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Buying cheap then upgrading components

3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
Hi all - I'm currently in the market for a MBP. I cant really afford brand new prices so I've been looking on eBay and doing some research according to everymac.com , there are a few old MBP that even support 16GB RAM. I was thinking about just separately buying an SSD and more ram, I thought that would make it cheaper. It does but not by a lot.
EBay has some mental prices for second hand gear! For example I saw a 2009 (uncustomised) MBP go for £700. Was a 13 inch too. They're £999 new?
Am I missing something or Do MBP really hold their price? Also, does anyone know anywhere I could potentially buy cheaper than eBay?(UK) . thanks guys
 
yusukeaoki

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
Can you give us more details on that computer saying its selling for 799?
09 MBP 13in wont tell us much. Spec details maybe nice.

But my 2011 MBP 17in, purchased at 2500USD, is around 1800USD according to Mac2Sell.
Mac2Sell even tells the price a bit higher than what they really sell for so
my 17in would probably be around 1600~1700USD.
Prices on these drops fairly quickly.
 
3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
yusukeaoki said:
Can you give us more details on that computer saying its selling for 799?
09 MBP 13in wont tell us much. Spec details maybe nice.

But my 2011 MBP 17in, purchased at 2500USD, is around 1800USD according to Mac2Sell.
Mac2Sell even tells the price a bit higher than what they really sell for so
my 17in would probably be around 1600~1700USD.
Prices on these drops fairly quickly.
Click to expand...

Regardless of spec, £700 for a 4 year old computer is a joke. So I dont think that's relevant. I was just making a point that it was expensive.
I believe it was around 120GB HDD , duo-core and 4GB RAM . its gone now though so can't see it
 
yusukeaoki

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
30secondstosam said:
Regardless of spec, £700 for a 4 year old computer is a joke. So I dont think that's relevant. I was just making a point that it was expensive.
I believe it was around 120GB HDD , duo-core and 4GB RAM . its gone now though so can't see it
Click to expand...

Yeah thats definitely not £700.
I meant it by if it came with after market parts.
Having optibay with dual 512GB SSD can bring up the price.
But with that spec, its probably less than £400 I should say.
 
3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
yusukeae16775802 said:
Yeah thats definitely not £700.
I meant it by if it came with after market parts.
Having optibay with dual 512GB SSD can bring up the price.
But with that spec, its probably less than £400 I should say.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately ebay is full of moronic consumors who no nothing about technology. It's a Mac so they automatically think its worth loads.

Surely for this very reason there must be a better place to buy?
 
Last edited:
yusukeaoki

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
30secondstosam said:
Unfortunately ebay is full of moronic consumors who no nothing about technology. It's a Mac so they automatically think its worth loads.

Surely for this very reason there must be a better place to buy?
Click to expand...

Seems like Apple refurb have better deal than this crap.
Its going to be fairly new device but better compared to that price.
 
3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
yusukeaoki said:
Seems like Apple refurb have better deal than this crap.
Its going to be fairly new device but better compared to that price.
Click to expand...

I've found a few fairly priced ones. Wish me luck.
Although refurb looks to be the best option at the moment. Could get a fair price if consumors weren't stupid!
 
L

Liquinn

Suspended
Apr 10, 2011
3,016
57
I guess you could buy refurbished and then buy the box separately on eBay or something... but wouldn't the serial numbers be different on the box compared to the product? Hmm
 
robvas

robvas

macrumors 68040
Mar 29, 2009
3,240
629
USA
Very few people need 16GB of RAM - I would spend more on something with a faster CPU and live with 8GB
 
D

danny32

macrumors newbie
Feb 3, 2013
10
0
30secondstosam said:
Unfortunately ebay is full of moronic consumors who no nothing about technology. It's a Mac so they automatically think its worth loads.

Surely for this very reason there must be a better place to buy?
Click to expand...


prices of apple gear over here in the uk are astronomical on ebay.. i sold a 3gs last year for £300.. i tought it was a timewaster, but he actually paid and left pos feedback... i watched a 2009 mbp 13 sell for £520 yesterday, bog standard, no upgrades..... is mental... almost tempted to put my 2010 mbp 13 on there, mint condition, ssd and 8gb ram..... be stupid not to really, then take the funds and put towards new model ;-)
 
3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
[QUOTE danny32;16777292]prices of apple gear over here in the uk are astronomical on ebay.. i sold a 3gs last year for £300.. i tought it was a timewaster, but he actually paid and left pos feedback... i watched a 2009 mbp 13 sell for £520 yesterday, bog standard, no upgrades..... is mental... almost tempted to put my 2010 mbp 13 on there, mint condition, ssd and 8gb ram..... be stupid not to really, then take the funds and put towards new model ;-)[/QUOTE]

Glad i'm not the only one who thinks this !!!!
 
D

danny32

macrumors newbie
Feb 3, 2013
10
0
30secondstosam said:
[QUOTE danny32;16777292]prices of apple gear over here in the uk are astronomical on ebay.. i sold a 3gs last year for £300.. i tought it was a timewaster, but he actually paid and left pos feedback... i watched a 2009 mbp 13 sell for £520 yesterday, bog standard, no upgrades..... is mental... almost tempted to put my 2010 mbp 13 on there, mint condition, ssd and 8gb ram..... be stupid not to really, then take the funds and put towards new model ;-)
Click to expand...

Glad i'm not the only one who thinks this !!!![/QUOTE]

its ridiculous mate, but i aint gonna argue, better for selling ;)

sold a 2006 1.1 mbp 13 two weeks ago for a shade under 300, ppl are daft when it comes to ebay...
 
3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
danny32 said:
Glad i'm not the only one who thinks this !!!!
Click to expand...

its ridiculous mate, but i aint gonna argue, better for selling ;)

sold a 2006 1.1 mbp 13 two weeks ago for a shade under 300, ppl are daft when it comes to ebay...[/QUOTE]

Amazing. I've just seen a 2009 15inch MBP (not bad condition). 2.5Ghz duo-core, 4GB RAm, £650... surely that's wrong?
Old processors , ok the ram is OK but it's SO cheap to upgrade, it's OLD so the motherboard isn't going to be seeing the best of days... hating eBay right now. i'm looking for refurb.
 
D

danny32

macrumors newbie
Feb 3, 2013
10
0
30secondstosam said:
its ridiculous mate, but i aint gonna argue, better for selling ;)

sold a 2006 1.1 mbp 13 two weeks ago for a shade under 300, ppl are daft when it comes to ebay...
Click to expand...

Amazing. I've just seen a 2009 15inch MBP (not bad condition). 2.5Ghz duo-core, 4GB RAm, £650... surely that's wrong?
Old processors , ok the ram is OK but it's SO cheap to upgrade, it's OLD so the motherboard isn't going to be seeing the best of days... hating eBay right now. i'm looking for refurb.[/QUOTE]

probably your best bet... mine should do well.... 8gb ram and ssd
 
S

sparkyms

macrumors 65816
Feb 22, 2007
1,304
3
Southampton UK
I don't think I would ever buy a used Mac from eBay. I've only ever sold, due to - for some reason, people paying really over the odds for what's on offer.

The only case I would buy, would be on Buy it Now on one of the daily deals if one came up. As for finding a better 'place' to buy, in the UK - I'm yet to find one, second hand Macs are ludicrous in price, might be worth seeing if someone you know is looking to sell and go down that route - but you're better off buying refurb from Apple, or pretty handy if you know a student and you can get around 15% off new Macs.
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
Steer away form all posts that say, paid xxx for it new. That's a sign the seller is still attached to the item.
 
3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
Cheers for the responses. Almost got a good deal today but didn't pursue it due to excessive body damage. Ebayers are stupid. They bid days before the end. Every buyer knows the longer you wait the cheaper it'll be for all. I suppose the only saving grace is that when I go to sell my Mac that I will buy, I'll get a good price.
 
3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
Some advice please.. £450 for a second hand Macbook Pro, 2009, 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, 2.53Ghz duel core, MacBookPro5,5.
Couple of small dents on the under side. Will probably upgrade to max ram of 8. Good deal or bad?
 
D

danny32

macrumors newbie
Feb 3, 2013
10
0
30secondstosam said:
Some advice please.. £450 for a second hand Macbook Pro, 2009, 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, 2.53Ghz duel core, MacBookPro5,5.
Couple of small dents on the under side. Will probably upgrade to max ram of 8. Good deal or bad?
Click to expand...

thats more than what i paid for my 2010 mate... and mines mint/ boxed, original discs ;)
 
duervo

duervo

macrumors 68020
Feb 5, 2011
2,466
1,232
That's over $700 USD.

With dents/scratches, probably original battery as well, I would say it's a bad deal.

Dents suggest that it's been dropped, or has had heavy things dropped onto it. You don't know what the long term affects of that will be .. it depends on what (if any) damage may have been done to it internally. So ...

Go back and offer £250, but don't pay anymore than £300. Tell them you can't pay what they're asking for a system that has dents on it, and give them the reason I just gave.

Or just pass on it altogether.
 
Giuly

Giuly

macrumors 68040
Oct 16, 2009
3,348
4
That depends whether you ask for timezone, state o
duervo said:
That's over $700 USD.

With dents/scratches, probably original battery as well, I would say it's a bad deal.

Dents suggest that it's been dropped, or has had heavy things dropped onto it. You don't know what the long term affects of that will be .. it depends on what (if any) damage may have been done to it internally. So ...

Go back and offer £250, but don't pay anymore than £300. Tell them you can't pay what they're asking for a system that has dents on it, and give them the reason I just gave.

Or just pass on it altogether.
Click to expand...

As far as Apple is concerned, 1$=0.83£=1.04€. And that reflects itself on the second hand market as well -> £450=$550, which is $68 more than the £300 you've suggested.

Globalization can be strange. :)
 
InlawBiker

InlawBiker

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2007
284
36
Just to pile on, I tried pretty hard to buy second hand but it was too difficult. People were asking too much for their used equipment so I bought refurbished. I'm sure you can find a motivated seller if you're diligent in your search, but I found it to be a waste of time.
 
3

30secondstosam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
24
0
InlawBiker said:
Just to pile on, I tried pretty hard to buy second hand but it was too difficult. People were asking too much for their used equipment so I bought refurbished. I'm sure you can find a motivated seller if you're diligent in your search, but I found it to be a waste of time.
Click to expand...

in a very strange way I am happy this is a common issue. I had feared I was probably being a bit tight with my money.
I've decided I'm better to buy a newer model (anything with an i3/5/7 processor in).
Everyone here is right, the second hand prices especially on eBay are a joke. I am looking to spend £600. Surely that should get me a 2011 Mac right? Will keep an eye our for refurbished Macs. May bite the bullet and get one but it's a bit more than I wanted to spend.

Some of these people are idiots though. They see numbers and think it means they're getting a great deal. People put 1000GB hard drive and 8GB RAM, the non-techies will see big numbers and think they're getting a lot for their money.
I'm a web developer and musician. It's been a long time coming but I really want to get a Mac sorted now.
 
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