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2014 rMBP...good deal?

davistld01

davistld01

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 6, 2008
508
30
Springfield, MO
Hey, guys...

I'm looking to buy a preowned 13" 2014 MacBook Pro Retina locally from a guy on Craigslist. Here are the specs...

2.6GHz Intel Core i5 (Haswell)
8gb of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
128GB flash storage
Is loaded already with Photoshop, MS Office & a couple of other graphic things

It appears, and is described as "like new"...and has box & all box candy intact.

I'm set to pay $800 for it, as the guy says he needs money to "take care of school stuff".

Does that sound like a good deal?
 
davistld01 said:
Hey, guys...

I'm looking to buy a preowned 13" 2014 MacBook Pro Retina locally from a guy on Craigslist. Here are the specs...

2.6GHz Intel Core i5 (Haswell)
8gb of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
128GB flash storage
Is loaded already with Photoshop, MS Office & a couple of other graphic things

It appears, and is described as "like new"...and has box & all box candy intact.

I'm set to pay $800 for it, as the guy says he needs money to "take care of school stuff".

Does that sound like a good deal?
Click to expand...

Fair deal if its legit. Check it out before buying, make sure everything works
 
The software on there is most definitely pirated so it's worth nothing.

The price is a little low...personally I'd skip it, there's just way too many stolen macs on craigslist.
 
davistld01 said:
How can you be sure the software is pirated?
Click to expand...

The computer alone is already priced a bit below what it could be sold for. Even if he needs money, why give expensive software away for free?

If MS Office was bought through Office 365 it's tied to his Microsoft account and you'll need to be able to login to that account to use it. If it was bought stand alone he paid like $100 for it and would note it comes with the media and license, if it was legit.

Photoshop is the same deal. It's either tied to an account with Creative Cloud or someone paid a good bit for it stand alone and they would definitely note that.

These are also some of the most commonly pirated applications. Which do you think is more likely?
 
Who cares about the software.

You're going to do a fresh install, correct?

Are you really going to keep his login info and reload all the apps as if you're him?
 
davistld01 said:
Hey, guys...

I'm looking to buy a preowned 13" 2014 MacBook Pro Retina locally from a guy on Craigslist. Here are the specs...

2.6GHz Intel Core i5 (Haswell)
8gb of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
128GB flash storage
Is loaded already with Photoshop, MS Office & a couple of other graphic things

It appears, and is described as "like new"...and has box & all box candy intact.

I'm set to pay $800 for it, as the guy says he needs money to "take care of school stuff".

Does that sound like a good deal?
Click to expand...

A very good deal, assuming it is legit. Just make sure he gives you all the disks and keys for all that software, and make sure the laptop isn't damaged.

Keep in mind that photoshop elements is sold in a box, but photoshop CS 6 is locked to an account on a monthly fee. Office could be the boxed version with a key or office 365, which is locked to an account on a monthly fee. So, i'm not quite sure if that software will actually work.
 
Freyqq said:
A very good deal, assuming it is legit. Just make sure he gives you all the disks and keys for all that software, and make sure the laptop isn't damaged.

Keep in mind that photoshop elements is sold in a box, but photoshop CS 6 is locked to an account on a monthly fee. Office could be the boxed version with a key or office 365, which is locked to an account on a monthly fee. So, i'm not quite sure if that software will actually work.
Click to expand...

The seller seems legit. He's a college kid that goes to a local tech college. He says the SW is legit too...but he won't give up the discs and keys at that price. He did say that he would wipe the Mac before I got it so it would be as a new machine and I could buy and install my own SW as I saw fit.

We'll see. He's been very forthcoming with the serial number, and even shot me a scan of his reciept from Best Buy when he bought the Mac.
 
davistld01 said:
The seller seems legit. He's a college kid that goes to a local tech college. He says the SW is legit too...but he won't give up the discs and keys at that price. He did say that he would wipe the Mac before I got it so it would be as a new machine and I could buy and install my own SW as I saw fit.

We'll see. He's been very forthcoming with the serial number, and even shot me a scan of his reciept from Best Buy when he bought the Mac.
Click to expand...

Here's what you should do upon getting it and setting it up right in front of him:

1. Hold down the Option key after starting up (press upon boot chime and hold it down).

2. If a padlock icon with a password entry field appears, don't accept it.

3. If the partition selection comes up, boot into Recovery (or a bootable OS X installer USB), access Disk Utility from there and erase the internal drive.

4. Reinstall OS X.
 
davistld01 said:
How can you be sure the software is pirated?
Click to expand...

because most of those licenses are not transferable. Even with the ones that are, the seller is most likely not going to dig up the necessary paperwork. If they were purchased as student licenses, they definitely aren't transferable. The point here is that the software isn't worth any money at all. Don't be a naive purchaser. You won't have much warranty time left, but they run around $980 refurbished for a comparable model. If it's in good condition it's certainly worth $800. I wouldn't pay too close to what they run refurbished, because you are something used and the battery may have a couple hundred cycles or more.
 
davistld01 said:
The seller seems legit. He's a college kid that goes to a local tech college. He says the SW is legit too...but he won't give up the discs and keys at that price. He did say that he would wipe the Mac before I got it so it would be as a new machine and I could buy and install my own SW as I saw fit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, at this point, don't even consider the software to be of any value. If he's not giving the media and license keys to you, then that means he's going to keep using the software himself. In other words: on your machine, it's pirated. And when you wipe the system (which you really should anyway), you won't get that software back.

That said, $800 is pretty darn good price for a 2013 rMBP, even with only stock OS and software. Assuming it's legit, not stolen, in good condition and everything works on it.
 
Just buy one from the Apple refurbished store. it's a safe purchase with a full one-year warranty included. Plus, Apple's refurbs look brand new. I know; I'm typing on one right now. Definitely worth the money...and the peace of mind.
 
lambertjohn said:
Just buy one from the Apple refurbished store. it's a safe purchase with a full one-year warranty included. Plus, Apple's refurbs look brand new. I know; I'm typing on one right now. Definitely worth the money...and the peace of mind.
Click to expand...

Did this exactly this week. Received a perfect condition refurb with only 3 battery cycles on it. So much happier with it than with my 2014 MBA.
 
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