Refurb supply is less predictable than BTO supply. Because we're talking about soldered on RAM on a super high priced laptop, I tend to think refurb supply of

Refurb supply is less predictable than BTO supply. Because we're talking about soldered on RAM on a super high priced laptop, I tend to think refurb supply of those machines is going to be very small since fewer people are buying them in the first place. And even if I bought a 32GB refurb, I'd expect it to last at least 5 years if the CPU is recent. IMO, you're not getting big enough performance gains every two years on the top quad core i7 chips that would make it worth the hassle to flip the computer. It's not like the old days where you could just pop your SSD/HD out and stick it in the new Mac. I find CCC/Time Capsule restores to be a pain in the ass.