Travel Technology - Refurbished powerbooks

I got my refurbished powerbook on Friday, and after playing around with it a little bit, the screen suddenly turned pinkish, and had wavy,vibrating lines in the background. :confused:

I called Apple, and the tech said it was likely due to a power surge, and he took me through some steps to take care of the problem.

It was nice to talk to an intelligent, helpful person (after experiencing Dell's help line! :mad: ), however it worries me that the screen could have problems literally right out of the box.

Have any other powerbook users seen similar problems with power surges (whether refurbished or not)?

I've never bought a refurbished computer before, but I have friends who have from Apple, and they assured me that it would be the same as new..

I use to believe that laptops should neer have power surge problems as the power supply should die first and leave the laptop alone. Then within a few hours one day last week my wireless router stopped being wireless, and the laptop stopped working. I have to believe that there was some power issues that day.

If it's a concern, get a decent surge protector for it, though I still don't believe they (surge protectors) are all they are cracked up to be.

A refuribshed product is not the same as a new one. There was something wrong with it they fixed before they sold it to you. I buy refuribshed stuff from time to time, including laptops, but I don't always expect them to act as new. I've pretty much stopped now that the price difference is no where as great as it use to be.

Just curious to know what steps you took to fix the problem?

pgalore, did you get a one-year warranty with your refurb. PB? If less, I agree with cordelli that I wouldn't expect it to perform as spec'd. The only problem I've had with more than 15 Mac CPUs (DTs and laptops) is with one G3 DT I bought refurb. Died a few days after arrival, fixed by the vendor and about 2 yrs. later, HD died.

Best place I've found for troubleshooting any Mac hardware/software problems/questions is the forum at

www.macrumors.com

They're a generally helpful and friendly bunch who seem to be able to answer just about anything!

I have bought 4 refurb computers (but not Apple) and was nicely pleased with all. These were "Factory Refurb" and done and sold by Sony and Toshiba with their warranty (3 were 1 yr and 1 was 90 day). I would be wary buying other refurbs unless a known company and I only pay via a credit card. One required a new LCD screen after 12 mo and it was covered.

Power surges happen but most laptops use a transformer and most have some circuitry to limit line surges.

MisterNice

I got my refurbished powerbook on Friday [...]

A little off-topic from your original post, but where do you get refurbished Apple 'puters. I looked at their website but didn't find any particular link there. Could you give me a pointer?

Nick

A little off-topic from your original post, but where do you get refurbished Apple 'puters. I looked at their website but didn't find any particular link there. Could you give me a pointer?

In the U.S. you can buy them direct from Apple`s online store (click on "See All Promotions" and then "Apple Certified") or another place with a good rep is www.smalldog.com.

As far as Austria goes, you are on your own for that one.

- RightD