Sell macbook pro for macbook air? Couple of questions...

Well, you said you're poor (like all college kids) and your current machine is just fine, I wouldn't. Wait a year or two and then rethink about it. I know the MBA is cool and yes, I got one (the same you're looking for) but if I had had MBP, I wouldn't have bought this MBA, especially if it was only ~1.5 years old. Unless you can sell the MBP for good $ so that MBA would only be couple of hundreds, then keep what you got now.

blue88 said:

I am seriously debating purchasing a macbook air (especially if I can find one on the refurbished apple site).

I would be considering the 13 inch, 128 GB SSD, 4 GB ram to make it more or less future-proof. Right now I have a 13 inch macbook pro (mid 2009, 2.26 ghz, just upgraded to 8gb ram which may have been a mistake, 160 gb HDD).

I mainly use my current macbook pro for surfing the web, emails, school lectures, word, power point, etc. Some iphoto... nothing to intensive.

What could I think about selling my current macbook pro for? With the ram upgrade and without since I am still within the return period for it and I'm having problems since upgrading as well.

I just don't know if I can justify purchasing a macbook air right now... I'm a poor college kid, but the macbook air is so nice. It would be easier to carry around and I don't really need everything from the macbook pro. I can't remember the last time I used the optical drive in it.

I have an old windows laptop as my backup, could I use that to install something if I had to through remote disk?


Thanks.

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Not sure why you would want to sell your "antique" for an air and take a step backward for power and memory...Save yourself (or parents) a ton of money and buy Black Ops....

I'm going to have to agree with Hellhammer. I don't think that it would be a wise decision for you to spend more money on purchasing the Air. If there were someway that you could sell your current Macbook Pro and not have to spend a dime then I would say go for it. But in all honesty, you wont be missing anything from the Air that you can't do with your current laptop.

Look on craigslist near you and/or a major city like NYC and search for similar machines. Take $50-100 off and that's a good guess of what you could realistically get right away.

As an upper bound, Apple refurbished is selling the current generation 2.66GHz + 4GB ram + 320GB HD for $1269, so you are a generation older so expect a decent discount.

blue88 said:

I am seriously debating purchasing a macbook air (especially if I can find one on the refurbished apple site).

I would be considering the 13 inch, 128 GB SSD, 4 GB ram to make it more or less future-proof. Right now I have a 13 inch macbook pro (mid 2009, 2.26 ghz, just upgraded to 8gb ram which may have been a mistake, 160 gb HDD).

I mainly use my current macbook pro for surfing the web, emails, school lectures, word, power point, etc. Some iphoto... nothing to intensive.

What could I think about selling my current macbook pro for? With the ram upgrade and without since I am still within the return period for it and I'm having problems since upgrading as well.

I just don't know if I can justify purchasing a macbook air right now... I'm a poor college kid, but the macbook air is so nice. It would be easier to carry around and I don't really need everything from the macbook pro. I can't remember the last time I used the optical drive in it.

I have an old windows laptop as my backup, could I use that to install something if I had to through remote disk?


Thanks.

Click to expand...

If you use your student discount a new MBA will probably come out at the same price as a refurb. Well that's the situation in the UK anyway, I think the discount has shrunk somewhat in the US?

I sold my 13" MBP (just like yours except 4GB RAM) for an 11" MBA. I tried the 13" MBA in between, thought it would be an improvement over the MBP. But I knew I was wrong the instant it was delivered. The 13" MBA didn't feel any different to me than my 13" MBP. Same size, looks pretty much the same when your using it. Weight wasn't a big deal to me. I couldnt tell the thinness unless I held it sideways which I don't do all the time.

Going from my 13" MBP to 13" MBA I could keep counting the things I was losing, without gaining anything noticeable. Slower CPU, no FW800, no backlit keyboard, no optical drive, no expandability, no remote control. The fan is also noisier than the 13" MBP. The only thing I ended up liking better was the higher resolution display.

The 11" MBA on the other hand, feels like a totally different machine. Amazingly tiny, as small as you can get and still be easy to use. Powerful enough for what I do most of the time, SSD speed make it faster for most activities. I using it in lots of places I wouldn't have bothered taking my 13" MBP.

I bought my 13" MBP during a tax free holiday, with education discount and the deal throwing in an iPod touch which I sold on eBay for $200. The net was I paid about $1100 for my MBP. I was able to sell it on eBay last week for $900. Not bad for using the machine for over a year. It was in perfect, like new condition.

So... if you're thinking of the 13" MBA, I'd say hold on to your MBP. If the 11" sounds good to you, and you can afford a $200-300 hit, then I'd say go for it.

...

I actually just returned my 13" air in order to get a used 13" pro. Got the base current model pro, returned the base 13" air. So far I am glad I did it, yes it is thicker and heavier but to be honest two pounds won't kill me. The pro has many more features so I agree with the previous poster that the 13" air is kinda a waste compared to the pro. The 11" would be the best spot for the air however to me the 5 hour battery life isn't enough and also the trackpad on teh 11" is much smaller and I don't personally like the higher res screen it makes things a bit too small (am I have no problem reading small text but its a pain after awhile). In the end the air I paid $1375 canadian for after tax (got a deal open box, normally they are $1525 after tax), returned it for my money back and got the used (but in mint shape) pro for $950...I am happier with the pro and saved $425. If a newer better pro comes out soon I will ebay it and probobly not lose a cent.