Mac Book Pro terminology

CTO is something like "customized to order". Means it's a non-stock model (it's been personalized).

Usually it entails more trouble for exchanges, returns, refunds, and/or serviceability. Also longer to order one than a mass-produced stock model.

POS CRU'd machine?

This one does not appear very flattering to the MBP.

POS CRU'd machine?

This sounds like Point of Sale (POS), Customer Replaceable Unit (CRU), but could also mean, given the context of

CTO is something like "customized to order"

Custom refurbished unit. I would read the "fine print" very very carefully.

POS could be "Point of Sale".

But the more common use of this acronym is, alas, not allowed on this forum.

I'm sorry, but why would a CTO necessarily (or even usually) be a refurbished device? I thought Apple referred to custom builts (extra RAM, different hard disk, etc.) for new machines as CTOs?

I might be wrong.

But the more common use of this acronym is, alas, not allowed on this forum.

Funny, but true. And while I doubt that anyone trying to sell a product would use this to market it, given the larger context of the seller's environment and the fine print, it may just exactly translate into that.

Configured-to-order (CTO) units are not refurbished, they are new. The only exceptions would be CTO units that have been returned to Apple for various reasons, refurbished and offered again for sale. In such cases they will be marketed as refurbished, and the fact that they were originally CTO may not even be mentioned.

If you are looking at a for-sale ad posted by a private seller, be careful: the use of "insider" acronyms and jargon ordinarily reflects someone who isn't eager to convey information about the item to inexperienced potential buyers. Ask the seller to explain all the terms used. If they aren't forthcoming and friendly in response, just walk away.

NEVER buy CRU, only buy referb from Apple.

Umm, those of us that have had two logic board failures during our second year of macBook Pro ownership, as I've had, would indeed refer to our beloved notebook as a POS or even a fecking POS once or twice. 😉

We can all take guesses at what the seller means by those acronyms, but until you ask the seller, you won't actually know. Ask the seller, not us.