Buying an early 2013 15" used: the right choice. Right?

[graaapes]

First of all thanks to (most of) the MR posters, been poring over the forums for the last few days before I upgrade from my old 2009 13", so much helpful info here.

I would just like one final confirmation that for non-hardcore usage there would be very little noticeable difference between the early 2013 15" baseline and the newest ones. a slight improvement in battery life seems to be the only major difference in day to day usage, is that right?

These stories of people upgrading from early 2013s to the new rmbps...they are just after the latest greatest, yeah?

Money is tight and for my purposes I should probably be buying a 13" but I'm starting to feel really cramped on that screen and feel like the 15" will last longer, so a discounted BNIB I found on kijiji for $1650 looks like a good deal to me. What say you, wise ones? Your early 2013s still running like a dream on Mavericks?

----------

That's $1650 Canadian so $1580usd

 

[Starfyre]

Processor is a quad core battery life and super. No reason to go for a used, unless you really need to save that money. The right choice is the one that fits your needs.

 

[TacticalDesire]

If money is tight I probably wouldn't be looking to pay $1700 for a computer atm. But it's not my life or my problem so it's your choice. I'd say that's a decent price for an early 2013

 

[laurihoefs]

Mavericks plays a large part in the battery life increase, and the Haswell prosessors offer only slight performance increases compared to the previous Ivy Bridge ones.

Is the price you quoted for an unused early 2013 base model rMBP (2.4GH, 8GB, 256GB)? The price seems fair, and especially if you need the discrete GPU, I'd consider it a better option than the current base model with Iris Pro only.

I'm still happily using my mid 2012 base model rMBP, and don't see any compelling reason to upgrade. The increased SSD speed could be a benefit, but nothing else is anything but marginally faster.

 

[graaapes]

If money is tight I probably wouldn't be looking to pay $1700 for a used computer atm. But it's not my life or my problem so it's your choice. I'd say that's a decent price for an early 2013

Yeah, fair point but I'm computerless at the moment so have to get something, and the way I look at it I'm not spending $1700 I'm investing it and will get most of it back in a future resale. It's something i never understand when people say macs are expensive...do they not understand the economics of buying used or refurb? I just sold my 2009 mbp for $850, bought it for 1050. That's $200 for 4 years of daily use...

Laurihoefs, thanks that's the kind of validation I was looking for

 

[sholzer]

Honestly I think people trying to sell their computers value them too high (I am guilty of this too lol). You can usually find apple refurbs for cheaper than people are willing to sell their machines for so I would definitely take a look at those if you haven't already

missed the last part of your post. 1580 USD for a BNIB early 2013 is a good deal IMO. Go for it, you won't be disappointed

 

[graaapes]

Buying an early 2013 15" used: the right choice. Right?

Ah, the choices. A better deal just popped up as I was heading out the door.

mid-2012, 2.6ghz, 8gb, 512gb, AppleCare til June 2015 for $1677usd. Battery cycle count is 50.

Hundred bucks more for bigger hard drive and processor. Losing the "2013" branding which might knock down the resale value a bit, and the newness, but looking past that I can't find a reason to pass on it

 

[yourtoys7]

soo, what you end up buying?

 

[graaapes]

Assuming the guy comes through I'm getting the mid 2012 15" with upgraded proc and hd. Unless an even better better deal comes through in the next few hours