Avoid These 7 Refurbishes Mac Models

New Macs tin beryllium pricey, truthful it's often a bully thought to look towards a bully refurbished portion instead. However, careless of their condition, determination are immoderate Mac models that are champion near connected the shelf, unless you person a precise circumstantial usage for them.

The reasons to debar these models of Mac connected the refurbished oregon utilized marketplace vary, but each of them person an Achilles heel.

7 MacBook Pro (2016–2019, Butterfly Keyboard Era)

In its quest to marque its laptops thinner, and thinner, Apple reworked the power mechanisms successful MacBook keyboards, coming up with the "Butterfly" keyboards, which started featuring successful the MacBook Pro successful 2016.

While these keyboards did assistance little the illustration of the laptop arsenic a whole, and they were, well, adequate to benignant on, determination were terrible issues. Due to the mode the switched worked, the tiniest portion of debris making its mode nether a keycap would render that cardinal nonfunctional, and often the lone mode to really repair the contented was to regenerate the keyboard, which meant replacing the apical case, which each adds up to large repair bills.

Apple had to, eventually, institute an extended warranty replacement programme for anyone affected by the butterfly keyboard. The institution tried to rework the plan to hole the issue. My 2019 Intel MacBook Pro had the 3rd and last procreation of the butterfly keyboard, which had a benignant of skirt successful it to forestall particulate and debris from getting into the switch. For what it's worth, my 2019 MacBook Pro had nary keyboard issues during my clip with it (other than keycap wear), but it was inactive a beauteous unspeakable keyboard to benignant on. The Magic Keyboards connected MacBooks that followed are truthful overmuch amended successful each way, it's hard to describe.

You tin instrumentality a accidental connected a late-model butterfly keyboard if you're feeling lucky, but Apple's replacement programme ended successful 2024, truthful if you rotation the dice incorrect you're successful for a satellite of pain. Don't bash it.

6 12-Inch MacBook (2015–2017)

Everyone loved the 12-inch MacBook signifier factor, short-lived arsenic it was, but careless of however chill the smaller Mac mightiness look, it's not a bully thought to prime 1 up contiguous different than arsenic a collector's item.

For 1 thing, this is different MacBook exemplary featuring the cursed butterfly keyboard design. So, connected that ground alone, I'd debar it, but the dual-core Intel CPUs successful these laptops aren't up to the task of modern demands, adjacent basal ones. As of this writing, the 2017 exemplary isn't officially obsolete yet, which means you mightiness spot immoderate of them floating around, but it's champion to steer clear.

5 Intel-Based Macs From the Final Years (2019–2020)

There's a crushed that Apple invested billions into making its ain chips, moving distant from Intel. By the extremity of the Intel epoch for Macs the chips were hot, loud, and throttled nether sustained loads. It's not rather arsenic atrocious successful desktop Macs, but frankly the show compared to Apple Silicon Macs is truthful mediocre that there's precise small crushed to bargain immoderate Intel Mac oregon MacBook, unless there's a bundle compatibility crushed for it.

The first-generation M1 chips is inactive overkill for the immense bulk of users, it sips power, there's small to nary instrumentality noise, and bundle enactment volition lone get amended for Apple Silicon, and worse for Intel Macs. So I'd powerfully urge avoiding Intel Macs arsenic a whole.

4 MacBook Air (Pre-2018)

Apple redesigned the MacBook Air successful 2010, and kept that plan until 2017. Out of the gate, you should cognize that Airs that were for merchantability betwixt June 2012 and June 2013 were portion of a replacement programme for faulty SSDs, truthful those are a imaginable trap if the SSD wasn't replaced during the refurbishment process.

All of these laptops person dilatory dual-core Intel CPUs, and the last 2017 models near authoritative Apple enactment precocious successful 2024. Apart from the borderline unusable hardware by modern standards, the Airs from this epoch person TN LCD panels astatine 768p and 900p for the 11-inch and 13-inch models respectively. So not precise affable connected your eyeballs either.

I inactive see the M1 MacBook Air 1 of the top laptops ever made, and you tin prime up a brand-new M1 Air for nether $500, portion stocks last. So don't beryllium tempted by a 2017 MacBook Air, adjacent if it sounds similar a reasonably caller model.

3 iMacs With Spinning Hard Drives (Fusion Drives oregon HDD Only)

Before SSDs were genuinely affordable arsenic they are today, hard thrust makers created hybrid drives that person a tiny magnitude of SSD retention wherever astute firmware would store the most-accessed files, specified arsenic the operating system. The thought is that you get the snappy velocity of an SSD for predominant tasks, and the inexpensive retention of HDDs for the rest.

Honestly, this solution ne'er worked that good successful my opinion, and Apple's instrumentality connected it—Fusion Drives–are nary exception. These drives diagnostic successful the 2012-2014 Mac Mini, but person been successful the iMac until precocious 2020, which means they're going to amusement up arsenic refurbs oregon utilized computers, oregon adjacent caller unsold stock.

Now, it's wholly imaginable to regenerate the Fusion Drive with a SATA SSD, though this requires a tricky and perchance unsafe removal of the iMac screen. So, if a precocious exemplary iMac has been refurbed with a bully SATA SSD, oregon you're assured successful doing it yourself, past this tin inactive beryllium a bully computer. However, person a look astatine the drive replacement process present first.

Yeah, I ain't doing that.

2 Mac Mini (Pre-2018)

The Mac Mini Intel unibody was with america from 2010 to 2018, and portion the 2018 models received quad-core and hexa-core Intel chips, which are inactive perfectly good for regular enactment today, thing from earlier that shipped with an anaemic dual-core Intel chips that tin hardly browse a website today.

Not lone that, but the larboard enactment is little than utile connected Mac Minis from earlier 2018, since those past Intel models introduced Thunderbolt 3, and connection user-upgradable ram. 2018 Mac Minis are inactive successful enactment and tally the latest macOS too, which arsenic of this penning is Sequoia.

That said, it would person to beryllium a genuinely bully woody for maine to bargain adjacent 1 of those past 2018 Intel Mac Minis, and again it would person to beryllium for bundle compatibility reasons. If idiosyncratic gave maine a 2018 Mac Mini for free, I wouldn't hatred it and person immoderate utile jobs for it similar HTPC, Plex server, NAS, and truthful on, Its cleanable for that.

However, for usage arsenic an existent desktop computer, a refurbished Apple Silicon Mac Mini (any model oregon generation) is simply a overmuch amended bet. Not to notation the existent basal exemplary M4 Mac Mini is unthinkable worth astatine astir $700, truthful if your fund tin agelong anyplace adjacent that, it's the lone rational option. Failing that, $400 for a refurbished 16GB M1 Mac Mini with 1TB SSD is simply a fantastic woody and should service you good for galore years yet.

1 Mac Pro (2019 Intel Cheese Grater)

Hopefully, I shouldn't person to archer you that the 2013 "trash can" Mac Pro is simply a precise mediocre acquisition astatine this point, unless you conscionable privation a novelty. Apple kept this obsolete machine successful circulation for years aft it should person been enactment successful a trash tin itself. However, adjacent the "Lattice Tower" Mac Pro, which everyone conscionable calls the "cheese grater" holds a fewer pitfalls.

Even the latest Intel Xeon Mac Pro doesn't clasp a candle to the M2 Ultra Mac Pro, and the lone existent statement for the Intel Mac Pro is the quality to usage add-in GPUs. Yes, nary Apple Silicon strategy supports utilizing GPUs different than the integrated GPU that comes with the computer, which is simply a bony of contention.

So you mightiness deliberation that I'd urge radical get the Apple Silicon food grater instead, but adjacent determination this is simply a hard machine to urge to anyone. You tin get the aforesaid oregon amended show from a Mac Studio, with the lone happening you're giving up being the PCIe slots successful the Mac Pro.

I Don't Hate Refurbs, Honest!

I'm the past idiosyncratic who would counsel against refurbished computers, and I've bought plentifulness of refurbished computers implicit the years that person ne'er failed me. However, the concern with Macs is simply a small unsocial compared to refurbs of different brands.

For 1 thing, they thin to person repairability issues to a greater grade than different brands, though this depends connected the twelvemonth that Mac came out. So determination mightiness beryllium small oregon thing to refurb.

A bigger contented however, is branding. Apple sticks with the aforesaid outer plan for galore years connected its computers and the names don't truly alteration dramatically. This means that an older refurbished Mac tin beryllium confused for a overmuch much modern one, and that's a look for a regrettable purchase.