On Sep 4, 2013, at 22:50 , Jonathan Fletcher <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sep 4, 2013, at 10:16 PM, Bill Rising <[email protected]> wrote: > >> My mac mini died, so I need to get a new one [1]. The refurbs are ~15% off. >> This translates to losing a year of life on the computer, as minis sitting >> in the basement get little use. >> >> Anyone have any experience with refurbs? Is 15% off good enough, or is it >> like getting Jason Giambi on your team? > > I've bought both new, and refurb off of Apple's site. The only difference is > the packaging, AFAICT. > > Highly recommend it. I also recommend spending the money you save on a > "data-doubler" from Other World Computing along with one of their less > expensive Solid State Drives. Then you can have the space of the rotational > drive AND the speed of the SSD. And throw a little extra RAM in it. It'll > then run circles around anything you could have bought from Apple as little > as a couple years ago. (If that idea appeals to you, I'd be happy to walk you > through what you need and how.) This is just a sit-in-the-basement-hold-lots-of-pics-otherwise-get-ignored computer. Though it is tempting to make it fast, I'm more in the mood to make it cheap. The only thing I need is not outdated. > I KNOW you need one now, but just let me say this, in the interest of full > knowledge: > > SPECULATION: Apple had a long period (months) last spring when they had NO > Mini's on their refurb pages. They have had several versions there now for > the past month or so. With that one piece of evidence, I SUSPECT that they > will be coming out with upgraded models relatively soon (it's been about a > year since last time and Intel has had new chips out for a couple of months) > and it's possible they are whittling down their older inventory in > preparation. I'd believe this, except that the last models came out in October 2012, and preceding that in July 2011. This makes me think that the next models won't be out for at least 3 months. Of course, this is based on ignorance aside from release cycles. > Three possible applications of this potentiality: > 1. Wait for the current models to undergo a further price dip as they become > "previous models." > 2. Wait for the brand new ones to start showing up on the refurb site several > months hence. > 3. Spend the money and get the latest-and-greatest when they come out. I'm always tempted to wait...which is why my old model is 6 or 7 years old. This really is a low-use machine. > I have no inside information, just a hunch. > > That said, the refurbs come and go and they are not always there when you are > ready for them, as I found out last spring when I suggested one to a client, > right around the beginning of their "dry spell." ::-( OK. I'm tempted to get a refurb now. Instead, I'll go to bed, and wake up seeing that the refurb is missing... Thanks for the advice. Bill
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