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So we’d wholeheartedly recommend getting a refurbished Mac along with Apple’s extended warranty under that condition. However, if you were going to get iCare anyway, buying a refurbished model still represents the same saving overall. If you weren’t going to get Apple Care with a new Mac, then this wipes out the cost-benefit. If any component that Apple missed is on the brink of failure, then you either have to hope it fails during the one-year warranty or shell out the extra cash for AppleCare. In the end, you need to weigh up whether the small discount these machines get is worth the gamble on Apple’s build quality. The Bottom Line: Should YOU Buy a Refurbished Mac? So you know the manufacture date can’t be from before the refresh happened.
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One way to get around this is to only buy refurbished versions of Mac models that have received a recent refresh. Those components may not be deemed a problem during the refurbishment process but could end up failing just outside of the one-year warranty that’s included in the base price. Mechanical hard drives and SSDs also have more failures as they age and components such as screen backlights also become more likely to die with age. All refurbished MacBooks & iMacs sold on musicMagpie undergo an extensive refurbishment process so our customers get a great device at an even better price.
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