Before I even began, frys.com frequently has brand-new 2012 13 inch MBPs on sale for $999.00. They had a sale that just ended yesterday, but they seem to put this machine on sale every other week, and of course you are getting a brand new current machine with FULL warranty, and the option to extend that. Of course you also do pay sales tax depending on where you live, so this may not be the greatest deal. For example right now they have a brand-new MacBook air for $799.00, and this is on sale through next Thursday.
I have bought 5 or 6 MacBook Pros on Craigslist. You do need to be very careful, but if you follow these few tips you should be okay.
First of all, you will find offers that seem too good to be true. When you respond to these, you will be told that it is an American service man or woman and they want to ship the computer to their son or daughter in Nigeria. Obviously you don't want to give your money to these people.
Next thing to do is of course to meet the person in person at a Starbucks or other location. Starbucks or McDonald's are good, not only because they're public, but because they have free Internet, so you can check the serial number. I think it is very important before you shop to really understand your Mac.
If you go to http://www.everymac.com, you can understand the differences between models. For example, many people don't understand that the 15 inch models have 2 graphics cards whereas the 13 inch models only have one. If you are using the machine for gaming, or Photoshop work you're probably going to want at least a 15 inch model. For example, I purchased a two-year-old MacBook Pro that was the top-of-the-line with two graphics cards and AppleCare and got it for about $300 less than a used current model that had the same processor speed but only one graphics card. The machine I got was much better than the current model and cheaper too.
You want to turn the computer on, and go to About this Mac. Check the processor speed, the graphics cards, hard drive size, and ram. A third of the computers I have purchased actually had worse specifications then what was advertised. Often I have gone ahead and purchased the computer, but only after having them knock off another $100 or $200 because the computer was not of the specifications that they advertised.
And if the computer doesn't have a serial number, stay away. These computers often have been repaired, and Apple usually won't even repair these, even out of warranty if you're willing to pay for it.
As far as AppleCare goes, while that would be ideal, if the computer is over a year old and they didn't purchase it, you're not going to get that. However, if you run a few basic tests, you can make sure the computer works okay before you take it. Another thing you can do is copy and paste the serial number on Apple's support section here: (
https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do)
where you can find out how much warranty the computer does have. So even if the computer doesn't have AppleCare, and that is important to you, you can find out if you can purchase it yourself. Also, if you are a college student, or are buying it for someone who is a college student, you can get AppleCare for less than $250, versus $350 for a MacBook Pro.
How to test the computer. If you reboot new or MacBook Pros, and hold down the option and D key, think "D" for diagnostics, you can run the Apple diagnostics test that will test the memory and almost everything on the computer in about 3 minutes. If someone seems irritated by your wanting to test the machine, walk away. Anybody who is serious about selling their machine and charging $800 or more, is going to understand why you would want to make sure that the machine works properly. You can also restart the machine just holding down the option key, and then running disk first aid to check just the hard drive, but the Apple diagnostics test is a much better test.
Another test that I do is to go into desktop then change the screen color to solid black white red and blue, just to check for dead pixels. I honestly haven't found a problem with dead pixels on any machine.
Hopefully this tips help. Best of luck!
One last thing. If you go to the Apple store, then go down to the left corner and click on refurbished machines,
Apple often has great deals on refurbished Macs that have a full one-year warranty, and you can even add AppleCare! These are often priced at the same price that people are selling them used on Craigslist, however you're getting a machine that has been completely reconditioned. Apple often replaces the screen, puts a new battery in, and I have purchased three or four of these and they look just like brand-new machines.
Many of these refurbished machines are ones that people have only used for one week, and then return to an Apple store. Apple cannot turn around and sell these is new, so you get an incredible deal. Stock can change by the hour, or by the day. So if you don't find what you're looking for, check back in a few hours or the next day.
