Are refurbished iMac's a good deal? The one I'm looking at would be about $300 cheaper. It looks like it comes with a 1 year limited warranty and you can buy the AppleCare Protection Plan for up to 3 years.
Anyone ever buy one and what did you think?

I bought a refurbished Apple CRT Monitor years ago and 2 years after purchase it caught fire. I found out later that, the model I had, was deemed faulty, but even when Apple refurbished them, they used bad parts.

There are cautionary tales everywhere about refurbs for every company. For the most part I have heard good things about refurbs and if you want a mac and dont want to spend the money on a new one its a good route.

i bought a refurbed ibook in 2005, and i'm typing on it right now. i haven't had one problem w/ it. on the other hand, i bought a new ibook in 2002 that had it's hd replaced twice. when it's hd died a third time i finally bought another. you might want to research the product-line to see if a lot of people are having probs with the imacs.

Thanks for the info people,keep it coming. This is what we are considering:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...nplm=FA877LL/A

A new one would cost about $300 more.

Joeee were could I research this? I'm not very savvy with researching stuff on here
Thanks for any help

you can go to: http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

look for the imac forum and search for any malfunctions - HDs, logic boards, etc... i think i read something about some imac's screens having issues somewhere. the nice thing about refurbs is they come w/ the same one-year warranty as new computers, and you can also get an extended warranty as well.

well Best Buy had this on clearance for a new one for $1299.99. I went to apple store & on-line and found the newer version for $1499.00. The only difference was 2.4 MHz/2.66 and 2gb of RAM to 1gb. I would be able to use there educational discount so they would drop $100 off.
Well I think we would get the 2yr warranty with Best Buy for $169. Apples is 3 yr warranty for the same price but with the discount it would drop down to $119.
It would be a $59 difference so we thought for that we might as well get the newer one with a longer warranty.Then we saw the refurbished and it's like a $300 difference. Again the only difference would older version with a 2.4 not 2.66 and 1 gig of ram not 2 gigs.
So if anyone has an opinion please chime in

You can always purchase AppleCare separately, assuming Best Buy isn't tying that price to the purchase of their warranty. MegaMacs has it for $142 right now, and you could probably do even better on eBay.

I personally wouldn't go near the 20" aluminum iMacs due to the well-documented brightness issue with the display.

So which one would you go with in the same price range?

As far as I know, the previous generation "white" iMacs do not suffer from the issue. (Mine definitely does not.) Apple's online store has the refurbished 20" white for $949 and the 24" for $1199. Except for the LCD size and video card, specs are identical (2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB HD, SuperDrive, iSight).

I am sure you would not regret the 24", but I find the 20" to be enough for a single screen, and I personally would put the extra $250 towards maximum RAM and AppleCare (and still have money left over).

Yes I was looking at that. What is the difference between the two? Is it just color? BTW the one I was favoring is the $1399 one. I also noticed that the ones I was looking at where 2.4 or 2.66,the white ones are 2.16. I'm suck on the better video card(128 VS 256) how big of a deal is it? The Refurb's are last years systems,what is the difference from last years to this years version?

Functionally, there is very little difference between the two. Yes, the white one is slower and has a less powerful video card, but I personally (as a printer/designer) think it's a small price to pay for a better monitor.

There is actually a class-action lawsuit against Apple for the screens used in the 20" (not the 24") aluminum models, basically alleging false advertising since the screen is only capable of displaying 6-bit and not 8-bit color, with "a narrower viewing angle, less color depth and accuracy, and greater susceptibility to washout," to quote an article on the subject.

Again, this only applies to the 20" aluminum and not the 24" or any of the white models. I have a soft spot for the white models, but if you're willing to spend the extra cash on the 24" aluminum, go for it. I hate that low-profile keyboard, though.

I've known two people who've purchased reburb mac books with no issues. I've purchased 4 refurb ipods. My brother and I both purchased refurb apple TVs. Zero issues. Same 1 year warranty as a new item.

I was going to purchase a refurb iPod but I found a brand new one for $30 cheaper somewhere else.. not a bad deal overall.

I have a school discount when it comes to computers, so when I finally am able to invest in a new computer I plan on taking advantage of it and purchasing a MacBook. Might go the refurb route.

Does anyone know anything about some educational sale Apple is suppose to be having starting today(June 2nd)?

I'm getting in on this late, but I wanted to add my two cents. I have purchased two Apple refurbs.
- 2003 Titanium PowerBook - I'm typing on right now
- 2007 Mac Mini - which I hooked up to the TV
I have been pleased with the performance of both. I did have an issue with the mini at first but they replaced the unit promptly and I haven't had another problem.

Whenever I've been shopping, I have found refurbs to be a better deal than educational pricing, but I don't know anything about an upcoming sale.

I bought a refurb Mac Mini and I've had no problems with it at all.

I'm sure you've seen it by now.

Free Ipod worth 199 with purchse of a mac..

Yes you can get a Touch also. What is the difference? What is the Touch good for?

the Touch is excellent.

Well went with the iTouch since I already have a 80GB ipod

Actually as mentioned it's a free 8GB iPod Touch ($299) with any Mac purchase.
http://www.apple.com/backtoschool/

The deal runs until Sept 15th, and supposedly all of the Macbooks are getting a complete update next month, so I'm going to wait and see how the new machines look and what the updated specs are. For under $1k, a new Macbook with a iPod Touch seems like a great deal.