Is a refurbished 2010 MacBook Pro still a good buy?

[Aaron from KY]

Pretty much what the topic said. Small Dog electronics company in New England has several models of 2010 MacBook Pro in stock. There's a 17" at $1349, a 15" at $1399, and two more 17" at $1449 and $1499. They're Apple refurbished units with warranty. Except for the cheapest one they're all BTO upgraded models with the anti-glare and CPU upgrades.

Are these decent values or should I keep watching apple.com for 2011s? I mostly do Internet research, play Diablo 3 and iPhoto stuff.
Any opinions appreciated thank you!

 

[Yebubbleman]

Pretty much what the topic said. Small Dog electronics company in New England has several models of 2010 MacBook Pro in stock. There's a 17" at $1349, a 15" at $1399, and two more 17" at $1449 and $1499. They're Apple refurbished units with warranty. Except for the cheapest one they're all BTO upgraded models with the anti-glare and CPU upgrades.

Are these decent values or should I keep watching apple.com for 2011s? I mostly do Internet research, play Diablo 3 and iPhoto stuff.
Any opinions appreciated thank you!

Those are fair prices. And really, you won't hate those machines, but in terms of how much money you put in by buying them, you're getting a comparable bang for buck as you would from a non-retina 13" MacBook Pro of current, which also costs a comparable amount.

 

[Aaron from KY]

That's kinda what I was thinking. I'm probably going to upgrade whatever I buy to 8GB RAM and a SSD, so it would probably be comparable to the retina by then.

 

[SellYourMacBook]

those prices are very expensive for 2010 models...

if you look on ebay and find a reputable seller and win one at auction that still has applecare you can find way better deal.....

 

[Aaron from KY]

Are they really that expensive for Apple refurbished models with the 1 year warranty? Plus searching for the part numbers on Apple's own site reveal they're about $30 more than Apple last had them listed for a month or 2 ago, I mean a used one with Applecare may be less expensive, but these aren't used and shouldn't have any wear and tear. Plus they geekbench close to the new 13in models but have a higher resolution, larger screen.

 

[Tanto]

It comes down to the price, IMO.

I have a 2010 MBP as well and with the SSD upgrade I'm running Starcraft 2 no problem on Medium graphics and everything else is a breeze. I was considering getting a new laptop before I decided to breathe new life into my existing one - and it was worth it.

 

[Aaron from KY]

Solved

Wound up buying a refurbished 2010 i7 15" from Newegg for $1199, plus 8GB of RAM for $38. Got a 256GB Samsung 830 SSD from B&H for $169.95. NOthing has arrived yet due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, but I expect it to knock my socks off and last a few years at least.