[Person Man]

Well, since Apple doesn't seem to be showing any signs of releasing new G5's anytime soon, I went ahead and took the plunge... I bought a refurbished Dual 2.0 GHz Power Mac G5 from the Apple Store online for $2399 + tax.

I paid the $57 for overnight shipping. FedEx was a day late, so Apple refunded me the $57 shipping charge (in effect, I got 2 day shipping for free-- normally costs $41)

I unpacked the computer, turned it on, and the thing sounded like a jet engine taking off... all 9 fans were running full blast... hmm... ran Hardware test, got a "Logic board error detected at startup, error code post/128/0." Ran the extended test, all tests passed, including logic board.

Called AppleCare, expecting the technician to tell me to run through the whole "zap the PRAM, reinstall the OS" nonsense, but he didn't. He told me that if the logic board passed, and the fans were running full blast, the error code meant that the processor temperature sensors needed to be calibrated. I took it to the nearest Apple Store today, and they had it fixed in 5 hours. Now it runs quietly, the way it's supposed to.

I purchased the extended AppleCare warranty (hey, it's a refurb after all).

Am I sorry I purchased a refurbished machine instead of new? no. Would I buy one again? Hell yes! If I had bought new, then Apple would have come out with the new machines in a month, and I'd be kicking myself for not waiting. But, $2399 + tax is a great price for a dual 2.0 GHz machine

[Person Man]

Oh, and now that I have had a chance to really play with my new machine, I noticed that it had 128 MB of VRAM.

"Strange..." I thought, "the Radeon 9600 only has 64 MB of VRAM," and the refurbished machines are supposed to be stock configurations only. The machine I bought comes stock with the 9600.

Then I fired up Hardware Test, and sure enough, it reports that I have a Radeon 9800 Pro instead.

So, instead of getting a $3000 machine for $2400, I got a $3300 machine for $2400, and "free" 2 day shipping.

[Truepop]

Originally posted by Person Man:
Oh, and now that I have had a chance to really play with my new machine, I noticed that it had 128 MB of VRAM.

"Strange..." I thought, "the Radeon 9600 only has 64 MB of VRAM," and the refurbished machines are supposed to be stock configurations only. The machine I bought comes stock with the 9600.

Then I fired up Hardware Test, and sure enough, it reports that I have a Radeon 9800 Pro instead.

So, instead of getting a $3000 machine for $2400, I got a $3300 machine for $2400, and "free" 2 day shipping.

The Holy Crap. That was a good move. Most only report that the Refurbs have an extra 512MB of Memory but you got luck. I guess that little find means you won't be too upset when speedbumps are shipped.

[Eriamjh]

Better to have the 9800 Pro than the extra RAM.