Is it worth it to get a refurbished Macbook as opposed to new?

I'm looking at a black macbook, $300 cheaper (with applecare), and just wondering if I should go for it, or if people often have bad experiences with refurbished apple products.

Refurbished anything is often a hard topic to discuss. You will hear firm proponents on both sides of the fence on the topic. The first thing you need to understand is that a refurbished product was once a broken product. It was a product that failed majorly in some sort of way that it could not be sent back to the customer as is, and in essence was replaced instead of repaired for the customer.

Those broken ones are then put in a nice new pile and sifted through to determine what can and cannot be fixed. The ones that can't be fixed are recycled and remade into brand new bits. The ones that CAN be fixed within a reasonable means are then refurbished. This can be as simple as a bad chip on a motherboard, or as in-depth as a fried video port on a board. Usually deep issues that need soldering.

Look close at the Applecare package as it pertains to new and refurbished units. Look for any indescrepancies such as something that IS covered under a new unit but exempted on a refurb. Typically refurbs will not have the same coverage that a new unit has, thus the price difference.

In the end, you get what you pay for. So ask yourself if that $300 is genuinely worth the potential headache of failure down the road before committing to a unit like that. It would be a damn shame to see the money invested into an Apple turn sour after a certain amount of time and Applecare relieving themselves of any responsibility of it because of it being a refurb.

Buyer beware is the rule of all consumer products.

special focus on laptops just in
http://www.laptopeoples.blogspot.com

I dont know I'm not a STINKING MAC USER!!!

Sorry, nerd vomit right there,
Anyway its a tough call cause for 1 year old laptop its hard to judg the wear and tear on it.....I bet in a year mine would be totally abused from usage but still look new.. so it would be hard to judge....

I would say try to find something new in your price range then you have the warranty n all that so that if something fails you can get it fixed...

If this is a purchase through the Apple store. go for it. If it is a purchase through some third party, be careful. Make sure the computer has the FULL warranty, which would be 3 years with Applecare.

i bought a refub macbook a few years ago. it looked great when i got it. only noticeable thing was VERY minor blemishes on the top.
i used it for a year and it worked great. only reason i got rid of it was because i needed to upgrade.