Apple offers refurb Mac Pro Quad Xeon
updated 06:10 pm EDT, Fri October 13, 2006
Refurb Mac Pro Quad Xeon
Apple has added a refurbished Mac Pro Quad-Core Intel Xeon workstation to its list of discounted goods, featuring two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors, 1GB (two 512MB chips) of 6676MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC memory, a 250GB Serial ATA 4Gbps 7,200-rpm hard drive, a 16x double-layer SuperDrive DVD/CD burner, and an NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics card with 256MB of video memory for $2,199 -- 13 percent off the list price of $2,499. Apple is also offering the Mac Pro's predecessor -- Power Mac G5 systems -- which include the Dual 2.3GHz (512MB of memory, 250GB hard drive) and Quad 2.5GHz (512MB memory, 250GB hard drive) models for $1,999 and $2,699, respectively. All refurbished Apple products come with free shipping and the company's standard one-year warranty. The Apple Store Canada is also offering refurbished Power Mac G5 systems for $2,399 (Dual 2.3GHz) and $3,199 (Quad 2.5GHz), both of which include a 250GB hard drive as well as 512MB of memory.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2003
I bought one!
I bought the dual 3Ghz Mac Pro "refurb" and saved $583 over a "brand new" one. It also shipped the same day I ordered it, as it was already "customized" by the previous owner, who ordered everything that I would, with the exception of no wireless or bluetooth. I phoned the local Apple store and they said that I can bring the machine to them and they will add both of them for $99. Hard to beat that deal :)
The refurb page at Apple.com describes the refurb process, and to me it sounds like I'll be getting a better machine than I could get with "new", mostly because the refurb process has a "real person" looking at the machine, fixing it up and making sure that it is "perfect", rather than just coming out of the assembly line with a hundred thousand others that are just like it. I don't know if the previous owner simply returned it or if there was a problem with the machine, but Apple claims that the machine should be "good as new", and I will absolutely hold them to their word.
A friend of mine bought a refurb Mac mini, and he was very happy with it... hopefully I have the same experience.