[mediahound]

Is anyone familiar with Apple's terminology? In the Apple Stores, they sometimes sell what they call 'refreshed' items which I believe are new items that have been returned by customers and checked out by store employees.

Whereas 'refurbished' items from the online Apple store are items that were somehow defective that have been fixed by Apple.

Am I correct? Is a refreshed Mac from the Apple Store better than a refurbished on from apple.com?

[osxisfun]

correct. refreshed went from the apple store to the customer who in turn returned it for various reasons. good way to save some cash.

[mediahound]

cool info.

ya, i always call around to my local Apple stores and ask if an item i'm looking for is available 'refreshed'. so far, i've bought a 23" Cinema Display and a G5 2.0 'refreshed'. same price as 'refurbished' but were never defective and factory repaired like the sale refurbished items at apple.com

in the Apple store, they let you examine the items before buying-and the display was cosmetically pristine as was the G5-100% as new. apparently the person who bought the display got in trouble with his wife for spending so much on a monitor and had to return it and pay Apple's restocking fee. their loss was my gain. same Apple warranty and Applecare option applies on refreshed items too.

[G5man]

thanks osxisfun now I just wish I could go to the apple store and get one so that I can get new computer for refurbished price hehe

[JasonBourne]

Bought a refreshed 23 inch ACD which is $300 cheaper than refurbished at apple store.

[Kenneth]

I bought the refreshed Apple DVI-to-ADC adapter for $49.99 (used to be $99) at the Apple retail store. Inside the box, everything looked new.

[OogaBooga]

Yep, Apple hardware is discounted heavily for being refreshed at the Apple Store. But you wanna know what's even better? Demo products taken off the floor. 99% of the time they are like new with a huge discount -- especially the digital cameras. Now, a discontinued refreshed product also goes for a really low price (such as the $700 12" 1.2 iBook I saw recently at my local Apple Store).

[EFFENDI]

How would one go about asking retail stores about these refreshed products? Just ask the salesperson? What about demo models, are they really that willing to just let you take home a G5 off the demo desk? Seems to me like they would just ask you to leave......

I have been looking at PowerMacs for the last few weeks, and I'm still trying to figure out the cheapest way to purchase one...

[GSixZero]

I think a lot of Apple's online store's refurbished inventory is just stuff that was returned like the refreshed stuff at the retail stores. I don't think all of it was all returned originally for being defective.

[GSixZero]

Originally Posted by EFFENDI

How would one go about asking retail stores about these refreshed products? Just ask the salesperson? What about demo models, are they really that willing to just let you take home a G5 off the demo desk? Seems to me like they would just ask you to leave......

I have been looking at PowerMacs for the last few weeks, and I'm still trying to figure out the cheapest way to purchase one...

Just ask the people at the Apple Store if they have what you're looking for refreshed. It seems like it's sometimes displayed on the floor at the end of the month, but I'd guess they have it around all the time.

"Do you have any refreshed PowerMac G5s in stock?"

[mediahound]

Originally Posted by GSixZero

I think a lot of Apple's online store's refurbished inventory is just stuff that was returned like the refreshed stuff at the retail stores. I don't think all of it was all returned originally for being defective.

his may be true however with the online store you cannot tell so you must assume that it has been remanufactured.

[mediahound]

also note that some stores only release refreshed items on the last Friday of every month, while others release them all the time.

[Todd Madson]

Last time I was in the Edina/Southdale Apple store they had a dual 2.7 refreshed and just a few
weeks before they had to have something like six or seven 2.5s.

[chabig]

Originally Posted by mediahound

his may be true however with the online store you cannot tell so you must assume that it has been remanufactured.

I'd rather buy a refurbished machine than a refreshed machine. The reason being that the refurbished machine has had a thorough going over, while I would consider the refreshed machine "used".

[osxisfun]

they do the same thing for refreshed. I almost bought one a few months ago and the apple sales guy said it would take him a morning to "get it ready"

they need to make sure some dummy did not leave quicken files on it and would turn around and sue apple if i bought a machine with his stuff on it.

[mediahound]

the refurbished items get a different part # that starts with an F assigned to them. while refreshed items keep their same original "M" part number. minor, but this could make a difference should you ever resell the item, etc.

i would rather have a refreshed item since usually they are brand new items that were just returned to the Apple store because of buyers remorse or the buyer decided he wanted the higher or lower model instead, etc. they are NEVER refurbs. if it came back to the store defective, the store would send it back to Apple and Apple would repair it and sell it as a refurb on Apple.com

it is also true that the refreshed items get a thorough going over by the store employees. and, there are cases where this can work to your advantage. my mother bought a refreshed G4 Powerbook and when she brought it over to my house for me to configure, i noticed it had an airport card and video upgrade installed in it even though she was just charged the base unit price. so she got the airport and video card totally free and she saved a bundle on the Powerbook itself too.

i guess the stores sometimes don't bother to remove extra hardware that is installed and pass that onto the buyer of the refreshed item.

[John O'Shaughnessy]

Originally Posted by Todd Madson

Last time I was in the Edina/Southdale Apple store they had a dual 2.7 refreshed and just a few
weeks before they had to have something like six or seven 2.5s.

Todd, do you recall the prices/price ranges for those refreshed PowerMacs?

Thanks,

John