I was looking for a new laptop and since apple silicon bombarded the market my switch from windows to Mac was destined.After thoroughly comparing M1 vs M2 vs M3 by watching hundreds of YouTube videos, reading articles, real word experiences on reddit, I decided to go for the 16in M1 Pro base model.
Checking the apple certified refurbished store, M1 16in was listed at 1979$ which was outrageous since my budget was under 1500$. After exploring other websites for refurbished products, I decided to go with amazon, particularly because of it's 9- day return on refurbished Macs + it had a lot of options for choosing sellers.
Well finding the right seller is a big task. The amazon tier list for refurb products went from excellent to okay.
Even going with the `Excellent Condition` is a gamble. Some people have gotten Macs with 80% battery, nicks and dents on the body and worst of all some people even reported their Mac stopped working randomly. Since refurbished products are void of warranty, something like this can be daunting.
Ignoring the red flags, I decided to make this gamble safer by choosing a trusted seller. After a lot of investigation I decided to go with `Woot`. Most people buying from woot received a sealed apple certified refurbished product which is 99.9999% a new product. You get the one year warranty and everything. Even after choosing woot it's safe to say it was a bit of a gamble (a little safe though).
So I ordered. And as you can probably guess, I received a sealed apple certified refurb. I even got it registered for warranty. And using the Mac now, I am nothing but grateful. It's so freakin beautiful. The screen is just so detailed and beautiful. the built is awesome. Overall I am really happy with my purchase and I just wanted to share it with everyone.
Also those who are wondering about the price, 1379 was without tax, it became 1500 with tax, which is still a great deal.
I really can't stress how good M1 is even in 2023 and will be in 2024,2025 and heck yeah maybe 2026.
For 99.99% of the users, M1 is still a great option (vouching for the pro here not air though air is good too), you won't regret it I promise, specially if you're tight on money.
I also created a doc to verify a refurbished MacBook is working okay - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZBSn-ikyYhIc_YLT6dq4SOAgJxIZGnMq12wuSeK-pBc/edit?usp=sharing
"Checking the apple certified refurbished store, M1 16in was listed at 1979$ which was outrageous since my budget was under 1500$"
You're getting an actual factory warranty with Apple. With Amazon you're not getting an Apple warranty so the Apple Store will not honor any type of "warranty" given by Amazon since the only place that sells actually Certified Refurbished Macs is Apple. Amazon's "refurbs" are nothing more than customer returns. Just verify your warranty with Apple by giving them your serial number.
"Most people buying from woot received a sealed apple certified refurbished product which is 99.9999% a new product. You get the one year warranty and everything. Even after choosing woot it's safe to say it was a bit of a gamble (a little safe though)."
Then the retailer wouldn't call it refurbished if it was sealed. I don't see how they are giving you an Apple factory warranty on a product that is the first generation and is no longer for sale by Apple. Make sure to check with Apple to verify your warranty is active, because when something goes wrong you want to make sure you're covered. Don't take the 3rd party retailer's word for it.
"Also those who are wondering about the price, 1379 was without tax, it became 1500 with tax, which is still a great deal."
Again, check out the warranty, battery cycles and anything else, because $1379 for a machine that you say is 99.9999% new sounds too good to be true.
Ik too good to be true. But it's true. It came in a sealed apple certified refurbished box. There was no warranty information initially, I had to register the product by calling the apple helpline. I gave them them my invoice and they verified my purchase. Next day I had the warranty showing on apple's website. Also about 'refurbished' isn't by rule a non sealed product. Apple certified refurbished is also 'refurbished'. It comes sealed and has all accessories, only difference is the box says apple certified refurbished. The seller (woot) idk how is giving a apple certified refurb product, when ordering 'excellent condition' from Amazon (atleast for me, can't say what anyone else will get) I couldn't believe my luck, that's why I posted this.