Gizmodo: refurbished

AT&T Giving Away a Refurbished HTC Fuze With Contract

Sean Fallon — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:20:00 EDT

AT&T is getting aggressive with their refurb deals. Last week it was a 16GB iPhone 3G for $149, and this week it is a free HTC Fuze with a 2-year contract and new activation.

If you buy new, you are looking at spending an additional $300 with a contract—so this is one hell of a deal. If you have a problem with second-hand stuff, get over it. As it is in this case, buying refurbs can be a great move. [AT&T via Fuze Mobility via BGR]

AT&T Selling Refurbished 16GB iPhone 3Gs For $149

Sean Fallon — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:45:00 EDT

I've said it before and I'll say it again—buying refurbished can be a really smart move. And getting a refurbished 16GB iPhone 3G with a 2-year contract for $149 ain't bad. [AT&T via Phonenews]

Apple Counters Secondhand Sales With Discount Refurbished in China

Jason Chen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:30:00 EST

Apple's set up an online refurbished discount store in China, lowering prices by up to 22% in order to combat secondhand non-Apple-approved sales going on in the country already.

The refurbs, based on the Reuters writeup, don't seem all that great. A $44 iPod shuffle and a $2047 iMac seems like normal price to us. [Reuters]

Dealzmodo: Refurbished MacBook Air For $999

Sean Fallon — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:50:00 EST

It may be first gen, but even without the NVIDIA graphics and extra storage, finding a MacBook Air below $1000 is an absolute steal. Besides, refurbs are really the smart way to go. [Apple]

Refurbished Amazon Kindles Surface for $360

Jack Loftus — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:36:02 EST

Amazon Kindles are back-ordered until February, but an interesting development popped up over there today if you're still holding out hope: Refurbished Kindles for $360. Our tipster says these Kindles are factory refurbs, and come with a 30 day return policy and one year warranty. They apparently have new packaging, cover, a charger and USB cable too. [Amazon via Kindleboards - Thanks, Harvey!]

Dealzmodo: 500GB Seagate Hard Drive for $50

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:36:41 EDT

Today's woot! is a factory-refurbished 500GB Seagate Barracuda hard drive, running at 7200 rpm with a 16MB buffer, for only $50. I know, I know, refurbs are risky, but for a backup drive you only use every once in awhile, this is a great price and should do you just fine. [woot!]

How to Better Erase an iPhone When Selling/Repairing

Jason Chen — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:30:00 EDT

We knew that refurbished iPhones have their previous owner's data on it, but how do you protect yourself when Apple won't go through the trouble of wiping phones out before passing them on? By unsyncing everything, then loading it up with music and videos until the phone is full to overwrite the old data that was there. Does this work? We thought the contacts, calendars, SMS and phone calls were stored on the OS partition, not the media partition where videos and music files go.

If you're sending in your iPhone for repairs at the Apple Store because it's broken, you might not have the option of wiping your data like this. It's not really THAT great a method either, but will be able to stop the next owner from casually recovering data. Basically, just run a restore and hope the next guy who has your phone isn't nosy. [Securosis via TUAW]

Refurbished iPhones Might Still Have Previous Owners' Personal Data, No Way to Erase It

matt buchanan — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:20:00 EDT

You might already know that performing a restore on your iPhone does not, in fact, completely wipe out your personal data. But it's cool if you take it to Apple, because if your broke-ass iPhone does become a refurb for some discount-seeking soul, Apple scrubs it to the bone, right? Nope. Using a standard forensic toolkit (or probably just some decent quasi-hacking), your personal data can be recovered from a refurb, as Jonathan Zdziarski—the guy who wrote the iPhone Forensics Manual for Law Enforcement, ironically—discovered. A detective bought his past iPhone, and was able to pull his email, photos and financial info, no sweat. The scariest part?

There's no public, easy way to completely erase your personal data—Zdziarski says "there are only a couple low-level methods to format the NAND and I'm not sharing at the moment." Maybe there will be an option in the 2.0 firmware? I doubt it, so you might wanna use a different gadget to conduct your less legal activities. Update: Kevin reminded me that the 2.0 firmware will have remote wipe as part of its enterprise feature set, so this problem might be solved next month. [iPhone Atlas via TUAW]

Dealzmodo: Refurbished iPhones For $249 and $349

Jason Chen — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT

If you don't mind using a phone that's been face-greased by someone else over who knows how many months, AT&T's refurb store has some pretty decent deals on iPhones. The 8GB is $249 and 16GB is $349, perfect for buying now and then regretting one month later when the 3G iPhone is available. At least you got a good deal on it, and perhaps your wife won't mind using an older model if her current phone sucks donkey anyway. [AT&T]

AT&T Offering Refurbished iPhones at Knockdown Prices?

Haroon Malik — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EST

The chaps at BGR have received a leaked AT&T memo, which states the company will be offering refurbished iPhones for the lowly price of $199 (4GB) and $249 (8GB.) The refurbished iPhones will be made available with new contracts only, and are bound to sell as quickly as heavily discounted iPhones. Jump for the AT&T memo.

March 1, 2008
Refurbished iPhones at COR Stores. For a limited time, select COR stores in the New England Market will offer refurbished iPhones (both 4GB and 8GB) for a special price. These devices are good as new and give customers the opportunity to experience the revolutionary iPhone with big savings. New activations only, upgrades with Manager approval. Refurbished iPhones will only be available to purchase in select COR stores across the Northeast Region and will be available while supplies last. Please reach out to customers that have recently purchased an iPhone to see if they are interested in activating an additional iPhone at a discounted equipment cost. Please note no in-store sales materials should be created. This is to be sold as a closing tool only. Product is available while supplies last from initial shipment. Failure to follow this communication will result in a Code of Business Conduct violation

If you manage to get your hands on one, drop us a shout below to let us know the condition your new-to-you handset is in. Also; 4GB, anyone? [BGR]

iPod Touch 8GB for $249, Refurbished

Haroon Malik — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:00:00 EST

Hey boys and girls, you can now grab a refurbished 8GB iPod touch for $249 from Apple's special deals store for the first time. The discounted 8GB refurbished iPhones are also back in stock. Remember that these are limited-time offers based on available stock. [Apple]

Dealzmodo: Refurbished TiVo HD $199

Jason Chen — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:50:27 EST

The TiVo HD hasn't even been available for a year, but you can get your hands on a refurbished one for just $199. Head on over to the site before April 2 and you'll be able to grab one at the low, pre-used price as long as you purchase 1 year of TiVo service at checkout. The whole thing will be ($199 + $129 + tax + shipping) north of 300 bones, but it's still a pretty sweet deal. [TiVo]

Dealzmodo: Refurbished Toshiba HD DVD Player For $179

Jason Chen — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:50:16 EDT

This may be the first-generation HD DVD player and it may be refurbished, but hot damn if this Toshiba HD-A1 isn't cheap. $179 is all you need now to get into the HD game, which is probably the cheapest place you can get an HD DVD player other than the HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360. [Newegg - Thanks Phil!]

iPhone Battery Replacement Plan Details

Jason Chen — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:31:11 EDT

You probably know by now that the iPhone only lasts about 300-400 charges —and that's most likely full charges, not topping it off from 80% to 100% at night—before you have to send it into Apple for a replacement.[Updated: That's wrong. Here's proof.] Apple's just thrown up a page saying it's going to be $79 with $6.95 shipping, which is $85.95 per phone when you send yours in.

Sending it in also wipes out all your saved data, so you'll have to resync it (but it also wipes out your text messages and email, which you may not be able to resync). Hopefully nobody will have to deal with this for another year or two. Apple Battery Replacement Program [Apple]

Xbox 360 Failure Rate: 30%, Says Retailers

Jason Chen — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:50:38 EDT

We always knew the Xbox 360 failure rate was high, but the only time Microsoft's put any sort of solid numbers on the thing it was always somewhere around 5%. Retailers, on the other hand, have just reported a failure rate of somewhere over 30%. That's pretty ridonkulous. It's a good thing Microsoft support is usually pretty good about taking them back, so you don't have to go all Picard and shout about how many lights there are over the phone.

From what we've seen in unconfirmed reports on the Net, the problem comes from insufficient cooling for the GPU. This in turn causes the three red lights, which means you're going to have to send back your 360 to Microsoft and possibly get a dirty refurbished unit in return. If you're really, really lucky (and French), you'll get a unit with added cooling as well. – Jason Chen

Massive Failure Rate For Xbox 360 Exposed [Smarthouse]

Xbox 360 Getting Added Cooling After Being Repaired

Jason Chen — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:00:08 EDT

French Xbox 360 owners who've sent in their defective or broken Xboxes to Microsoft to fix are finding that the return console have a little extra "wooooosh" in them.

Yeah, Microsoft's adding extra cooling power to their Xbox 360s to address all the overheating problems. It's about time, and probably should have been stuck into the Elites to make them an even more tempting offer for current owners.

– Jason Chen

Confirmed: MS conducting hardcore turning on ROD Xbox 360's - Extra Cooling! [Maxconsole]

Dealzmodo: Refurbished Apple TV, $250

Travis Hudson — Tue, 22 May 2007 16:40:42 EDT

Apple's ~~fixed crap~~ Special Deals store has been stocked to the brim with refurbished Apple TV units. They are selling for a cool $250, which is $50 off the regular price and includes free shipping. If you want to get out the statistics calculator, it is a savings of 17 percent. Refurbished gadgets need love too. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Bargainist]

Dealzmodo: Refurbished 5GB, 6GB Creative Zen Micro MP3 Players, $66

Travis Hudson — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:00:57 EDT

The Creative store has some mighty fine deals on the Zen Micro MP3 player. You can pick up a refurbished 5GB unit in black, dark blue or orange for $62 and you can get a 6GB model in black, light blue or silver for $66. You would pay twice that for a comparable refurbished iPod. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via DH]

Dealzmodo: Refurbished Core 2 Duo MacBooks at Apple

Travis Hudson — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:00:09 EDT

Apple is offering savings up to $200 on Core 2 Duo MacBooks from their "Special Deals" store. Check out the goods:

• MacBook 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - White for $1099 - $150 instant savings = $949 shipped. 13.3-inch Widescreen Glossy LCD, 512MB RAM, 60GB hard drive, Combo Drive, iSight Camera, iLife software.
• MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - White for $1299 - $200 instant savings = $1099 shipped. 13.3-inch Widescreen Glossy LCD, 1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, Super Drive, iSight Camera, iLife software.
• MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - Black for $1499 - $200 instant savings = $1299 shipped. 13.3-inch Widescreen Glossy LCD, 1GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, Super Drive, iSight Camera, iLife software.

As always, the Apple Special Deals store has Dual Core systems of all types, but we need SPEED baby! The discounts are available while supplies last. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Dealhack]

Dealzmodo: Up to $500 Off Refurbished iMacs

Travis Hudson — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:20:41 EDT

The Apple special deals store has restocked their iMacs and are offering savings up to $500. There is $500 off a 20-inch iMac with a 2GHz Inel Duo Core processor, 512MB memory, 250GB hard drive, CD/DVD burner and more for $1199 after savings. They also have $150 off a 17-inch iMac ($1049 final price) and $300 off a 24-inch iMac ($1699 final price). For the best bang for the buck, go with the $500-off deal. It's the cheapest for the speed. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Dealhack]