Buying new MBP every year

[ygys]

hey guys

is there somebody who buys a new MBP every year and when the new models come out just sells it ?

I am kinda thinking about it because the depreciation is not that bad and you can have the latest computer all the time

I want to hear some personal experience from somebody that does it 🙂

How much money do you loose every year ?

 

[uiop.]

I'm not sure I'd recommend that unless you really have a lot of money you don't care to lose. The performance enhancements year-over-year are not that significant in comparison to waiting 3-4 years between upgrades like most people. And it's not like an iPhone where the aesthetic design is changed frequently either.

 

[Z3man]

I change every 3 years which i think is about right, means i always have a laptop with Applecare as well. I suppose it might be worth changing every 2 years, but i definitely wouldn't change any sooner than that.

 

[ygys]

I tried to do some math

here in Europe the 15" base model costs 2000€ (with tax)

I can get a student to buy it for me with 10% discount

so it is 1800€ (with tax)

Then I can put the receipt into the accounting of my company and get my tax back so it is 1800€ - 20%

so basically I can have a 2000€ computer for roughly 1440€

and after year I think I can still sell the computer for 1500-1600€

so I might even be able to make some money out of it and buy a new computer the same way

 

[priitv8]

and after year I think I can still sell the computer for 1500-1600€

so I might even be able to make some money out of it and buy a new computer the same way

So, you buy as a legal person and sell as a private person?

If you sell it as a company (legal person), you will have to pay 20% of the sale price back to tax department as well.

 

[tresmith]

I tried to do some math

here in Europe the 15" base model costs 2000€ (with tax)

I can get a student to buy it for me with 10% discount

so it is 1800€ (with tax)

Then I can put the receipt into the accounting of my company and get my tax back so it is 1800€ - 20%

so basically I can have a 2000€ computer for roughly 1440€

and after year I think I can still sell the computer for 1500-1600€

so I might even be able to make some money out of it and buy a new computer the same way

that's looks good. considering Apple sells its rmbp for about 15% off typically and that equals about 300. so you should be able to get 1500 to 1600 for it.

 

[TSE]

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro that is still going strong, and I do some serious work on this machine.... Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Parallels running Solidworks, Office, iTunes, Safari, sometimes most of those programs running at the same time.

I can't imagine why someone would need or even want to upgrade every year considering the money lost each transaction. Wouldn't it be better to spend that money on some nice clothes or something, something you will notice everyday?

 

[maflynn]

I see no reason to buy every new year. What does that really get you? I mean the changes from year to year are fairly incremental. Only when a major feature is added like the retina display, can you make an argument to sell a year old computer and buy new one.

 

[sarthak]

hey guys
is there somebody who buys a new MBP every year and when the new models come out just sells it ?
I am kinda thinking about it because the depreciation is not that bad and you can have the latest computer all the time
I want to hear some personal experience from somebody that does it 🙂
How much money do you loose every year ?

I've gone from a Mid 2012 (base model) to a Late 2013 (base Iris Pro) and now am running a Mid 2014 (Iris Pro + dGPU 750M).

Contrary to what others say about having minor spec bumps, I've experienced quite a bit of improvement in a variety of categories:

Mid 2012 -> Late 2013
- Iris Pro allows for nearly double the battery life (going from 5hrs to 10-11) when used lightly for Safari and productivity.
- Iris Pro eliminates the lag in the UI and provides sufficient performance to come close to the GT 650M.
- SSD has tremendous increase in performance from ~420R/W to around ~700R/W due to the switch to PCI-E Flash.
- However, the 8GB RAM on the base model was partially used up by the iGPU shared memory.
- Loss of dGPU to perform CUDA related tasks.

Late 2013 -> Mid 2014
- Provided for increase RAM, SSD and dGPU.
- Slightly lower battery life due to graphics switching (around 8.5hrs).
- dGPU allows for CUDA otherwise not available on the Iris Pro.

There is marginal benefit going from a Late 2013 to a Mid 2014 if you choose the base model (double the RAM, minor CPU spec bump). However, in my case, I have switched base-base initially for general UI graphics performance, battery life and SSD performance. Then switched again from base -> higher end model increase the RAM, SSD and dGPU.

Side benefit being not having to buy Apple Care if you're switching every refresh cycle.

However, that being said, I don't plan to switch again until there is a significant change. Surely battery life will improve and perhaps the dGPU will be completely gone but, I don't foresee any major improvement in my workflow environment from a minor spec bump expected this upcoming refresh. It does definitely become harder to convince one to replace their system if they already have the upper end model. These are my expectations for the upcoming refreshes.

Mid 2014 -> Mid 2015 / Late 2015 (not going to make the switch)
- Broadwell 4+3e?
- Improved battery life (perhaps another 2-3 hrs)?
- Improved performance (marginal)?
- dGPU eliminated, iGPU equivalent to 750M/840M (marginal)???
- Max ram 32GB (exorbitant cost, likely as 16GB is the only option atm)

Mid 2016 / Late 2016 (likely to switch)
- Expected spec bumps across the board.
- CPU/iGPU expected 40% improvement over Mid 2014
- SSD speeds approaching 1.5GB/s R/W?
- Retina Display at 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 (than the existing best fit 1440x900)

Mid 2017 / Late 2017
- Design changes?
- Battery life approaching a full day.
- Performance of CPU/iGPU and energy efficiency alone make it worthwhile over Mid 2014.

It does end up costing a few hundred as the total retail cost less VAT that is irrecoverable and less depreciation. I would probably advise against doing this unless you need the features or benefits provided by an upgrade model (such as battery life or spec bump across the board incl. dGPU). See here for Canadian Depreciation Estimates for Apple Macintoshes that I have prepared from experience and gathering monitoring Kijiji / Craigslist listings over the years.

 

[PennCentralFan]

If you got the money then go ahead. It's just a hassle to have to transfer your files and bookmarks and so on every year.

 

[maflynn]

If you got the money then go ahead. It's just a hassle to have to transfer your files and bookmarks and so on every year.

And as I posted, for what gain. Going from Haswell to Broadwell - what will that give you. Better battery and GPU? I don't see the cost/benefit being that, but as you say. If someone has the money to burn why not.

 

[vbedia]

Although it may seem tempting from a technical point of view to switch every year I would not recommend it; especially if one has a high model as it is my case. Of course there are improvements, but I do not think they are significant enough at least not on the overall experience.

Sorry but getting 10-15 fps more on average per game, and 2 more hours of battery life is not good enough if the SSD read/write speed stays the same, same retina display, and so on.

Personally, I don't like keeping things until they die i'd rather sell them before that occurs even if it is at a loss. However; I think the macbook loses much more percentage of its value in the first year rather than in the second one or the third one.

I will not consider selling my late 2013 rMBP after Skylake is out or later. This is my opinion.

Of course there are different people, different circumstances and not everyone thinks the same. But that's just my opinion.

 

[puma1552]

i figure if i bought every year, id never appreciate it that much knowing im turning around to sell soon. when i buy, i get the max BTO machine offered and keep it a long time, being extremely appreciative of it and keeping it immaculate.

i last bought a mbp for myself in late 08, which was replaced by applecare in mid 2010. would love a new one, but mine works just fine.

at the very least, id never upgrade unless there was a screen update.

 

[mcarling]

I have bought five since 2008. The last one was about 15 months ago. I'll buy a 15" Broadwell MBP if it will support Displayport 1.3 over Thunderbolt 3.

 

[redheeler]

I see no reason to buy every new year. What does that really get you? I mean the changes from year to year are fairly incremental. Only when a major feature is added like the retina display, can you make an argument to sell a year old computer and buy new one.

Agreed, there really isn't any reason to get every incremental upgrade. However, for a major change, like non-retina to retina, there is a lot more reason to upgrade.

A mid 2012 rMBP, for instance, is still close enough to today's model that an upgrade may not be necessary. Perhaps when Skylake is released the performance gap will be enough to convince more people to upgrade.

I have bought five since 2008. The last one was about 15 months ago. I'll buy a 15" Broadwell MBP if it will support Displayport 1.3 over Thunderbolt 3.

5K support? You're looking for Skylake then.

 

[yjchua95]

Either you must have a lot of cash to burn, or you just want to build up a collection.

I work as a softeare dev and a part time cinematographer, and my needs are heavy. But I don't buy new Macs every year.

My second last big purchase was in '08, when I bought 10 Macs in a year. I didn't buy any more Macs until the period between late-2013 and late-2014, when I:

1. Won a baseline late-2013 13" rMBP in a raffle.
2. Replaced my entire line when my company switched to 4K cinematography.

I didn't change my Macs until the need arose.

They lasted for 5+ years because I maxed everything out at time of purchase, and I also performed some hardware upgrades on them. If my needs hadn't changed, I could've just kept on chugging on those old Macs.

 

[Freyqq]

I've been getting the 2nd gen of every major refresh (2007, 2010, late 2013). So far, that has been every 3 years. The late 2013 rmbp though is significantly better than the computer it replaced. I honestly don't see myself replacing it for 5 years.

 

[simonsi]

...I can get a student to buy it for me with 10% discount

so it is 1800€ (with tax)

Then I can put the receipt into the accounting of my company and get my tax back so it is 1800€ - 20%...

Good luck at your first VAT audit.

 

[ygys]

So, you buy as a legal person and sell as a private person?

If you sell it as a company (legal person), you will have to pay 20% of the sale price back to tax department as well.

Yes I will to buy it as a legal person and then sell it as a private person 😉

I know that I do not do not need to upgrade every single year and it is kind of pain trying to sell it and and constantly moving my data around.

I want to do it purely out of financial reason. If you are trying to sell a computer after 3-4 years, depreciation is almost 50-60%
but after one year the hit is going to be fairly minimal.

 

[simonsi]

...but after one year the hit is going to be fairly minimal.

Never seen anyone produce curves for Macs, and there may be some special considerations given Apple's almost deliberate undersupply around release dates with some products (esp iPhones), but generally "stuff" depreciates highest during its first year, then progressively less each year it ages.

So changing each year, excluding any special tricks as you propose (I still doubt you will get the tax one at the end of the day), would normally be the most expensive route to ownership.

But you should also factor in not having to pay for Apple Care in your TCO calc...

 

[ygys]

yes I will not be able to get my tax back immediately but I will get it back at some point so it is ok.

In my country (Slovakia) we do not even have apple care 😀 but we do have 2 years of warranty as standard.

I will probably try to do it and I will see how much money it is going to cost me ... A am able to accept 200€ lost ... so as far as I can sell my 2000€ rMBP for 1240€ I am going to do it

 

[Toutou]

If you are trying to sell a computer after 3-4 years, depreciation is almost 50-60%
but after one year the hit is going to be fairly minimal.

I believe it's exactly the opposite. After the first year the hit is HUGE. In fact, the largest drop occurs as soon as you step out of the store.

In my country (Slovakia) we do not even have apple care

Yes you do. In a way. (Tady se to řeší: http://www.macblog.sk/forum/discussion/47628/)

 

[James_C]

yes I will not be able to get my tax back immediately but I will get it back at some point so it is ok.

In my country (Slovakia) we do not even have apple care 😀 but we do have 2 years of warranty as standard.

I will probably try to do it and I will see how much money it is going to cost me ... A am able to accept 200€ lost ... so as far as I can sell my 2000€ rMBP for 1240€ I am going to do it

I am an Accountant (in the UK) and to be honest I have no knowledge of Slovakia tax law. However it looks like you are wanting to make a personal purchase to take advantage of your student discount and then sell it to your Company (all fine so far) and then the company can reclaim the VAT. However a that point it becomes an asset of your company and is no longer your personal computer. When you come come to sell it, then actually in reality it is the company that it selling it and needs to charge VAT on the sale, or is selling it to you and again would need to charge VAT on the sale. Now it sounds like you may be planning to leave the asset in the company books, so you don't have to declare the sale, but this is potentially tax fraud. If you are planning to do this each year then you will be building up a load of assets that the company does not actually have. I don't know how often you get VAT audits in Slovakia, but you run the risk of being found out at some point.

 

[simonsi]

I am an Accountant (in the UK) and to be honest I have no knowledge of Slovakia tax law. However it looks like you are wanting to make a personal purchase to take advantage of your student discount and then sell it to your Company (all fine so far) and then the company can reclaim the VAT. However a that point it becomes an asset of your company and is no longer your personal computer. When you come come to sell it, then actually in reality it is the company that it selling it and needs to charge VAT on the sale, or is selling it to you and again would need to charge VAT on the sale. Now it sounds like you may be planning to leave the asset in the company books, so you don't have to declare the sale, but this is potentially tax fraud. If you are planning to do this each year then you will be building up a load of assets that the company does not actually have. I don't know how often you get VAT audits in Slovakia, but you run the risk of being found out at some point.

Yes I wished him good luck with his first VAT audit...

 

[ygys]

I am an Accountant (in the UK) and to be honest I have no knowledge of Slovakia tax law. However it looks like you are wanting to make a personal purchase to take advantage of your student discount and then sell it to your Company (all fine so far) and then the company can reclaim the VAT. However a that point it becomes an asset of your company and is no longer your personal computer. When you come come to sell it, then actually in reality it is the company that it selling it and needs to charge VAT on the sale, or is selling it to you and again would need to charge VAT on the sale. Now it sounds like you may be planning to leave the asset in the company books, so you don't have to declare the sale, but this is potentially tax fraud. If you are planning to do this each year then you will be building up a load of assets that the company does not actually have. I don't know how often you get VAT audits in Slovakia, but you run the risk of being found out at some point.

Actually when a student buys a computer with a student discount on the receipt it only says discount so it can go into a accounting.
Things such as computers with value under 2000€ are writing off 1 year so after 1 year I can throw the computer into the trash if I want to. If the value exceeds 2000€ they are writing off 3 years 😉 So I can actually sell the computer after 1 year by my own without committing a tax fraud