have. She's had a string of bottom of the market cheap laptops, and only used the keyboards that came in box with desktops, so in that context the butterfly keyboard might actually have been an upgrade to her.
@@lachlanlau or the keyboards were defective, but you're also correct
@@NoobixCube Both those Macs have the same keyboard, the magic keyboard.
Worked in Apple stocking warehouse in UK. Even slightly dented corner of the white box or plastic film around the box meant the mac went to refub department and was discounted and sold as refurbished despite the lack of damage to the mac. Mind you vendors might have different policy towards refubs.
As a MD citizen, it’s a real pain to deal with the “premium” resellers which are actually importing iPhones from Romania (mostly) and sell it with an additional 15-20% on top of the iPhones’ price in Romania.
The authorised service provider is also super “useful” in a way that you’re unable to service your iPhone purchased from a different country and still converted by Apple warranty due to the regions restrictions.
The funny thing is that the prices for the services are almost as high as in other EU country, despite the fact that we’re 100 times poorer than Russia which gets the best price in CIS.
And on top of that the absence of Pay….
Maybe you should accept that Apple doesn't make products for your country.
Same, No refurb and definately no pay here[turkey]
That is a bummer. You can always use a VM / hackintosh for the desktop/laptop. If you have eBay, buy a used phone off of there. I doubt the Romanian resellers are selling 100% new products anyways.
I've bought a few refurbished products and have had no issues, so it's always something I check first when buying through Apple. That said, I find it can sometimes be more worthwhile to stick to clearance deals right around when refreshed models come out. For instance, I managed to get a good deal on a 2018 iPad Pro from Best Buy right after the 2020 model came out. The refurbished store sold this iPad for $CDN 850, while Best Buy was offering it for $CDN 750. Same device, same warranty, way cheaper. This really depends just how much of a spec bump the new models are though, so this may not always be worth it.
that’s how I got my 2016 MBP back in the day, bought it open box for over $350-$400 off
That's what I'm planning to do once the M2 Macs come out. Problem is, I'm really hoping for a cheap 16GB MBA and aiming for 500GB minimum to future proof it with what I do.
@@oku1317 I'm not sure what you do for a living, but I do a mix of video editing/game dev and I find myself wishing I had at least 1tb all the time. 16gb of RAM is still treating me very well though
@@IgnoreSolutions At the moment, I do a lot of web design and web development, and I haven't been pushing close to the 256GB from that alone. However, that's not to say I wouldn't like to explore other areas, which could eat through storage.
Don't know about other countries but in the UK, to say warranty is the same if you bought it direct from Apple or from another retailer is rather...wrong. Our laws make the retailer that sold you the "thing" liable for warranty, not the manufacturer. This means that yes, I've had a situation where the employee at the apple store literally grabbed a new iPad in anticipation of being able to replace my cellular iPad with a faulty modem but because I didn't buy it directly from Apple, their internal system prevented them from swapping it.
Oh, also, my mother's Japan bought iPhone developed a minor issue and Apple UK happily swapped it as their warranty is "global" whereas had she bought it from a retailer, she would have had to literally wait to go back to Japan to replace it.
So yeah, I wouldn't call the warranty "the same" in most cases.
I’ve bought over 70+ macs, 40+ iPads for work. Several for family & friends and never had an issue. It’s the one refurb label item I don’t think twice about. Quality has always been A+. The fact that this channel gets a demo mode unit is really some sort of sick joke. Glad you covered this…. Although sucks more people know about the refurb store now the deals will go even faster. 🤷🏾♂️
Not that many people will buy just due to the fact they want it “brand new” 🙄😂
@@SStarlight9614 For me it’s kind of like buying used underwear. I bought a refurbished galaxy s6 back in the day after s7 was released. But having to live with the wear and tear of another user really sucked. If my devices has damage I would want it to be my own fault, and not the mistake of another. Probably a spoiled take but…
@@oh-noe Your take is understandable which is why I think it depends on which company you buy from and how they do quality control with used devices. Take Apple for example, I wanted to upgrade my base 5th gen iPad for something new and had already ordered a brand new iPad pro 11". Then I check Best buy again and I see that they have a refurbished model exactly like the one I ordered but for cheaper. I cancelled the brand new one and got the refurbished model for $100+ less. Was happy with Best buys quality control that I bought the apple pencil to go along with it. Refurbished too and that was missing extra tips but it was way cheaper than a brand new one and both products had no wear and tear or visible damage. If that was my experience with Best buys refurbished program, imagine Apples program
@@ohHeyKev Yeah that is understandable. But I don't live in the us, so I don't have access to apple refurbished or best buy. So I had my refurbished from eBay.
@@oh-noe Ahh okay sorry then i guess their refurbished program is region specific then
Quick answer: Yes. All my machines I've bought over the last 15 years have been refurbs from Apple. Still working well and in daily use. It's as a good as new machine only cheaper with a different box. Often it has been upgraded from the one purchased. Better value for money.
Well, i bought once in 2015 around a 2nd hand 2010 15" MacBook Pro for 300€, was already outdated a bit but this was the "cheapest" solution to replace a 2009 15" which fell apart (a 2009 model typical failure point). Didnt regret this 2nd hand purchase from a private person, still runs great but i upgraded to a 2021 16" M1 Pro finally (and i love this machine)
The 2009 15" i had for school and later and it was bought with a heavy student discount (at around refurbished prices :P) brandnew instead. Despite the weak point on the display assembly with the glue... it was probably the best notebook i ever had.
Is the shop in Perth Australia?
Now that storage is soldered on, it would be a real shot in the dark to buy a refurb, which might have had massive amounts of write cycles, leading to early drive death. I will never even consider Apple refurb, now.
I have noticed here in the US the education discount is often times slightly better than the refurbed ones. If you’re not a student you could always ask someone you know who is to order it for you.
That M1 MacBook Air is such a great laptop. I got it for 900 on a student discount with a free pair of airpods that I sold for 120. For 780 bucks? Best tech purchase I've ever made. Even for 900 it was a great deal.
This. Refurb for $850 makes less sense when it’s $900 + free AirPods and they don’t even check if you’re a uni student. Or when Best Buy sells it at a steep discount, brand new.
The biggest risk with Apple silicon products seems to be the SSD health. The one in this video was fine, but we don't know how representative that is of a typical refurbished Apple silicon Mac. There is another thing worth mentioning: there is a slight overlap in the time period in which you can buy a particular refurbished model and the time period in which Apple does not yet let you trade in that model. i.e. if you buy a product of that model during this time, it's not going to be one that someone else used for a year or two and decided to trade it in for something else. It's going to be one that was used on a display floor or that someone returned in the 2 week window that apply gives you for a new purchase.
Refers of current models are a good deal. Older models not so much since the price is relative to the new price.
I frequently consider refurbished, particularly if i’m thinking I want extended AppleCare coverage to cover myself for various reasons (say a laptop or ipad that is going to get a lot of abuse). It’s counter intuitive but if I’m going to buy a device with the intent of covering it with AppleCare to insure it from accidental damage then I’ll parlay the savings I get from going certified refurbished into the cost of the AC+ and it’s a win-win for me.
FWIW I bought my first Mac in September 2021. I got a refurbished silver M1 Air, 16gb ram, and 500gb SSD. I looked it over quite closely and I don’t think I could have been able to tell the difference between it and a brand new one. And it’s been absolutely solid and a pleasure to use… other than the learning curve after decades on Windows machines
How much did you pay for it?
@@richeyrich2203 I think it was about $1790 (CAD) if I remember correctly
I was saving money last year, was upgrading from a 2011 MacBook Pro, and I saw so many good things about the M1 MacBook Air, and got it through the refurbished store, and its awesome, it really did feel like a new one, new charger, zero scratches, I still can’t believe that i was refurbish, from now on ill try to look for the things I want at the refurbish store, next in my set up, would be a M1 Mac mini
Feels weird watching this on my refurb M1 air lol. Absolutely loving this thing
Edit: Got it w/ 16GB of memory and 512gb storage. So it was still expensive but saved ~$630 USD for the equivalent spec bought new
Back in 2016, I bought an early 2015 13” MacBook Pro from the apple refurbished store for about $200 less than the regular price. It looked and functioned like brand new when I received it 6 years ago. That MBP is still going strong to this day!
My first refurbished Apple product was a 2009 Macbook Pro 15" which is still in use! Accept the superdrive, which was replaced under Apple Care three times and then I gave up on it 😊
I've been a fairly loyal Apple user since 2002, and I'm pretty happy to say that among all the MacBooks (and an iBook), iPhones, and iPads that I've owned, I've never paid full retail price. Some of this has come from very patiently waiting for the right sale at Best Buy (where I used both trade-in and reward points), carefully scouring eBay listings (where I bought my current iPhone SE 2nd edition), and buying off the Apple refurbished store (where I purchased several iPads for friends and family along with my 2015 MacBook Pro, which is my daily driver). (There was also my first iBook which my friend, an Apple employee at the time, used her employee discount to help me purchase.) Patience is definitely a key ingredient towards ensuring a good buy. Overall, I've always had pleasant experiences with Apple Certified Refurbished products.
Although you had to spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone to remedy the Demo User issue, the fact that you were able to return the item and get a replacement in a respectable amount of time is one of the benefits of buying directly from Apple.
That’s a real random problem to have with that MacBook. Me/my work have bought literally dozens of refurb macs and never had anything more wrong with them than a few small scratches.
Over the past 30 years I've bought dozens of Apple devices, only three of which were not refurbished by Apple. Every refurbished device worked perfectly at the time that I resold them (after years of use), including the optical drive that I bought in 1992. I'm currently commenting using a 2013 MacBook air that Apple refurbished and was purchased in 2014.
Watching this on a 2012 MacBook Pro that I bought from a phone shop in 2022. it seems pretty solid.
I purchased a refurbished 9.7” iPad Pro two years ago and only had one problem, it thought it was in Europe. A few minutes with AppleCare on the phone and it was back in ‘Merica. Has worked flawlessly since. I am a Realtor and it is my work iPad so I got an Otterbox case, as I use it everywhere. Being previous generation the Otterbox was less than half price.
I bought a refurbished mid 2012 MBP retina back in 2013, the machine still runs great to this day, and other than a thermal paste replacement and a good clean to the insides a couple years ago, the machine is still very much usable, although it isn't getting as many updates as before. In short, it has been very reliable and still saved a few dollars.
I remember hearing good things about Apple’s own refurbished goods, glad that seems to be accurate.
I bought a MacBook Air 13-inch a few years back (2013, I think it was). It was the base model (i5 Intel), and that's what the invoice and packaging said. It turned out I actually got an i7 Intel CPU and double the RAM (or SSD storage, not sure atm). Pretty sweet, accidental deal!
In my over twenty years of using Apple products, I’ve bought a few refurbished products, and none of them have ever failed. The longest one I had was a 2012 MacBook Pro (the last model with the optical drive). It’s still working up to this day, granted I upgraded the HDD to an SSD and switched the optical drive to another SSD. But having a machine work in very good condition after almost 10 years is amazing. Even more amazing that it’s refurb.
I got the iPhone SE 2016 refurbished - was a great deal and still works, no issues. I may get my MBA replacement from the refurb store soon.
Dude you don’t know how sad I was when I realised there’s no apple refurbished store in India
Honestly they should have that in India, because lower prices and practically same computers could result in a lot of profits in India
I bough the 2020 iPad Pro 11” and the Magic Keyboard both refurbished and they arrived like new .. not a single scratch or any sign of use, I’m very happy with my purchase I spent $$612 for the iPad and $148 for the Magic Keyboard so together I spent less than buying a brand new iPad Pro. And they work perfect not a single issue .. And I still have the 1 warranty on both too. Can’t beat that !
To get out of demo mode:
You need to put it in DFU mode, do so by pressing and holding "menu" + "home" until the led on the front flashes, then press and hold "menu" + "play/pause" until it appears in iTunes.
Alternatively, don't buy such a hideous, overpriced monstrosity in the first place and spend your cash more wisely :)
@@Blitterbug ok buddy
@@mitchtalmadge Well you gotta laugh!
This is a fantastic channel. Thanks for keeping the great content going.
Previously to last year I’d buy brand new Apple products, but recently I've been buying from the refurbished store, got a Series 6 Nike Apple Watch (don't like the Series 7 tbh) and an M1 Mac Mini at a good discount, if I’m honest my next iPhone will probably be from there, I've always got new (3G, 4, 4S, 6, X) but after the good experience with the Apple Watch and Mac Mini, my next iPhone will probably be refurbished too. It's a really good place to save some money, get it from Apple, and with the upgrades becoming duller and duller in my opinion you're not giving up much over a latest device, and if there's the latest device on there at the time you check, even better. I did have to wait like 3 weeks for the watch I wanted to show up on there, but not to bad.
I've seen new m1 macbook airs at microcenter for $780, so I think that's the best place for deals I've seen so far. when you think about it, $150 off of $1000, is only a 15% discount. I get that if you're in a pinch, $150 is a lot, but if you are able to spend the extra $150, I think it's better to do so in order to avoid any problems that could come up later on. Like a 15% discount is not a huge discount, but if you're in a pinch $150 might be a big discount. But like I said, microcenter will have good sales. Plus you can get student/alumni discounts at university stores that are apple authorized retailers.
If people are short enough to think 150 is a good deal then they probably should be getting a 299 chromebook instead
I've purchased two Mac laptops from the refurbished store. A 2013 MacBook Air in early 2014, and a 2018 MacBook Pro in early 2019. They both functioned like new and I never had any issues with them.
I just bought a refurbished MBA 15 inch, with 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD for $1,600! So excited!
1:20
"To warn... Remind you." *awkward face*
I haven't laughed all day and your expression brought a smile to my face. Thank you.
As some others here have said, Microcenter, B&H, Adorama, Best Buy, Amazon, etc. typically have sales where you can get decent sale prices on new devices, sometimes even cheaper than the refurbs. Just have to keep checking sites like Slickdeals or AppleInsider's price guide.
I logged in to the Apple veteran’s store and bought a refurb M1 MacBook Air, 16GB ram, 1TB SSD.
10% veteran’s discount on top of the refurb price and got a great MBA. 😀
We in Mexico don’t have that refurbished store but, in Amazon Mexico we can found very good refurbished Apple products, like my iPad Pro 11 inch that i’m using right now
I bought my first refurb Apple product last month. It was a Space Gray M1 MacBook Air. I got the standard 15% discount but balanced against waiting for the M2 Air with the new price bump, it was a "no brainer" for me. The product arrived packaged exactly like new except for the little label on the top. It was completely pristine with 100% of battery capacity and is running perfectly. I have an M1 iMac as well and did a performance comparison and they are identical. I will likely join the ranks of those that buy refurbished from this point on. The price drop is welcome and product quality is identical, as far as I can tell.
i bought a 2018 ipad pro for school recently and besides some initial texture inconsistencies on the panel glass, it's been basically flawless
While things can go wrong with refurb as presented here, I've also had machines purchased new that needed to go back with friends who've had new machines that were DOA. I've bought almost exclusively from the refurb store in the last 5+ years with zero issues.
Makes sense, since I actually have to go through an approval process rather than just coming straight from the factory
I too thought what could go wrong. However the iPad Pro I got randomly went black screen in less than a week and the genius at the store couldn't find out what exactly was the issue. They exchanged it with another refurb unit.
I got a refurbished last 2012 Mac mini back in 2013 and I used it up until last year and never had an issue with it.
I've been using a MacBook Pro from 2015 (15in quad-core i7 unit) that I bought from the refurbished store. Saved 20% in doing so. It's been my full-time laptop for the last 7 and some years and it's been flawless. Battery is still fairly strong at over 3 hours of use, screen is still perfect, it runs all files and programs efficiently, and it's been a geniune delight. I'm an apple fanboy through and through, but I am also one that likes to save money where possible. This was a FABULOUS buy and I will do it again when the time comes. Great video, appreciate the transparency and the objective advice.
I bought two 13” MacBook Pro laptops (early 2011 model) back in 2012. They’re both still functional today. The sum total repairs I had to make was one of them needed a new hard drive cable a few years ago.
Got a refurbished M3 Macbook air 13" 16gb / 512 and then also got military discount so $1140. It is basically new even the unboxing experience is the same except no picture of the PC on box. Experiences may vary but mine was great. You also get the same warranty and Apple care options.
i've bought five refurb mac laptops since 2001, and they've all been absolutely perfect. (Well, except for the 2011 macbook pro 15", which, like many of its siblings, had a video card self destruct after a few years.) But two Airs (2020 and 2012), a Powerbook G4 (2006) and an iBook G3 (2001) all have served me flawlessly.
you guys make so good videos. please just keep doing it for another 10 years. i really appreciatie you guys
I finally bit the bullet and snagged an M1 Mac mini (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) for about $200 cheaper than an equivalent M2 model today in the Refurbished Store to replace my base model late 2014 Mac mini. For me the difference between M1 and M2 isn't big enough to justify the $200 price hike for the same spec otherwise. Hopefully it works out well!
I bought myself a 2020 iPad Pro (with A12Z) as a trade in/upgrade from my iPad Mini 5. I sometimes wish I got the newest Pro with the M1, but so far, its been indistinguishable from a new iPad Pro
In Germany there’s only Macs and sometimes iPads on the store. My old MacBook Pro was was a certified refurbished and never had issues with it and even had a butterfly replacement for free.
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Recently I had an issue with a refurbished iPad Pro where the screen had dead pixels, but apple replaced the iPad with a new one.
Which iPad pro was it ?
In the UK, I’ve found when I bought my iPad Pro (2017) it was cheaper to buy it on sale brand new, than go for refurbished.
I've bought a 2018 15' Macbook Pro, I didn't buy at apple refurbished service, instead I bought it on NewEgg (Yes). And after almost 2 years the Macbook has been perfect, no flaws, no weird issues, nothing, when it arrived it was brand new I couldn't find any signs of usage before i bought it. The computer also was shipped across the globe and still no issues, they are a pretty good way to get a high end Apple product without the high end price tag that comes along it
Bought my refurb M1 Pro MBP around the same time this video came out. Ran into some issues with the delivery of a brand new MBP w/ the same specs and it ended up getting sent back to Apple without me ever receiving the unit. My friend advised me on the refurb'd ones directly from Apple. He said that the only part that was used was the case and I still qualified for apple care so I went with it. Honestly, there were times when I forget that I bought it refurbished. This may not be true for all refurb'd units but mine didn't even have defects or scratches on the case.
I got my M1 base MacBook Air (also in gold, of course) for a good $150 AUD off retail. I originally paid full price but then the store discounted them a few days later and they honoured the sale price for me and gave me a partial refund.
So for any aussies wanting to get a deal without having to roll the dice on a refurb, JB hifi is a great place to buy. They have macs discounted reasonably regularly and will honour sale prices within a week of purchase, in addition to their price match policy.
Yea JB and (Officeworks that price beat) regularly do 10% off sales that matches education pricing anyway. And if you buy during back to uni season you get education prices + free AirPods worth $200+ to resell or use.
I can only comment on the French Refurb Store, it was great regarding the prices ears ago.
I remembered picking my iPod Classic for half the price of a new one !
My first Macbook Pro in 2009 was 35% less than the new ones and my second one in 2012 (which I am still using to type this) was 25% less or so. I cannot remember the discount on my Apple TV in 2013 but I also got it via the Refurb Store.
But those were the good old days, I would say since 2015 the prices match now the ones you mentioned, so still bargain but not so great. Note that there were no refurb iPhones available since around 2015.
And by the way, I never had any technical issues on these products !
Bought a refurb 13" MacBook Air M2 with 16GB RAM, 10 core GPU and a 1TB SSD (Midnight) from the US that was less than half the price of a new one in my country (approx USD1300). I can't see what about it was pre-owned at all, the unboxing experience was identical to unboxing a new MacBook, battery cycle count was 0. It's as if someone owned it for a week and returned it - Or the only component that was carried over was the logic board and everything else was replaced. Absolute WIN! I would definitely buy from the refurb store again.
Also worth remembering you can access the refurbished items through the education store, with an even bigger discount.
I bought a refurbished 2015 MacBook Air for around $600 from Best Buy. I’m not sure if it would be the same as the Apple citified store but I’ve had no issues with it. Maybe the battery isn’t all that great but it’s perfect for my use case. I’ve had no trouble and it works like a dream. 🙂
I was gonna buy an Intel '20 MBP from the refurbished store, but Best Buy had them at a $500-ish discount.
Oh yeah, I bought one for like $1199 when they had that sale. The next week, it went up a couple hundred bucks.
Still using my 2014 15" MBP that came from the refurb store. I've never talked to someone who had a bad experience with a device from there, and this video is the first bad experience I've heard of.
Ordered a macbook air m1, I was super excited to receive it, unboxed it, grinning like a kid in Christmas, opened the laptop only to be shown a ( ! ) followed by a contact support link, and a boot loop… returned it within the same hour and getting a new one… 🤦♂️ big fail from Apple…
The Demo mode is handled through Apple DEP. Apple probably wanted the device back because the ownership of the hardware was probably under one of their resellers' accounts. It's possible for Apple to remove the "Ownership" of the machine in Apple DEP if it's Apple who screwed up, so you can re-install the OS and use the hardware normally. Replacing the hardware in that case seemed really silly.
I exclusively buy from Apple Refurbished. Can’t beat the cost savings with a warranty. Never had an issue, and the product I’ve been set always appears brand new
What are the white circle stickers on the refurbished devices?
I’ve always bought Certified refurbished on EBay, 2 year warranty if it’s through eBay and often times cheaper prices. Been doing this for the better part of a decade with not one issue. Bought probably 30+ devices now.
For demo mode: you could try "admin" or "user" as password or reformat the SSD before re-installing the OS in recovery. Odd that this happened though
I have purchased around 20 apple refurb products (for myself and on behalf of others/clients) most were MacBooks, with the remaining being iPads. No issue on any of them, except 2 of the MacBooks, one had an SSD fail after 16 months (not covered by warranty of course), the other had the logic board fail in the first 9 months (covered), but then the same issue happened 7 months later (out of warranty, and $1,700 to repair).
Likely a coincidence (ie. same issues would have purchased if purchased new) but on the $2,600 MacBook with the issues above, it was not worth the $200 in savings if there was even a chance that contributed to the issue.
My 2012 MacBook Pro was a refurb. Everything was as new except for the faulty caps lock key (fails about 4 out of 10 times). I think the caps key was probably the reason it got sent back, but since I was way out of an official Apple market, the time and cost of shipping it to the country it was forwarded from and back after repair was not worth it.
Out of the three Apple computing devices I own, two of them are from certified refurbished, which are my M1 MacBook Air and and 2018 11" iPad Pro. I had no issues with the MacBook Air at all. With the iPad, the power button was slightly loose when I got it, but it wasn't a big enough deal for me to return it. Although, after 4 months of owning it, I am starting to develop ghost touch issues with the iPad Pro. Idk if the issue was always there and I just didn't notice, or my usage of the device caused the display to being damaged in some way. If you guys can explain ghost touch issues on the iPad Pro, please let me know. Overall, I had a good experience with the Apple refurbished store, especially since I live in California which means that the choices I have for refurbished Apple products are much greater than other parts of the world.
Just get the iPad replaced if it’s in warranty
Unfortunately the refurbished store in Australia is full of old stock and the discounts aren’t that great. An m1 MacBook Air with a 8/512GB costs $1679. A new one costs $1799 so it’s less than 10% off
This is a great impersonation of Dieter Bohn from the Verge. He really pioneered how tech reviews are done on UA-cam.
US Military discount stacks with refurb too. I got an M1 MBA with 16 GB of RAM + 256 GB storage for $900 shipped.
Apple employee here. There is a way to remove demo mode, but you need a certain key combo as well as apple employee credentials. Not sure how you got a demo unit it without it being disable in the refurbishing process.
Yes. I bought my late 2013 retina MacBook Pro in 2014 and it’s still good condition beside the battery life. Look at refurbished before new. If it’s not there just keep checking
I bought a late 2014 MacBook Pro retina in the refurb store, it still works after 8 years (even has 3h on battery power)
What case on the iPhone 13 are you using
I got my refurbished iMac Pro in 2020. 2 years later it runs just as well as the day I bought it. I even run windows on it to play the occasional game when I’m not working. The refurbish store has some great deals!
I bought a silver 13" M1 Macbook Air from the referbished store and have been loving it. No hicups at all and the chassis and screen were mint
Good to know. I'm looking at switching to Mac for music production once i get the space for another machine and it's good to know i can get a good discount with little risk
Apple’s 10% military discount applies to the refurbished store as well! Got anM1 MacBook Air for less than $800. Finally replaced my wife’s 2008 MacBook.
Great video. Also I like how he color matched his hair and iMac
I bought my 15 inch macbook pro and thankfully it has been amazing! It's a 2015 production that I bought in 2018 and still running great with the latest mac os. saved around 350$ CAD
The education store also has approximately a 15% savings similar to the refurb store, and in some countries you don't need to verify your student status.
I've been using a refurbished late-2013 since 2014 and it's still going strong. I need to upgrade because I need more power, but it's been great.
All of my Apple purchases have been from the refurb store for the past 10+ years. Always a solid experience. Not quite demo mode, but one of the iMacs came without a clean install. It was loaded up with some sort of variation of MacOS and all sorts of diagnostic data. Clearly something that wasn’t supposed to be handed out to the public. Was able to do a clean install no problem though.
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I got a mac mini as a stopgap in case my intel mac somehow died, really died, before the M1 pro laptops came out. Sold it on a year later at almost exactly the same price, I had absolutely no issues whatsoever.
typing this on my refurbished ipad, it’s perfect. no scratches, no fault with the screener anything. i love it and it feels new!!
I bought myself a refurbished 13 Inch Macbook Pro (2020) a month ago. It smelled a bit funny and froze/crashed every day. Apple tested it and it worked fine during the tests. They re-installed the OS X but as soon as I had my stuff on it (including Windows 10 via Boot Camp) and started working, it crashed again once every day. I could sent it back, so no harm done.
I bought a 2018 iPad pro had a reboot issue but the 1yr warrant covered me for another one and it has been solid ever since
There should be some videos about good apps for Mac, general usage tips and homebrew. some in-depth stuff about Macs.
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Just subscribed. Jonathan is articulate, relatable, lots of personality and kinda cute for a dude. Love the channel keep up the great work you guys.
I bought a 2015 iPad Pro, the original iPad Pro I think, on the refurbished store in 2017 and it is still going strong. With the latest software I almost have no reason to upgrade and will use the refurbished store again.
I just purchased an iPad pro 11 2020 from apple refurb which wasn’t easy for me because I like all the apple stuff I buy to be brand new but with a new battery+housing I figured a £200 saving was worth the risk. It arrived looking basically brand new with no marks that I can see and works flawless. The only issue I had was the charging cable (usb-c to usb-c) was not in this box the plug was but the cable was not, I called them and they said this was a mistake in packaging and arranged for me to pick one up at my local apple store so wasn’t a big deal. I would happily buy refurb again but only from apple 👍
I'm no Apple fan but I love the production of these videos. I kept rewatching it and eventually convinced myself to get an iPhone, from years and years of using Android, because of Jonathan.
I got my macbook air M1 for £220 under retail as it was apple refurbished.
I also purchased the original Ipad air, and it developed an issue with the screen. Apples aftercare was excellent and they treated it like a brand new unit and straight swapped it in store.
220? wow, do you buy it on website? if yes , can you share it here ?
@@laurentiusvaldy John lewis were selling it directly as it was a replacment issue they were sent, but exactly from the same stock source.