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11" MBA poor resale value
- Thread starter dmelgar
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Actually, the comparable model is the 2011 "Better" model, 1.6 Core i5 with 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM goes for $849 in the Apple Store.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC969LL/A?fnode=MjMxNjY5NzQ
His asking price is reasonable. If he tried selling for $900 or if it was a base model with 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD which goes for $759 in the refurb store, then that would be high. He is only 4 months into the original AppleCare warranty.
Nope, it IS a used product even if it was just a week old I'd expect to pay atleast 15% less than the best offer I could get for a new/refurbed unit.
The fact that it is the "old" model doesn't help either.
Maybe he'll find someone guilable enough to pay such price, more power to him...
Just outta curiousity, what do you feel is a fair price, I'd say around $700 or so?
Can't really check US prices but 15% of from Apple's refurb price on a as-good-as-new unit is what expect (and if it was less I would just go refurb).
I have a 13 inch 2011 Air i5/4GB/128GB with AppleCare till Dec 2014 and I'm asking for $900 for it. I've been getting offers as low as $500. I'll keep the system and enjoy it till late fall, upgrade and pass this one down to my son before I basically give it away on Craig's list.
so true
and so darn sad. My 2010 iMac isn't worth zip any more, I was hoping for half but that threshhold was crossed last year. I don't like the idea of disposable computers, but if I want to stay Apple that's the way their portable computers are going. I've always upgraded every 3.5 years... and I hope I can hold off buying a laptop until the battery life improves even 2 hours.
and so darn sad. My 2010 iMac isn't worth zip any more, I was hoping for half but that threshhold was crossed last year. I don't like the idea of disposable computers, but if I want to stay Apple that's the way their portable computers are going. I've always upgraded every 3.5 years... and I hope I can hold off buying a laptop until the battery life improves even 2 hours.
It is not even 10 years. I bought a three year old car in 2005 for the average going rate at the time. When I opened the trunk at the dealership I was stunned to see two large subwoofers and a rack of amps. After purchasing the car I did some research and found that it was a factory upgrade to the stereo system. The upgrade at the time of purchase was $1500. I didn't pay a dime extra for it three years later.
I think it's going to become very interesting for Apple. I get the impression from these forums that a lot of the people who upgrade often depend on reselling their old mac, adding a little money and buying the new one.
I've always thought a big reason Apple could command the prices they do is people count on the machines having a decent resale value. If there's a hard limit of about 3 years on the life of the machine, that's just not going to be realistic anymore.
Not sure why you think your 2010 iMac isn't worth anything anymore?! I just sold a 2010 21.5", 3.06 i3, 500GB HDD and 8GB RAM for $900. Sold in about 48 hours, and had lots of interest. What's your valuation of "zip"?
Also sold an entry level 2010 11" MBA (1.4GHz, 2GB RAM, 64GB Flash) for $600 (paid $700 used a year ago), and an early 2011 MBP, 2.3GHz i5, 16GB RAM, 500GB HDD for $1100.
(All prices Canadian.)
The 2010 MBA was a "stopgap" machine, and has an ancient (by tech standards) CPU in it.
the 2011 onwards really are much, much faster.
This is why it has devalued so much - why buy a secondhand 2010 when you can get a refurb or secondhand 2011 that is 2-3x faster?
A 2009 13" MBP can take 8 gb of ram and be upgraded with a conventional 500gb SSD, and will smoke the 2010 MBA in all respects. This is why they are worth more. Sure, it is larger, but if you really need portability, you're probably cashed up enough to buy a 2011 onwards anyway.
the 2011 onwards really are much, much faster.
This is why it has devalued so much - why buy a secondhand 2010 when you can get a refurb or secondhand 2011 that is 2-3x faster?
A 2009 13" MBP can take 8 gb of ram and be upgraded with a conventional 500gb SSD, and will smoke the 2010 MBA in all respects. This is why they are worth more. Sure, it is larger, but if you really need portability, you're probably cashed up enough to buy a 2011 onwards anyway.
I'd agree to a point.
The CPU in the 2011 is much faster, but the SSD is the same speed and the GPU not clearly superior. The SSD in the 2012 is twice as fast as the 2011.
Overall I agree its a big jump from 2010 to 2012. From ultimate 2010 to ultimate 2012 its 3x CPU, 2x SSD speed, 2x+ GPU speed. In Cinebench the 2012 comes out 3.6x the 2010.
Still doesn't explain the disparity between 2010 base and ultimate. I think folks are right in that the upgrades do not pay when you go to resell. Same will likely be true for the 2012 models. You can configure a 11" 2012 MBA from $999 all the way up to $2149 w 512GB. Thats quite a spread to end up reselling for close to the same price 2 years later.
I think the resale prices you're quoting are pretty realistic considering the basic rule of thumb that: -50% right out the door after you buy it then -10% for every year of age. So I think if you can still get 50% of retail cost when it was new, you're doing pretty good. We all want to buy low and sell high, but that only seems to happen in exceptional cases in my experience......
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Well, i dont' think extrapolating what happened with the 2010 is exactly fair. It was in the unfortunate circumsance that it came out shortly before a massive CPU revamp, and as a result, ALL 2010 MBAs are in the same boat. The 2011s didn't have a massive leap in CPU the next year, and I doubt the 2012s will either. The 2010s also simply can't do a bunch of the stuff the more modern machines can do, like airplay, and fast encryption - the AES hardware acceleration and quicksync came with the Core I series and isn't present in the Core 2.
If someone is looking for a "fast" or "powerful" mba, they're looking at 2011 and 2012 models.
it doesn't matter if the 2010 has the maximum 4gb and high spec CPU. it is still very slow compared to the 2011s, and memory crippled compared to the 2012s.
essentially, the 2010 MBA is in the "i want a cheap machine" market now, and those in that market probably aren't willing to pay more for a better machine. those who are willing to pay more will get a 2011 or 2012.
Things like addons and Apple care don't have much resale value. The small discrepancy in the used market between a base and ultimate should tell you how much Apple is ripping people off for a 2gb-4gb upgrade lol.
Agree, and the same argument goes on now when people ask if they should get the i7 cpu instead of te i5 and one of the arguments is that the former will have a much better resale value. I highly doubt an MBA witih i7 will be worth much more than i5 two years from now.
Speaking of the 2010, to me the 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.16 C2D are all the same, from totally hopeless to less hopeless. Sure, they can perform the basic tasks (and back then the purchasers of the MBA were trying to convince me that I shouldn't be doing anything more than that on a computer as thin as the MB).
So, regardless of the configuration, the 2010 is just a flashy computer which can perform just the basic tasks and some old games. If I were in the market for such a computer I wouldn't be willing to spend more than 400-450 for 11" base
Speaking of the 2010, to me the 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.16 C2D are all the same, from totally hopeless to less hopeless. Sure, they can perform the basic tasks (and back then the purchasers of the MBA were trying to convince me that I shouldn't be doing anything more than that on a computer as thin as the MB).
So, regardless of the configuration, the 2010 is just a flashy computer which can perform just the basic tasks and some old games. If I were in the market for such a computer I wouldn't be willing to spend more than 400-450 for 11" base
I really don't know WTF you're talking about. You're too caught up in the latest/shiniest syndrome.
The 2010 Ultimate (C2D 2.13 Ghz, 4gb Ram) is a very worthy computer. I run flawlessly Photoshop, DreamWeaver, Adobe Flash, Keynote, ScreenCast, HandBrake, and absolutely EVERYTHING I need as a professional web admin.
Most people don't realize that *VERY* few people will actually squeeze the full juice out of an i7 CPU.
While I'm sure you are a good professional, I think you need to improve your reading comprehension skills and appreciate the fact that professional web admins do no require a computer to run heavy tasks. Our admins use MBA, too (albeit the 2011). even a 2010 MBA would do for me as all I would need it to do is to run Eclipse & SVN.
I never said what most people need/want. It's your assumption that, generally, people can't use the full processing power or the i7 processor. I'd rather have a modern i7 processor which processes a movie in 15 minutes than having a C2D which performs the same task in 45 minutes, just for the sake of convenience.
Regarding the programs you've listed, I agree the 2010 can run those programs but can perform only their basic tasks smoothly. Unless you can sacrifice the time the computer will need to perform the more sophisticated, RAM and CPU consuming tasks, you won't be very happy with its performance. After all, you said you were a web admin, not a professional photographer/cameraman, didn't you? Perhaps you can afford having several computers for the different tasks you perform but that's not the case with me.
So, don't feel insulted that someone on the internet has called the processor inside your computer 'hopeless'. Your reaction 'WTF' was uncalled for. You have to appreciate the fact that C2D is 6 year old technology and software, with its requirements, has long moved past this point. The main selling point of 2010 MBA was the SSD, now that SSDs have become more mainstream, one cannot expect to get a very goot price upon selling a used 2010 MBA.
My reading comprehension skills are just fine. You said, literally, the following...
If you don't like to called out, perhaps you should not use ridiculous exaggerations such as "hopeless" or "it can perform just the basic tasks", because they're simply not true.
The truth is that the 2010 MBA Ultimate can run mid-range applications (PhotoShop, Adobe Flash, etc) flawlessly, as it does for me every day on my professional activity. It might not run the latest-generation games or ultra-high definition video encoding comfortably, but it does *much more* than just "basic tasks" as you put it.
The MBA 2010 Ultimate is INDEED a very worthy little machine with plenty of juice to give.
I certainly do NOT agree with that. Thats just looking at new vs old and saying old must not be useful for anything without really knowing.
I use my 2010 11" Ultimate for software development and its a fine machine. A compile takes 3 seconds. Sure the 2012 does it in 1.5 seconds, but I can live with an extra 1.5 seconds.
The Macbook Airs overall are powerful machines because of the speed of the SSD. The 2010 may have a slow CPU but its SSD still reads at 200MB/sec vs. a hard drive that may get 30-60MB/sec. That huge difference often more than outweights the CPU speed difference.
My 2010 with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD is enough for most uses. It rarely swaps and if it does its fast.
So I think the characterization that its only good for "basic tasks and some old games" is inaccurate and uninformed.
I'm also wondering (hoping) that maybe the low resale is a short term effect because the 2012's have just come out and there's a flood of folks selling them. Maybe once supply dries up the price will go up a little.
If I cant sell for somewhat more than they're going for today, my plan is to stay with my 2010 until 2013 and see what revolutionary improvement they've done by then.
Same config but 4gb ram
$350 is the average with the same config save for 4gb ram. Don't use Craig's List or eBay so...
Glad you got that much for yours.
$350 is the average with the same config save for 4gb ram. Don't use Craig's List or eBay so...
Glad you got that much for yours.
This was certainly the case in my area, tons of Mac notebooks for sale on CL after the announcement so it took me 2 weeks to sell my 13" 2011 MBA.