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2011 MacBook Air 13" for $222. Good deal?

T

tubeexperience

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 17, 2016
3,192
3,897
Hi, so someone is trying to sell me a 2011 MacBook Air 13" for $150. (charger included)

Supposedly, the SSD died and I would need to replace it. ($73 from OWC) https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-air/2010-2011

Obviously, I would want to check the everything else (battery, etc.) works by booting from an external drive.

That said, does this seems like a good deal?

I am hoping to sell it for $350 to $400.
 
tubeexperience said:
Hi, so someone is trying to sell me a 2011 MacBook Air 13" for $150. (charger included)

Supposedly, the SSD died and I would need to replace it. ($73 from OWC) https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-air/2010-2011

Obviously, I would want to check the everything else (battery, etc.) works by booting from an external drive.

That said, does this seems like a good deal?

I am hoping to sell it for $350 to $400.
Click to expand...
I would certainly take it for that money. You probably also need to factor in a new battery.
 
MarvinHC said:
I would certainly take it for that money. You probably also need to factor in a new battery.
Click to expand...
You are right. The battery cycle count is really high.

It looks like this wouldn't be as good of a deal as I thought it would.
 
tubeexperience said:
You are right. The battery cycle count is really high.

It looks like this wouldn't be as good of a deal as I thought it would.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the battery goes for 120 dollars, right? Nad If the charger isn't good, that's at least more 40 $ from ebay. Then you the new SSD...

And in order to profit you have to sell it for 500 dollars. Hmmm
 
Even after servicing, I don't know why anyone would pay $400 for a 2011 Air at this point. Assuming they use it for 3 years, it will have some potentially 9 year old parts in there at the end. It seems like a risk for any buyer.
 
You can only get good deals from a Grandma who says, my grandson gave me this laptop and I used it twice and it's been sitting there since and why don't you take it off my hands so I don't have to stare at it? :D
 
I currently have a 2013 MBA but previously had a 2011. In terms of "power", there isn't that big a difference in the CPU speed. I see, perhaps, a 30% improvent but my 2013 machine has the i7 CPU so that probably accounts for most of the difference.

But there is a huge difference between 2011 and 2013. The 2011 only had USB 2.0 and the SD card reader was also connected to that same slow bus. 2011 didn't have the fast 802.11ac wifi either, huge speed difference there. But the most significant difference is greatly improved battery life starting with the 2013 models. This was due to a newer more power-efficient cpu chip.

So I think Apple's goal in changing chips in 2013 wasn't to give the MBA more "power", but to improve battery life. :)
 
Still running my 2010 (end) Macbook Air. For daily business like surfing, mailing, listening to music or doing photo stuff it is just perfect. But I highly recommend a SSD drive, which I have.

The latest OS X (or the next macOS) all had some emphasis on performance, so you should be fine.

To be fair, I'm waiting for a new form factor ever since to replace mine. But it's doing the job quite good and not really differently than my father's one (2015).
 
MarvinHC said:
Deal of the century! What's the catch?
Click to expand...

Spink10 said:
Do tell!
Click to expand...

I bought it from Craigslist. It came with original receipt and original box.

The original owner said that it has "graphical issues".

I brought it to an Apple Store for free repair under the "Repair Extension Program for Video Issues".

Apple replaced the logic board, display, and top case (which include the battery, keyboard, touchpad).

I am not sure why the display and top case were replaced, but it's free and I do like free.
 
Last edited:
tubeexperience said:
I bought it from Craigslist. It came with original receipt and original box.

The original owner said that it has "graphical issues".

I brought it to an Apple Store for free repair under the "Repair Extension Program for Video Issues".

Apple replaced the logic board, display, and top case (which include the battery, keyboard, touched).

I am not sure why the display and top case were replaced, but it's free and I do like free.
Click to expand...

Wow, so the only original part left is the SSD then? You were lucky indeed!
 
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