I've been routinely buying refurbed equipment from Apple since 2009, and have never had a problem with anything. Currently typing this on a 30-month-old refurbed M1 Air that still looks and feels as good as new, apart from a few scratches near the USB-C ports. It's a daily driver, so battery cycles are at 765 with 86% of original capacity, and I can see me replacing the battery in a few years, assuming I even notice the loss of battery life, given how good it still is.
I have acquired a refurbished m2 pro 16 inch, 16gb ram. It has been 3 days now since I have bought it. It came perfectly cleaned and with no scratches. I'm a Unity3d and Swift developer and I have been doing heavy stuff on this machine. It looks like it's ok.
@@RL-ku6wx RAM is pretty enough. I was afraid of 16gb, because my old Mac Mini used more than 24gb. I did see a video from Alex regarding ram in m1/m2, they work differently. In a daily basis, I use simultaneously blender, Unity, vs code, slack, source tree, chrome with about 5 tabs, Xcode. The machine is running smoothly This version is 512gb storage, I would buy a 1Tb if it wasn’t so expensive Running projects locally. I’ll achieve the full storage capacity soon, so that I’ll use the projects in a external storage
for a school student and everyday use like browsing and light gaming (like iphone games) on a refurbished macbook air m2 should i get 256g or 512g? edit: because on the laptop i currently have its 512g and i have almost 100g used (lenovo slim pad 3, i think)
I paid for two macs for my whole life (all the other ones came from my employers). The first one was a first gen rMBP (late 2012 model) that I bought used from Amazon, and the second one was a Apple refurbished 2020 M1 MBP. Both machines were one year old when I bougth them and I saved a significant amount of money. The first machine is still working (my kids are using it now) although it is 11 years old now; and my wife uses the second machine with the M1 chip. No issues with either of them. Very happy with my purchases and I would not pay the full price for any Macs, unless there is a really good reason.
I bought a refurbished 14 inch MacBook Pro in August while visiting the US. The price paid worked out to be just over £1400 which is like a third cheaper than the retail in the UK. Mine also had a battery cycle count of 4 :)
Hey Alex, I bought a refurb in 2014, a MacBook Pro 13" Late 2013 Retina and used it for 9 years. I ran DriveDX a few days ago and the SSD (256GB) has still so much juice left (99%). I also ordered the 8GB version (I was low on budget) but received the 16GB version, so that was sweet. Overall, I had a good time with it but I ran into issues when MacOS wouldn't update and thus, affected the sync of one of my iPad app. Plus the screen was almost busted and the battery was 25 months pregnant with no sign of giving birth, so I knew it was time for a change. I decided to go for the new MacBook Pro M3 Pro instead of another refurb MacBook Pro M2 Pro due to several factors; Superior chip, energy savings, battery life and I also love the new space black. The bezel of the space black blends with the screen when you watch videos, so there is no distracting silver lining, which I found that to be quite cool. And thanks for the video!
@@themedleb "You will receive a refurbished device with genuine Apple replacement parts (as needed) that has been thoroughly cleaned and inspected. Refurbished iOS devices will come with new battery and outer shell." from apple's website.
I recently acquired a Certified Refurbished MacBook Pro M1 Max 14” laptop, and it’s impossible to discern from a brand new unit cosmetically. The only way I could tell that it was lightly used was by the cycle count - which was very low at 7. The best part is that I only paid $1600 for it! I’m very happy with my purchase, and look forward to using it for many years to come 👍🏼
Yes, and If you have a model affected by a recall, they pretty much refurbish it for you. It's amazing! I've got a story on that. I'll probably do a RUclips short on it at some point.
Great video. Refurbished Apple product quality is amazing. Somewhere on the site they provide the definition of “refurbished” and it’s something like “new shell, new screen, all internals cleaned and repaired”. They also give a 1year warranty. Amazon renewed does not go that far. Edit; Apple’s website- “You will receive a refurbished device with genuine Apple replacement parts (as needed) that has been thoroughly cleaned and inspected. Refurbished iOS devices will come with new battery and outer shell. Every device will come with all accessories, cables and operating systems. footnote 1 All Apple Certified Refurbished products are packaged in a brand new white box and will be sent to you with free shipping and returns.”
I was really glad to see 76 power cycles on your brand new MacBook. I recently got a refurbished one with 160 power cycles yet only 4 hours of powered-on time. I wondered if there was something amiss there, but sounds like it's normal!
I do think at this point is safer to buy a refurbished one than a brand new one. I got a MacBook 16 M2 Max recently, the 64gb model, and it came with a defect on the camera. It simply wasn't working. When I arrived at the store to replace it, they said my delivery dates for that machine were too short and that must have been a returned machine. I suspect Apple or their partners may have packed the machine back and sold it as a brand new, but with a defect. EDIT: I have also to mention that I replaced that 64GB to a "brand new" 32GB machine, that came scratched out of the box. So, yet again another issue with the replaced machine. For the refurbished ones, they have to look and properly tested or fix it to ensure they are able to be used again, instead of having this (super gross) quality-control failure like the camera not working. I have previously bought a refurbished one that lasted for years. However, I do find out a minor scratch on the lid on it AFTER using it for a few days. And I'm sure that wasn't there, because I checked every spot. So I presume they applied some sort of "make up" to make it look fresh which went away few days after I got it. I also assume that this "free returns, money back without any defect/reason" and so on conditions that they offer (and other brands and companies in the US as well) might enable them to accept a bit more defective units when shipping. That's just a guess.
Bought a refurbished i7 Macbook Pro, M1 Air and M2 Air (quite fresh into their product-cycle) and very happy with them. Sold the i7 and M1 to friends, not a big issue for them to get an initially refurbished machine. Would buy another Apple-refurbished product any time.
Just received my refurbished MacBook Pro 16" M3 Pro (18 GB | 1 TB) from Apple yesterday. After first boot, battery cycle count is 3. After updating Sonoma to the latest version and installing Xcode, Homebrew, and smartmontools (to obtain SSD stats), I have 1.94 TB data read, 1.58 TB data written, 296 power cycles, 32 power on hours, and 19 unsafe shutdowns. Finally time to retire my MacBook Pro 2016 (which underwent four repairs under AppleCare, including a replacement butterfly keyboard just last summer due to a stuck spacebar).
From my family experience (several iPhones and iPads) - refurbished devices bought from Apple is a really great deal. The only drawback - you can't have Apple financing for such purchase.
I’ve personally purchased from Apple refurbished multiple items. iPad 7th gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 11, and M1 MacBook Air. All perfect and still in use. Highly recommended.
Over the years I've bought several Apple Certified Refurbished machines; both of our most recent iMacs, for example. They've always been perfectly good, the equivalent of a new machine. Here in the UK new Macs, iPads, etc, aren't normally available on Amazon so Apple Certified Refurbished is pretty much the only way to buy (some) Apple products at reduced prices.
Just picked up a M1 Max 64GB from microcenter, Apple refurbishe, open box. Battery has 16 cycles so it’s likely a display unit or someone cycled it daily during the 15 day return window 😆 . I cannot find anything that indicates it’s a used unit from looking at the keyboard, outer shell, touchpad. There was a small smudge on the screen. The power brick does have small light scratches. Works fine, still have to check the ssd in detail though.
Got my 16 inch m1 max 64gb 1tb refurbished and it’s absolutely indifferent compared to a brand new one. I added apple care and it’s causing me zero stress
I bought a refurbished m2 pro chip macbook pro 14inch about 3 month ago. It looks brand new to me when I received it. I am a web developer and that macbook can do everything I need perfectly. I would say it's a good deal, it comes directly form apple, has 1 year warranty, and if you want you can even buy apple care for the laptop.
Bought a refurbished MacBook Pro 6 yrs ago but had issues with the keyboard lighting, couldn't fix it and was given a new one. Refurbished can be a hit or miss, and for the difference in price I don't want to deal with the hassle.
In 2021 I bought an Apple Refurbished base model M1 MacBook Air, at a cost saving of 15%. Its battery had completed all of two charge cycles and according to the Coconut Battery app had been manufactured some 8 months after the Mac's date of manufacture. To all intents and purposes it was a new Mac.
I bought a refurbished MBA M1 16/512 back in 2022 from a non-Apple certified reseller. It had 95% battery capacity at the time with about 50 cycles. It was about $700 cheaper than MSRP at the time. It's been flawless so far Present day, I'm still at 95% capacity and still lasts me about 16 hours of use, which is outstanding. I wish Apple didn't limit it to 1 external monitor though.
Actually, Apple also gives a a good student discount ( 10 %) for productive machines and a special discount for Apple employees may reach 70 % for some products
Refurbished m2 pro 14 16gb 512gb and it's been running flawlessly, for 1600 👌🏽 💯 haven't used it as much as i hoped but the speed is immaculate plus the power efficiency, it can also run WoW or my ocasional LoL game.
MAJORITY of refurbished MacBooks are old stock of new computers OR refurbished motherboards, in other words, you are 99%likely to get a PC with new battery, new shell new keyboard and screen. very rarely they will send an actual use unit from someone who returned a computer. I bought a 16 inch M1 PRO for 2400CAD where a new would've cost 3600. it came with a 4-5 battery cycle and 100% capacity, shell and keyboard were new. so yeah I am only buying refurbished from now on.
@@riswandakafa9750 thats Apples open policy for refurbished products. People read "refurbished" and think "oh, thats a returned product" nope, those notebooks have the same warranty as regular macbooks so apple has to make sure that the core components are new to avoid excessive returning of refurbished stock. Now that we have the M3 the M2s and M1s Pro versions cannot be sold new, but they certainly have stock of those products so they either ship it to other countries, sell it at lower price to third party stores (that bears the risk of selling old products) OR they put it on the refurbished section of their website at a discount.. I got an M1 Pro 16inch and it had a brand new cable, charger, casing, keyboard and battery was 100% capacity. However, the SSD data showed that it was an used baord.. usually thats a giveaway that you bought an old motherboard put into a new shell and battery. If the SSD data (you can check on MacOs the write/read and cycles of the SSD), there are thresholds for what is considered new and used ones.
I have only bought refurbished since 2009. Over thirty of them. Only one was a lemon, and Apple made good on it with no hazzle. All of these refurbished computers worked well for many years. I currently am typing on my 2017 MacBookPro in 2024 and it has never given me a problem. Though now I have maxed out on upgrades of MacOS. Ventura 13.6.7 is as far as it will go. I hope to buy a refurbished M3Pro in the next few months.
My friend got refurbished 13" Macbook Pro few years ago, and its trackpad did not work on the whole surface. He did not notice in time, he thought it was normal. After I saw that I was sceptical to get refurbished one. I would rather buy used under warranty. It is usually cheaper and safer.
Definitely worth it from other retailers. I got a MacBook Air m2 15" for £900 when the new price is £1400. Only 2 months old and 14 battery cycles. Comes with 2 year warranty.
Hi, I bought my MacBook Pro 15in in 2015, I have been using it everyday, day and night, even ran a few ML models (of course in complete helicopter mode 😂, all fans took off!) took ages to train but did finish it. Absolutely did not crash once, The cycle count on that machine now is around 588. It has reached a point where my speakers are not working that well, but nothing wrong with it, just getting quite old. So, I don’t think you can really get to 1000 battery cycle count even with heavy use before you really should replace it. Also, I don’t let my battery run down more than 30%, I just leave that on charge. It is better for the battery life as far as I understand. I have recently bought a apple refurbished MacBook Pro 16in M2 max, 32Gb, cycle count was 4, 3 weeks ago when I opened the box powered up, just got to 5 a few days ago. I have been running 3D models, train a few ML models, just for use reference. Super fast, super happy with it. 😊
Well I have 1450 cycles on a 2015 13" and have never reset it to factory settings. The battery still lasts for 4 hours of coding + web surfing. Not full day of TV shows as it was 6 years ago but still very good even compared to some new laptops. Was about to switch it for 2 years already but I just can't, it's perfect😂
Love, love, love your content. Since I am new to 🍎 and have always been a Windows guy. Everything that you provide in your content is purely great since I am also a computer programmer but not as great as you lol keep up the great work
I have acquired a refurbished macbook pro m1-pro 16gb of ram, other than the box, I can't tell it's a refurbished, it's working perfectly. I'm a software developer from Brazil btw :D
I’ve never bought refurbished, simply, because unfortunately, I’m kind of one of those people that likes to have the latest and greatest and saves up for the new one. But I’ve had a couple friends buy refurbished M1 MacBook Air over the years when they’ve come to me asking about new computer recommendations. None of them have failed ever. They literally are functionally new.
My last MacBook (2019 intel) was refurbished from apple, and my current one is refurb (M1 Max '16) and it's great. No scratches, full 100% battery. I think I will keep it.
just to be clear , if you returning your product back to open , even if you havent open, it will not go into refurbished, we are mislead by tinking that refurbished mean used, but its not
You asked if any of us had bought an Apple Refurbished Mac. Yes, I bought an Apple Refurbished Mac Pro tower in 2007. 16 years later I still have it, it’s been upgraded many times, it still runs, and it never needed repair service.
I Buy a MacBook Pro 16, M1 Pro with 16 gb Ram 512 GB HDD with 37 Cycles from private Person for 1500 Euro. Great Value. No Scratches great Device and only a little slower as my Mac Studio at Video Exports I love it.
Now I understand something about the Power Cycle: New Mac ±76, Refurb ±149 (doubled). I think it's doubled because for Refurb - Apple has to retest everything again. That's why since the SSD still same, the amount is recorded doubled. I think it's not entirely used, rather it's been returned within the 14 days warranty period for any reasons.
i just purchased an amazon renewed macbook. no scratches, not even a micro scratch. it came with the original unopened cable and brand new adapter. 1 battery cycle. the only downside, it doesnt apple care
There some risk in buying refurbished stuffs from Apple. I brought M1 MacBook Air, iPad Pro 11”, iPad Pro 11”, iPad Mini 6. All working fine and feel like new. However, the 12.9” iPad Pro was bad. The environmental sensor wasn’t work that it wasn’t been woken when I open the case of tap it. It took me a few visit to Apple Genius to fine that fault. They finally replace it with a service unit. So, it wasn’t ideal purchasing experience. One may say that it was faulty from 1 out of 4 devices only. Well, I never experienced this since my purchase of new Apple devices from iPhone 3GS. So, there is higher chance to get a faulty device. So, I don’t recommend buying refurbished device from Apple unless one understand computer technology understands it well.
Those SSDs are BGA soldered chips… swapping out for refurbish… isn’t really worth the risk. Anyway, we always keep in mind that refurbishing is a labor and skill intensive job.. so, unless you get it from a good source… I would rather not care..
I bought my refurbished MacBook Pro m2 max just a few days ago and I can say that its really good deal, because I was able to save 500 dollars and still got super computer.
Thanks for the info. Im still amazed if they replace anything. How would it be worth sending it back somewhere. Refurbing it. Repacking and sending back out. I dunno seems like a waste of money
You at least expect Apple to get rid of the 8 GB ram and replace with 16 when used ones are brought in. It's more of a bonus to have the refurb 16/512 for the price of 8/256 than to have a cheaper baseline price.
I bought a refurbished Mac in 2020 still going strong but lagging this year it is still good though. The lag is due to me using it for hours and it over heats.
I am gonna bet that the "bench testing" for units destined for Apple Store Refurbs are subject to very stringent cosmetic and internal testing and diagnostics which generate very specific reports for each INDIVIDUAL machine...then thoroughly "inspected / retested" before final boxing. Basically, the machines are made functionally NEW.
Im thinking.. they just move the Logic Board to another case, thats why everything is so new. A new case with new keyboard, screen. etc... move the logic board.. and BAM!!! refurbished!
I just got my 2023 Pro M3 Pro refurbished and you’d never know it wasn’t refurbished if it didn’t say it on the box. Packaged just the same. I won’t buy new anymore.
I got an 11.5" Mac book air 2017 refurb in 17 and I've used the crap out of it and paid $700 from Apple at the time. Retail I think was still $1100. Full warranty. 4GB ram and 256GB SSD and I've never gone over 60GB. Should've gotten the 13" with 128gb ssd and 8gb ram. Being said mine is running sonoma.....
Refurbished is better than new. It looks and functions like new. For all intents and purposes, it's brand new. _But_ it undergoes more testing than new.
The SSDs on the M-series MacBooks are soldered. They are replaceable, but it's an awful amount of work and probably not worth it for Apple considering the chips wouldn't have gone through enough wear for it to be a problem anyways (as compared to the exterior chassis and the battery which usually get replaced, along with any other parts "as needed"). Refurb is perfectly fine! P.S. The refurbished SSDs are probably also getting the OS reinstalled and tested, so that might be a factor as well.
$2600 Australian for the machine you ordered(but 512GB as 256GB SSD isn't available) by the way the “Aussie tax” on that is only $220 AU. If you take the 10% tax Australia pays off the price we are playing a little less after currency conversion
Never seen her work , i know she is driven but cramming up, all nighters, being productive, god save me, i think it was her idea that we have seprate rooms for exams , well it suited her better with her friends and all, no that was me being cruel , i remember this one time when we were in close columns , i can bet you for the first 45 mins , then i only started to write something , kam se kam pass ho jayein, it would have been better to just leave the exam hall or fail toghether, i didn’t want to fail , would be good actually something to talk about, i know i never prepared upto my expectations, better notes maybe , how good actually ?
Regarding your comment about reselling with a refurbished box, you should try that for your next video. I really doubt you have need of ANOTHER 2 macbook airs 😂
I was going to get a 16" MBP with M3 Pro (18 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, 18 GPU cores). But upon seeing the first benchmarks and how close they are to unbinned M2 Pro in terms of CPU and GPU, I cancelled my order. I got a refurbished 16" MBP with M2 Max (32 GB, 1 TB SSD, 38 GPU cores) for only ~300€ more (discounted by ~600€ from the original price). CPU performance should be about the same, slightly worse in single-core and slightly worse or slightly better in multi-core, depending on the application. However GPU performance should be much much better for workloads that don't involve raytracing (which I don't have a need for at the moment). The refurbished MBP basically looks flawless and the battery only has 3 cycles at 100% capacity. I couldn't spot any flaws so far.
Same, mine is "brand new" and the battery cycle is 2, and it has finger prints on the trackpad and some stains on the chassis.... Maybe I'll consider returning it....🤔
Apple change the shell on all their refurbished machines not sure about the battery that could be someone bought it and return it because it didn’t meet their specifications
JOIN: youtube.com/@azisk/join
I've been routinely buying refurbed equipment from Apple since 2009, and have never had a problem with anything. Currently typing this on a 30-month-old refurbed M1 Air that still looks and feels as good as new, apart from a few scratches near the USB-C ports. It's a daily driver, so battery cycles are at 765 with 86% of original capacity, and I can see me replacing the battery in a few years, assuming I even notice the loss of battery life, given how good it still is.
I have acquired a refurbished m2 pro 16 inch, 16gb ram. It has been 3 days now since I have bought it. It came perfectly cleaned and with no scratches. I'm a Unity3d and Swift developer and I have been doing heavy stuff on this machine. It looks like it's ok.
nice 👍 bet you saved a bunch of 💰
For sure! Here, dolar costs 5 times our currency, so each penny counts@@AZisk
@@RL-ku6wx RAM is pretty enough. I was afraid of 16gb, because my old Mac Mini used more than 24gb. I did see a video from Alex regarding ram in m1/m2, they work differently.
In a daily basis, I use simultaneously blender, Unity, vs code, slack, source tree, chrome with about 5 tabs, Xcode. The machine is running smoothly
This version is 512gb storage, I would buy a 1Tb if it wasn’t so expensive
Running projects locally. I’ll achieve the full storage capacity soon, so that I’ll use the projects in a external storage
@@RL-ku6wx no prob. Thanks.
for a school student and everyday use like browsing and light gaming (like iphone games) on a refurbished macbook air m2 should i get 256g or 512g?
edit: because on the laptop i currently have its 512g and i have almost 100g used (lenovo slim pad 3, i think)
I paid for two macs for my whole life (all the other ones came from my employers). The first one was a first gen rMBP (late 2012 model) that I bought used from Amazon, and the second one was a Apple refurbished 2020 M1 MBP. Both machines were one year old when I bougth them and I saved a significant amount of money. The first machine is still working (my kids are using it now) although it is 11 years old now; and my wife uses the second machine with the M1 chip. No issues with either of them. Very happy with my purchases and I would not pay the full price for any Macs, unless there is a really good reason.
I got the refurbished m1 max 16 this summer and loving it! Saved tons of money at least $1000!
nice 👍
I bought a refurbished 14 inch MacBook Pro in August while visiting the US. The price paid worked out to be just over £1400 which is like a third cheaper than the retail in the UK. Mine also had a battery cycle count of 4 :)
Is the warranty is covered in uk if you buy it from USA?
@@param2014 yes Apple warranty offers world wide coverage. Once I got home I could even buy extended AppleCare
@@param2014 Warranty is Worldwide.
Hey Alex, I bought a refurb in 2014, a MacBook Pro 13" Late 2013 Retina and used it for 9 years. I ran DriveDX a few days ago and the SSD (256GB) has still so much juice left (99%). I also ordered the 8GB version (I was low on budget) but received the 16GB version, so that was sweet. Overall, I had a good time with it but I ran into issues when MacOS wouldn't update and thus, affected the sync of one of my iPad app. Plus the screen was almost busted and the battery was 25 months pregnant with no sign of giving birth, so I knew it was time for a change.
I decided to go for the new MacBook Pro M3 Pro instead of another refurb MacBook Pro M2 Pro due to several factors; Superior chip, energy savings, battery life and I also love the new space black. The bezel of the space black blends with the screen when you watch videos, so there is no distracting silver lining, which I found that to be quite cool.
And thanks for the video!
It’s because when apple refurbishes the macbooks, they replace pretty much everything.
Any evidence please?
@@themedleb "You will receive a refurbished device with genuine Apple replacement parts (as needed) that has been thoroughly cleaned and inspected. Refurbished iOS devices will come with new battery and outer shell." from apple's website.
I recently acquired a Certified Refurbished MacBook Pro M1 Max 14” laptop, and it’s impossible to discern from a brand new unit cosmetically. The only way I could tell that it was lightly used was by the cycle count - which was very low at 7. The best part is that I only paid $1600 for it! I’m very happy with my purchase, and look forward to using it for many years to come 👍🏼
Yes, and If you have a model affected by a recall, they pretty much refurbish it for you. It's amazing! I've got a story on that. I'll probably do a RUclips short on it at some point.
Great video. Refurbished Apple product quality is amazing. Somewhere on the site they provide the definition of “refurbished” and it’s something like “new shell, new screen, all internals cleaned and repaired”. They also give a 1year warranty. Amazon renewed does not go that far.
Edit; Apple’s website-
“You will receive a refurbished device with genuine Apple replacement parts (as needed) that has been thoroughly cleaned and inspected. Refurbished iOS devices will come with new battery and outer shell. Every device will come with all accessories, cables and operating systems. footnote 1 All Apple Certified Refurbished products are packaged in a brand new white box and will be sent to you with free shipping and returns.”
Unfortunately a laptop wouldn't qualify as an iOS device so they don't guarantee outer shell or battery
So much work gone into this video - thank you! I’m considering a refurb m2 pro
I was really glad to see 76 power cycles on your brand new MacBook. I recently got a refurbished one with 160 power cycles yet only 4 hours of powered-on time. I wondered if there was something amiss there, but sounds like it's normal!
I do think at this point is safer to buy a refurbished one than a brand new one. I got a MacBook 16 M2 Max recently, the 64gb model, and it came with a defect on the camera. It simply wasn't working. When I arrived at the store to replace it, they said my delivery dates for that machine were too short and that must have been a returned machine. I suspect Apple or their partners may have packed the machine back and sold it as a brand new, but with a defect.
EDIT: I have also to mention that I replaced that 64GB to a "brand new" 32GB machine, that came scratched out of the box. So, yet again another issue with the replaced machine.
For the refurbished ones, they have to look and properly tested or fix it to ensure they are able to be used again, instead of having this (super gross) quality-control failure like the camera not working.
I have previously bought a refurbished one that lasted for years. However, I do find out a minor scratch on the lid on it AFTER using it for a few days. And I'm sure that wasn't there, because I checked every spot. So I presume they applied some sort of "make up" to make it look fresh which went away few days after I got it.
I also assume that this "free returns, money back without any defect/reason" and so on conditions that they offer (and other brands and companies in the US as well) might enable them to accept a bit more defective units when shipping. That's just a guess.
Bought a refurbished i7 Macbook Pro, M1 Air and M2 Air (quite fresh into their product-cycle) and very happy with them. Sold the i7 and M1 to friends, not a big issue for them to get an initially refurbished machine. Would buy another Apple-refurbished product any time.
Just received my refurbished MacBook Pro 16" M3 Pro (18 GB | 1 TB) from Apple yesterday. After first boot, battery cycle count is 3. After updating Sonoma to the latest version and installing Xcode, Homebrew, and smartmontools (to obtain SSD stats), I have 1.94 TB data read, 1.58 TB data written, 296 power cycles, 32 power on hours, and 19 unsafe shutdowns. Finally time to retire my MacBook Pro 2016 (which underwent four repairs under AppleCare, including a replacement butterfly keyboard just last summer due to a stuck spacebar).
From my family experience (several iPhones and iPads) - refurbished devices bought from Apple is a really great deal. The only drawback - you can't have Apple financing for such purchase.
I’ve personally purchased from Apple refurbished multiple items. iPad 7th gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 11, and M1 MacBook Air. All perfect and still in use. Highly recommended.
Great video. Love how you collaborated to discuss the differences.
Over the years I've bought several Apple Certified Refurbished machines; both of our most recent iMacs, for example. They've always been perfectly good, the equivalent of a new machine. Here in the UK new Macs, iPads, etc, aren't normally available on Amazon so Apple Certified Refurbished is pretty much the only way to buy (some) Apple products at reduced prices.
None of us should be using Amazon anyways, it's no more expensive to buy direct from the place amazon got from 👍🏻
Just picked up a M1 Max 64GB from microcenter, Apple refurbishe, open box. Battery has 16 cycles so it’s likely a display unit or someone cycled it daily during the 15 day return window 😆 . I cannot find anything that indicates it’s a used unit from looking at the keyboard, outer shell, touchpad. There was a small smudge on the screen. The power brick does have small light scratches. Works fine, still have to check the ssd in detail though.
Got my 16 inch m1 max 64gb 1tb refurbished and it’s absolutely indifferent compared to a brand new one. I added apple care and it’s causing me zero stress
I bought a refurbished m2 pro chip macbook pro 14inch about 3 month ago. It looks brand new to me when I received it. I am a web developer and that macbook can do everything I need perfectly. I would say it's a good deal, it comes directly form apple, has 1 year warranty, and if you want you can even buy apple care for the laptop.
I wish Apple had this program in mexico. Great video.
I bought myself a refurbished M1 Mac Mini, my wife a M1 MacBook. I was very pleased with what Apple delivered.
Bought a refurbished MacBook Pro 6 yrs ago but had issues with the keyboard lighting, couldn't fix it and was given a new one. Refurbished can be a hit or miss, and for the difference in price I don't want to deal with the hassle.
In 2021 I bought an Apple Refurbished base model M1 MacBook Air, at a cost saving of 15%. Its battery had completed all of two charge cycles and according to the Coconut Battery app had been manufactured some 8 months after the Mac's date of manufacture. To all intents and purposes it was a new Mac.
thank you for making this video 👍
I've only purchased refurb'd since 2004. No issues. Best Regards and Best Wishes!
I bought a refurbished MBA M1 16/512 back in 2022 from a non-Apple certified reseller. It had 95% battery capacity at the time with about 50 cycles. It was about $700 cheaper than MSRP at the time.
It's been flawless so far
Present day, I'm still at 95% capacity and still lasts me about 16 hours of use, which is outstanding. I wish Apple didn't limit it to 1 external monitor though.
Actually, Apple also gives a a good student discount ( 10 %) for productive machines and a special discount for Apple employees may reach 70 % for some products
Refurbished m2 pro 14 16gb 512gb and it's been running flawlessly, for 1600 👌🏽 💯 haven't used it as much as i hoped but the speed is immaculate plus the power efficiency, it can also run WoW or my ocasional LoL game.
I’m pretty sure the SSD is soldered in place so highly unlikely that Apple would replace it.
2:11 The cutest expression ever as a software developer
MAJORITY of refurbished MacBooks are old stock of new computers OR refurbished motherboards, in other words, you are 99%likely to get a PC with new battery, new shell new keyboard and screen. very rarely they will send an actual use unit from someone who returned a computer. I bought a 16 inch M1 PRO for 2400CAD where a new would've cost 3600. it came with a 4-5 battery cycle and 100% capacity, shell and keyboard were new. so yeah I am only buying refurbished from now on.
nice insight, but may I know how do you know that?
@@riswandakafa9750 thats Apples open policy for refurbished products. People read "refurbished" and think "oh, thats a returned product" nope, those notebooks have the same warranty as regular macbooks so apple has to make sure that the core components are new to avoid excessive returning of refurbished stock. Now that we have the M3 the M2s and M1s Pro versions cannot be sold new, but they certainly have stock of those products so they either ship it to other countries, sell it at lower price to third party stores (that bears the risk of selling old products) OR they put it on the refurbished section of their website at a discount.. I got an M1 Pro 16inch and it had a brand new cable, charger, casing, keyboard and battery was 100% capacity. However, the SSD data showed that it was an used baord.. usually thats a giveaway that you bought an old motherboard put into a new shell and battery. If the SSD data (you can check on MacOs the write/read and cycles of the SSD), there are thresholds for what is considered new and used ones.
I have only bought refurbished since 2009. Over thirty of them. Only one was a lemon, and Apple made good on it with no hazzle. All of these refurbished computers worked well for many years. I currently am typing on my 2017 MacBookPro in 2024 and it has never given me a problem. Though now I have maxed out on upgrades of MacOS. Ventura 13.6.7 is as far as it will go. I hope to buy a refurbished M3Pro in the next few months.
My friend got refurbished 13" Macbook Pro few years ago, and its trackpad did not work on the whole surface. He did not notice in time, he thought it was normal. After I saw that I was sceptical to get refurbished one. I would rather buy used under warranty. It is usually cheaper and safer.
Definitely worth it from other retailers. I got a MacBook Air m2 15" for £900 when the new price is £1400. Only 2 months old and 14 battery cycles. Comes with 2 year warranty.
Hi, I bought my MacBook Pro 15in in 2015, I have been using it everyday, day and night, even ran a few ML models (of course in complete helicopter mode 😂, all fans took off!) took ages to train but did finish it. Absolutely did not crash once, The cycle count on that machine now is around 588. It has reached a point where my speakers are not working that well, but nothing wrong with it, just getting quite old. So, I don’t think you can really get to 1000 battery cycle count even with heavy use before you really should replace it. Also, I don’t let my battery run down more than 30%, I just leave that on charge. It is better for the battery life as far as I understand. I have recently bought a apple refurbished MacBook Pro 16in M2 max, 32Gb, cycle count was 4, 3 weeks ago when I opened the box powered up, just got to 5 a few days ago. I have been running 3D models, train a few ML models, just for use reference. Super fast, super happy with it. 😊
Well I have 1450 cycles on a 2015 13" and have never reset it to factory settings. The battery still lasts for 4 hours of coding + web surfing. Not full day of TV shows as it was 6 years ago but still very good even compared to some new laptops. Was about to switch it for 2 years already but I just can't, it's perfect😂
Love, love, love your content. Since I am new to 🍎 and have always been a Windows guy. Everything that you provide in your content is purely great since I am also a computer programmer but not as great as you lol keep up the great work
Awesome, thank you!
As a developer, your channel is so super valuable to those of us who can't go and do all these types of things at the Apple Store. Thank you!
I have acquired a refurbished macbook pro m1-pro 16gb of ram, other than the box, I can't tell it's a refurbished, it's working perfectly. I'm a software developer from Brazil btw :D
I’ve never bought refurbished, simply, because unfortunately, I’m kind of one of those people that likes to have the latest and greatest and saves up for the new one. But I’ve had a couple friends buy refurbished M1 MacBook Air over the years when they’ve come to me asking about new computer recommendations. None of them have failed ever. They literally are functionally new.
Just bought a refurbished MacBook Pro 14“ M3 Pro 18 Gb and was worried about it‘s state. But it had no scratches at all and 3 cycles of battery 🎉
Yes. Got my M1 Air refurbished and it was basically new.
Always refurb directly from Apple for over a decade, never an issue. No effect on resale value either.
good to know about the resale value
My last MacBook (2019 intel) was refurbished from apple, and my current one is refurb (M1 Max '16) and it's great. No scratches, full 100% battery. I think I will keep it.
i bought my refurb m1 mac air (16gb ram / 512 gb ssd) in Nov 2022, it came with a battery cycle count of 1, looks brand new with no scratches / dents
nice
just to be clear , if you returning your product back to open , even if you havent open, it will not go into refurbished, we are mislead by tinking that refurbished mean used, but its not
The Apple refurbished they only keep the motherboard from the old laptop so the housing screen keyboard trackpad and battery are all new
You asked if any of us had bought an Apple Refurbished Mac. Yes, I bought an Apple Refurbished Mac Pro tower in 2007. 16 years later I still have it, it’s been upgraded many times, it still runs, and it never needed repair service.
The only refurb thing I have bought was an iPad Pro. It failed after a year. Never buying refurb again.
I got the refurbished m1 max 16 this summer and i loving it.
I Buy a MacBook Pro 16, M1 Pro with 16 gb Ram 512 GB HDD with 37 Cycles from private Person for 1500 Euro. Great Value. No Scratches great Device and only a little slower as my Mac Studio at Video Exports I love it.
me too! M2 Pro, and it works perfectly!
Now I understand something about the Power Cycle:
New Mac ±76, Refurb ±149 (doubled).
I think it's doubled because for Refurb - Apple has to retest everything again.
That's why since the SSD still same, the amount is recorded doubled.
I think it's not entirely used, rather it's been returned within the 14 days warranty period for any reasons.
Does Apple allow refurbished MacBooks to be traded in later? What kind of value do they give refurbished trade ins? Anyone?
great question. I need to explore that option
i just purchased an amazon renewed macbook. no scratches, not even a micro scratch. it came with the original unopened cable and brand new adapter. 1 battery cycle. the only downside, it doesnt apple care
that’s a good one. did they give you a year to evaluate it too?
Man if I’m spending $1,500 + old or new, might as well spend the extra $300-$500 for a brand new computer. Thank you for the informative vid though
There some risk in buying refurbished stuffs from Apple.
I brought M1 MacBook Air, iPad Pro 11”, iPad Pro 11”, iPad Mini 6. All working fine and feel like new.
However, the 12.9” iPad Pro was bad. The environmental sensor wasn’t work that it wasn’t been woken when I open the case of tap it.
It took me a few visit to Apple Genius to fine that fault. They finally replace it with a service unit.
So, it wasn’t ideal purchasing experience.
One may say that it was faulty from 1 out of 4 devices only. Well, I never experienced this since my purchase of new Apple devices from iPhone 3GS.
So, there is higher chance to get a faulty device.
So, I don’t recommend buying refurbished device from Apple unless one understand computer technology understands it well.
Those SSDs are BGA soldered chips… swapping out for refurbish… isn’t really worth the risk.
Anyway, we always keep in mind that refurbishing is a labor and skill intensive job.. so, unless you get it from a good source… I would rather not care..
100% worth it. I paid a little over base model but I got 32 GB ram and the higher spec 10 core CPU m1 14" pro.
I feel like these aren’t actually “refurbished” instead are just openboxed items or just returned within 14 days
I’ve bough a refurb i7 - was flawless.
May not go that big but you can get the $3499 M2 Max 16” MBP for just under $3000. That’s a lot of savings.
I bought my refurbished MacBook Pro m2 max just a few days ago and I can say that its really good deal, because I was able to save 500 dollars and still got super computer.
Thanks for the info. Im still amazed if they replace anything. How would it be worth sending it back somewhere. Refurbing it. Repacking and sending back out. I dunno seems like a waste of money
You at least expect Apple to get rid of the 8 GB ram and replace with 16 when used ones are brought in. It's more of a bonus to have the refurb 16/512 for the price of 8/256 than to have a cheaper baseline price.
I bought a refurbished Mac in 2020 still going strong but lagging this year it is still good though. The lag is due to me using it for hours and it over heats.
I am gonna bet that the "bench testing" for units destined for Apple Store Refurbs are subject to very stringent cosmetic and internal testing and diagnostics which generate very specific reports for each INDIVIDUAL machine...then thoroughly "inspected / retested" before final boxing. Basically, the machines are made functionally NEW.
Tom is a genius.
Im thinking.. they just move the Logic Board to another case, thats why everything is so new. A new case with new keyboard, screen. etc... move the logic board.. and BAM!!! refurbished!
What is the command or tool your run to get all those details on the ssd please?
Yeah, my question too! I guess the video is too old to warrant a reply 🙂
I love it.. "They make this way too easy to order ... making me spend money..."
Can can you share me how did you check you ssd health ?
I just got my 2023 Pro M3 Pro refurbished and you’d never know it wasn’t refurbished if it didn’t say it on the box. Packaged just the same. I won’t buy new anymore.
I got an 11.5" Mac book air 2017 refurb in 17 and I've used the crap out of it and paid $700 from Apple at the time. Retail I think was still $1100. Full warranty. 4GB ram and 256GB SSD and I've never gone over 60GB. Should've gotten the 13" with 128gb ssd and 8gb ram. Being said mine is running sonoma.....
I bought Apple Refurbished MacBook Pro 16 M1 Pro 16/512 for $1500 and it was basically brand new with 4 battery cycles
Refurbished is better than new. It looks and functions like new. For all intents and purposes, it's brand new. _But_ it undergoes more testing than new.
how is it better than new when new has less read/writes on the SSD?
@@Dalamain the vast majority of OEMs swap the SSD. Apple _definitely_ swap the SSD. You get a new one, as it obvious from this video.
Apple I'm looking at you. Don't be unsafe 😂
The SSDs on the M-series MacBooks are soldered. They are replaceable, but it's an awful amount of work and probably not worth it for Apple considering the chips wouldn't have gone through enough wear for it to be a problem anyways (as compared to the exterior chassis and the battery which usually get replaced, along with any other parts "as needed"). Refurb is perfectly fine!
P.S. The refurbished SSDs are probably also getting the OS reinstalled and tested, so that might be a factor as well.
It is sadly mainly in North America you can get refurbished
Military / Veterans discounts (10%) are available directly from Apple....but can't be used for refurb or with special Apple Card financing
Feel real good that I got to buy the 15inch M2 16gigs 512gb for 1399 special deal that Best Buy had (New)
once in a great while brand new machines will be on a small sale at best buy.
I din’t know SSDs are consumable as well..🙄
What is that command that shows the SSD info?
$2600 Australian for the machine you ordered(but 512GB as 256GB SSD isn't available) by the way the “Aussie tax” on that is only $220 AU. If you take the 10% tax Australia pays off the price we are playing a little less after currency conversion
would you say 1100 is a fair price for a 2021 M1 16” 512GB 16GB memory
59 battery cycles 96% capacity
Never seen her work , i know she is driven but cramming up, all nighters, being productive, god save me, i think it was her idea that we have seprate rooms for exams , well it suited her better with her friends and all, no that was me being cruel , i remember this one time when we were in close columns , i can bet you for the first 45 mins , then i only started to write something , kam se kam pass ho jayein, it would have been better to just leave the exam hall or fail toghether, i didn’t want to fail , would be good actually something to talk about, i know i never prepared upto my expectations, better notes maybe , how good actually ?
Please provide the benchmark application name
another commenter mentioned using smartmontools for this, if that helps
Just buy my 16" macbook pro m1 max 16 gb ram from apple refurbished program save 1 grand on it, having not issue at all.
😮 thats a huge save.
I think the additional battery cycles might just be due to testing.
Well, Tom's a genius
What is that Terminal battery and SSD info tool you've used?
Regarding your comment about reselling with a refurbished box, you should try that for your next video.
I really doubt you have need of ANOTHER 2 macbook airs 😂
I was going to get a 16" MBP with M3 Pro (18 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, 18 GPU cores). But upon seeing the first benchmarks and how close they are to unbinned M2 Pro in terms of CPU and GPU, I cancelled my order. I got a refurbished 16" MBP with M2 Max (32 GB, 1 TB SSD, 38 GPU cores) for only ~300€ more (discounted by ~600€ from the original price). CPU performance should be about the same, slightly worse in single-core and slightly worse or slightly better in multi-core, depending on the application. However GPU performance should be much much better for workloads that don't involve raytracing (which I don't have a need for at the moment). The refurbished MBP basically looks flawless and the battery only has 3 cycles at 100% capacity. I couldn't spot any flaws so far.
so don't buy refurbished...used anything is always with risk...even new can be risky and that's why warranties on new items is important.
I got a brand new M3 MacBook Pro and it had 5 cycles on the battery out of the box. I’ve see anywhere from as little as 3 and as much as 5.
Same, mine is "brand new" and the battery cycle is 2, and it has finger prints on the trackpad and some stains on the chassis.... Maybe I'll consider returning it....🤔
IMO, the price difference is not worth it.
If say, refurbished ones are generally 1/3 off, then they will be attractive to price conscious buyers!
Apple change the shell on all their refurbished machines not sure about the battery that could be someone bought it and return it because it didn’t meet their specifications
What terminal commands did you use to readout the shutdowns and the ssd read and write data?
smartmontools