Well, I wanted the new aluminum macbook but had a good offer on craigslist. I bought a 2.4 GHz black macbook, Office for mac, Quickbooks for mac, and it came with a 5 year warranty from Fry's. It's in mint condition, a year old with original box and receipt. The whole package cost her $2,700 last April, $1,499 for the mac, $399 for premium office, $199 for Quickbooks, $200 in add ons, a $250 extended warranty, and tax. The software was unopened. Got the whole package for $500 cash because she didn't know how to use macintosh. Should I sell this and buy the new aluminum for the trackpad and graphics card or is it good enough to keep? What do these usually run? Thanks.
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Black Macbook 2.4 GHz, Did I get a steal?
- Thread starter boston44
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Something fishy
There is something not quite right about this story, and maybe there is an explanation that just didn't make it into your post. Why would somebody go out and spend $2700 on something they don't know how to use, let it sit for a year, not open the software that was purchased, and then sell it for a fraction of the cost? Are you certain you did not get a true steal? Is the receipt in the same name as the person you bought it from, or do you only have her word for it that it is her receipt?
Here is a story to ponder. We had a 3-month old macbook stolen last fall. Thief sold it on Craig's list, told the purchaser his mom was a teacher but didn't "need" the computer any more. The buyer believed that story. He knew enough to get past the firmware password, saw plenty of evidence that the machine was owned by a school district (as he later told police), but he thought the tale told by the thief was plausible, so he felt justified in wiping out the hard drive and reloading the OS. Of course he told the police he was happy that the macbook was going back to its rightful owner, but personally I believe he knew full well he was handling stolen property and thought he could get away with it. Oh, the kid sold it to him for $200. Moral of the story - don't believe the stories that online sellers tell you.
If it was me, and her story is actually true, I would offer to teach her how to use a mac, so she could actually use the machine she probably spent her entire tax rebate or stimulus check to purchase.
There is something not quite right about this story, and maybe there is an explanation that just didn't make it into your post. Why would somebody go out and spend $2700 on something they don't know how to use, let it sit for a year, not open the software that was purchased, and then sell it for a fraction of the cost? Are you certain you did not get a true steal? Is the receipt in the same name as the person you bought it from, or do you only have her word for it that it is her receipt?
Here is a story to ponder. We had a 3-month old macbook stolen last fall. Thief sold it on Craig's list, told the purchaser his mom was a teacher but didn't "need" the computer any more. The buyer believed that story. He knew enough to get past the firmware password, saw plenty of evidence that the machine was owned by a school district (as he later told police), but he thought the tale told by the thief was plausible, so he felt justified in wiping out the hard drive and reloading the OS. Of course he told the police he was happy that the macbook was going back to its rightful owner, but personally I believe he knew full well he was handling stolen property and thought he could get away with it. Oh, the kid sold it to him for $200. Moral of the story - don't believe the stories that online sellers tell you.
If it was me, and her story is actually true, I would offer to teach her how to use a mac, so she could actually use the machine she probably spent her entire tax rebate or stimulus check to purchase.
Trust me, I thought this was a scam until we met up with her. I had her take it to Fry's to check the warranty, and yes the receipt was in her name. The difference is she is an accountant, and she can get a new computer each April from her company for free. They gave her quickbooks and office, but she hardly ever used her new mac. She instead used quickbooks on a two year old PC. I took it to apple and they fully restored it to me, and we checked the serial numbers as well. I asked her why was apple to hard for her to use, but she was an older woman and didn't like the screen size and trackpad of the mac. It wasn't stolen or a scam, and when I knew that I took a chance and did something I never do - buy a used computer.
ok so you don't trust anyone and see the worst in people, because it was your fault that your mac got stolen. great moral.
Last year I got an iMac 233, the original, from my neighbor for free. I fired it up and found plenty of evidence that it had belonged to Emroy University at a point. I don't have the discs, so I can't reinstall unfortunately.
It is only worth $55-$100 or so (though the Power Macintosh G3s are up in price, so this should follow suit as it is a timeless classic). I got a pretty good deal on it and it sounds like you're the kind of person who would suspect that it was stolen. Or the person who thinks all good deals are scams.
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Wow dude you basically just stole it right in front of her and walked away.
Just keep it don't sale it.
Wow dude you basically just stole it right in front of her and walked away.
Just keep it don't sale it.
Then you did your due diligence. I would keep it if I were you. Must be some company she works for - replacement schedule of one year. Those of us in schools are lucky if the budget allows replacements every 6-7 years.
ok so you don't trust anyone and see the worst in people, because it was your fault that your mac got stolen. great moral.
Nah, I actually trust most people and you can ask my kids I definitely see the best in people. But I've been around long enough to learn that there is truth in the saying about things that sound too good be true. And you gotta' admit, Craig's list has a less than stellar reputation. BTW, it was not my computer that was stolen - it was however my tracking mechanism that located it. It was stolen because a teacher left it in his unlocked car... it was (unfortunately) easy pickings for the thief, almost as easy for me to get the detective to the right address.
Have you checked eBay recently? $1,200 is easy to get, just the fees. Have a $1,025 on clist as we speak.
I would love to know what tracking mechanism you used. I am paranoid about someone stealing my laptop and the only solution I found was LoJack, which no longer works if someone formats the hard drive.
yeah good luck with that. just checked eBay's completed listings. some go for 6-800$ and 2 or 3 went for 1000-1200.
subtract the 80$ in fees from a 1300$ computer....
the ones that went for that much were either a 15", or had a 500GB HDD, and included extras with full AppleCare.
like i said. good luck - the real thing holding you back is the RAM, people think they need 4GB and unfortunatly the chipset can't support it.
don't get me wrong i'd love to have a blackbook, my worship leader has the 2.4 and it's very very nice.
i'd rather have my UMB with multi touch+sexy unibody than 25% more processing power and 50% less RAM
The 2.0 goes for $800, no 2.4 has gone for less than $900-1,000. No one wants the old pro, I can get that for $750 all day long on clist with a 250 GB HD. I may swap it for an aluminum 2.0, because I don't need firewire. The only thing i like is I have a matching iphone, but I'd much rather have the newer model and give up HD and firewire, as well as the .4 processor.
I posted a want ad on clist and had someone respond. Never posted it herself. Just got lucky..
Check out Pretty Good Privacy. My dad works for the state and he's got it encrypting his entire HDD. It isn't tracking, but it is tough to get around. In fact, it is just a step down from military grade.
I know the feeling. I picked up a Rev B MacBook Air a few weeks ago for $700 and a bunch of people claimed it was stolen, but everything checked out fine. Sometimes people just don't care and sell Macs for cheap. My girlfriend ended up getting a kick ass Mac out of it...
I know the feeling. I picked up a Rev B MacBook Air a few weeks ago for $700 and a bunch of people claimed it was stolen, but everything checked out fine. Sometimes people just don't care and sell Macs for cheap. My girlfriend ended up getting a kick ass Mac out of it...
that's a crazy good deal !!
congrats