Buying a Refurbished Macbook

[BrightLights]

I've had the same shitty laptop for like 3 years. I got it for hardly anything a long time ago. But I finally have some money saved up, and decided that I'm gunna get a new one. The reason I've decided on getting a mac is because I have never actually owned one in my life, I've always had windows, and figured id try something new. I've also heard good stuff about macs and production. I've decided to get a refurbished one, since brand new macs are way too expensive for me. I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with buying refurbished macs or laptops in general, and if anyone has any advice or anything. I also know literally nothing about computers, like I know cpu is important, because I use Ableton and my cpu gets jacked up a lot. Is that measured in GHz, or what? Also, are the batteries usually pretty worn out on the refurbished laptops? I was looking at this one specifically:
http://www.macofalltrades.com/Apple-Mac ... 6-m09a.htm

I might drop the extra bill or whatever though and get the Macbook Pro with 2.6 GHz if its actually worth it though. Any opinions?

The only thing is I know the apple store is probably the most reliable place to get a refurbished macbook because you get a year warranty and applecare or whatever but the cheapest ones are over $1,000, so I don't know if I should wait a while longer and get one of those knowing that I'm getting a legit product with warranty and everything or if I could get just as good of a laptop from this site and save a good chunk of money. I just don't know how reliable these refurbished laptops are and what the chances of them going out on me are. That's why I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with getting refurbished laptops and if there's anything I should take note of?

[Eat Bass]

Refurbished macs are fine just look into the warrantee tht the stores offers. I know you get a 1 year warrantee from te apple store. Typically anything one year or newer the battery will be fine. An you can always replace it in the future.

As far as CPU goes just get any MacBook with the quad core i7. Any model of that will be plenty.

Good luck and enjoy your Mac. I'm sure you will love it.

[AxeD]

Or a dual i5, which will run everything easily unless you're stacking plugs like a tard.

[Eat Bass]

^ imo hes better off getting the quad i7 if hes going refurbed. get a late 2012 (non retina) 15" i7 quad if you can. that way your not obsolete in a couple years. thats exactly what i have and the things a pretty big beast. i never get past like 30% cpu on projects with many tracks and some pretty intensive plugs/alot of processing because sometimes ill split frequencies and have a shit ton of processing going on for one bass and i dont bounce it until im totally happy and have the arrangement of the song, that way i can still bounce different notes/modulation out for variation.

[BrightLights]

All the quad cores are like twice as much as I can afford, so I don't think Ill have enough money for any of those any time soon. Also, the newest ones that are around my price range are from like 2009, do you still think those will last me or what?

[blinx]

My mid 2010 Core 2 Duo 2.5Ghz MBP (yeah before sandy and ivy bridge procs) is stilling kicking out tunes with out ANY issues. I dont have to bounce to audio i use almost any vst i want and i dont have issues. Plus i use this for live djing and took it to school for quite awhile, they are workhorse machines.

So a late 2009 - mid 2010 (should be about the same as i got) will do you fine. Especially if you jump to 8gb of ram and SSD (i have not dones these yet but plan too in the future to squeeze a few more years out of the laptop, already on 3+), which are relatively cheap DIY upgrades that dont void your warranty (just take out any aftermarket upgrades before you send it in for service if they do need to get fixed).

EDIT: my MBP even played Diablo 3 with relative ease, not super high detail settings but for casual gaming i was impressed and satisfied.

[Eat Bass]

whats your budget? depending on how much you can spend it may or may not be worth it. also you might want to consider used, you just have to find the right seller. someone that knows what they're doing with computers and takes care of them.

[VirtualMark]

I've been looking at Macbooks lately, mainly due to the build quality. But I don't think that I could bear the thought of someone else having used a laptop that I'm spending that sort of money on. I love new electronics, fresh out of the factory! They even smell nice when you open the box. Sure, the refurb store gets glowing reports but we don't know the history of the laptop that they're selling, which bothers me. I'd rather buy brand new for this sort of thing.

[Eat Bass]

I've been looking at Macbooks lately, mainly due to the build quality. But I don't think that I could bear the thought of someone else having used a laptop that I'm spending that sort of money on. I love new electronics, fresh out of the factory! They even smell nice when you open the box. Sure, the refurb store gets glowing reports but we don't know the history of the laptop that they're selling, which bothers me. I'd rather buy brand new for this sort of thing.

same man and i do by new for this sort of thing...but when you cant afford it, you cant afford it. and there is a 1 year warranty.

[BrightLights]

I really only have like 700-800 to spend. If i wait another month though and save up a couple more checks, I'll have around 1,000 and that's literally all of my money that i have to spend. You mean get a quad core used instead of a duo cor refurbished? That's a good idea, the only thing is i would have to look all over craigslist and stuff and try to figure out if the buyer is legit and someone reliable that I can trust, which seems like a lot of work, and me not really knowing shit about computers doesn't really seem like it would work out too well. I would love to just be able to go and buy a brand new mac, but that's really not an option for me, which is why I'm here trying to figure out how I can still get a decent mac while being broke af.

[BrightLights]

I really only have like 700-800 to spend. If i wait another month though and save up a couple more checks, I'll have around 1,000 and that's literally all of my money that i have to spend. You mean get a quad core used instead of a duo cor refurbished? That's a good idea, the only thing is i would have to look all over craigslist and stuff and try to figure out if the buyer is legit and someone reliable that I can trust, which seems like a lot of work, and me not really knowing shit about computers doesn't really seem like it would work out too well. I would love to just be able to go and buy a brand new mac, but that's really not an option for me, which is why I'm here trying to figure out how I can still get a decent mac while being broke af.