(guitar music)
- Apple doesn't really do sales
and when they do, the savings are kind of unappealing
but where they do offer a discount is
in the Apple certified refurbished store.
And it seems like for the most part, people swear by it.
So I wanna buy a Mac and iOS device
to see if these great deals come with
any sort of refurbished risks.
Uh! They did.
- [Customer support] Yeah, I haven't come across
this before.
(bright music)
- If you are wondering where to find the refurbished store,
scroll all the way to the bottom
of the Apple store website or the app.
Not every region has a refurbished store though.
It's missing in Mexico, Mozambique,
Moldova, Malaysia, along with some larger nations
that don't start with M like India.
Apple claims that the devices you get are like new.
They undergo a full cleaning, full functional testing
and anything that's broken is replaced
with Apple genuine parts.
iOS devices, like the iPhone and iPad undergo
an even more thorough refurbishment process,
getting a brand new battery and outer shell too.
Then, they are all re-packaged into white boxes
with Apple certified refurbished written on them
to warn, remind you.
In terms of the sale,
that are treated just like any new devices
with the same one year warranty,
AppleCare plus option, delivery and return policies.
So by all accounts, these are grade A fully backed products,
maybe with some extra distance between you and the factory.
If you're okay with that, here's how much you can save.
With Macs, the discount is 15% off the retail price
at the time they were last sold
and with iOS devices, the discounts are bigger.
From my calculations varying between 13 and 33%,
depending on the model.
It looks like some of these iPads have
a little bit of depreciation factored in, which is nice.
What this ultimately may means though is
that the best deals for max are with the latest models.
So that would probably be something with Apple Silicon
or an Intel model still in production.
I suggest researching what Mac you wanna buy first
then stopping in at the refurbished store
to see if it's available there.
You might or might not find what you're looking for
but the research phase should keep you
from ending up with a bad deal, like I did in my last video.
From my research, all I need is a base M1 MacBook Air
since I'm just writing and surfing the web.
I also wouldn't mind snagging an iPad mini
if I can get one for a good price.
I swear saw a gold MacBook in here yesterday
and now it doesn't look like there is any.
Now there's some colored IMAX.
Those are nice.
There isn't ephemeral nature to the refurbished store
to be aware of.
With something as in demand, as the MacBook air
it can be here one minute and gone the next.
It might not show up for a day or a couple of weeks.
It really depends.
You'll have to weigh your patience
and urgency with the savings.
Urgency can be really expensive.
If you wanna set up a notification,
refurbtracker.com is a pretty great site.
Now, one interesting thing I've noticed is that
when the listing shows the original price
and how much you save, that's a default base skew.
If it just shows a price,
that means it's been customized with more Ram or storage.
The discount is still the same though.
So that MacBook Air I want is $850 in here.
Now, how does that compare to the prices elsewhere?
Rarely, some retail sales prices drop down
to or below refurbished pricing,
but the best deals are fleeting so it's serendipity.
On the used market, there are MacBooks
at an equivalent price and since it'd be a private sale,
you save on sales tax.
On the flip side, you also will have to meet up
with a stranger in a different town
and the device condition isn't fully guaranteed
plus you can't return it.
With the iPad, it's a little bit of a different story
because there are some older models in the refurbished store
at prices much higher than a used model.
But then again, they have a new battery
which costs minimum $100 to replace if you're unlucky
and don't forget the new chassis.
Okay so the MacBook I want, isn't in here.
So do I buy something else or do I just wait?
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Oh, look.
There are MacBook Airs in here.
Ah, but only in silver and space gray.
I really wanted a gold one.
So I guess I'll just get a silver one.
You can't always get what you want
in the Apple refurbished store.
All right. Let's find that iPad mini.
Now a brand new one would set me back $500
but I don't need all that technology and all those colors.
So here's a last generation model for only 340.
Let's see.
Okay, gold out of stock, silver like wise.
More storage. Nope. All right.
So space gray 64 gigabytes, it is.
Okay, I guess we're done.
You know what?
Before I check out,
I'm just gonna go back and refresh the Mac page.
Let's see what happens.
It's here. There's a gold one.
Yes. Okay, let's fix this up, then buy.
See, it's a real gamble. (chuckles)
Perfect.
(gentle music)
- Well, it doesn't look any different from anyone.
There's like a tiny mark on the keyboard of something.
Wait, uh oh.
What?
That's interesting.
You think it was a demo?
Not a demo device, demo registration.
I don't know what have I done.
Let's unbox the iPad.
Yeah, this looks great.
It's pristine. This isn't going into demo mode.
Honestly, this and this are a good buy,
though I had to really figure out what's going on
with that whole demo mode thing.
So, let me use these for a couple of days
and see how they fare.
When a Mac is in demo mode, it's in demo mode.
You can't just format the hard drive and reinstall macOS
because if you do it just goes back into demo mode again.
So I had to call Apple customer support.
- [Customer support] Thank you for contacting Apple support.
- Clearly, this is something that doesn't happen that often.
- [Customer support] Yeah I've never come across this so...
- I know it's really strange yeah.
After an hour of re-reinstalling macOS,
I was told to exchange it for another unit.
- [Customer support] Uh, let's get you up
to a senior adviser, okay?
I've not really seen too much information on this.
- On the other hand, the iPad mini works great.
It's frankly, impossible to tell
that this is a refurbished model.
It connects to the pencil flawlessly.
It's portable, light, fast, enjoyable to use.
And according to my reading on coconutBattery,
this has a brand new battery and was made in December.
I wonder if Apple resets the manufacture date
on refurbished iOS devices
because the new iPad mini came out in September
and this is the outgoing model, no matter.
At $340, you can save 160 compared
to a brand new generation model
which if you're in a pinch is pretty good.
Okay, so I guess I'm gonna be running Mac-less for...
- Hey, it's arrived.
- We're in. It's the desktop.
A success, that's great.
- Like the iPad, I really wouldn't be able to tell
that this MacBook Air is refurbished from using it.
The panel is bright and clear.
The SSD smart info shows that it was virtually unused
before I got it and likewise, the battery.
Though, it appears that it might have degraded
ever so slightly.
So for $850,
this is a great new laptop.
Still, I had to spend an hour on the phone and wait a week
for the replacement.
So despite my hopes, there's a little risk
to Apple certified refurbished store too.
It's on a big risk like your device falling apart
or looking strangely off, but it's there all right.
That being said,
the demo mode issue is probably quite rare,
considering I couldn't find any information,
forum posts, et cetera about it online.
Maybe just don't tempt fate
when the gold MacBook you wanted appears out of thin air.
So is the risk of having to spend that time,
worth the 15% savings or in my case $150.
Hmm.
For someone as cheap as me, yes.
But for those of an instant gratification disposition
or running a business in need of a Mac right now, maybe not.
But as for asking a handful of our Twitter followers,
many replied saying that
they exclusively buy of the refurbish store.
Most, all responded that they were happy
with their purchase except for one.
What I've discovered here is
that the results vary by product.
For instance, I wouldn't buy an iPad pro from anywhere
but the refurbish store.
You can get an upgraded iPad pro with the A12Z chip
from 2020, for $690,
$60 less than an equivalent iPad Air.
That's pretty compelling.
As for Macs, there's still good deals too.
With this being only $850, it's harder to resign yourself
into buying a cheap Windows laptop because trust me
a couple of years with one of those would be
far more inconvenient than an hour on the phone.
Thanks for exchanging this Mac address
for one that's not broken.
If you wanna get a Mac on sale, give this video a like
and if you're fine paying full price,
why not subscribe now?
If you yourself have bought a refurbished Mac,
tell us how good a deal you're able to snag
or if it was just full of snacks.