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Contemplating used MBP purchase

clyde2801

clyde2801

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 6, 2008
4,365
54
In the land of no hills and red dirt.
I'm considering a used MBP purchase for the house. I saw what appears to be an attractive option on craigslist for a 15" matte screen 2.33 c2d mbp, 2 gigs ram, 120 gig hd and a 256 meg ati card for $1200. Comes with software, too. It's out of applecare, but it doesn't have the dreaded nvidia graphics chip, so I was thinking it would be sufficient for my modest purposes.

I thought I'd check in with the collective before I made an offer on it. I'm thinking about trying to offer $1100 for it and see if he takes it.

If you have a similar machine, I'd especially welcome your input.

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/sys/1107281186.html

Thanks.
 
Here's how I'd value it compared to its age:

2009 new MBP = $1999
2008 used MBP = $1599
2007 used MBP = $1299
2006 used MBP = $1099

and that's if the one you're considering is from 2006 (sorry I don't know :()

Other than that it depends on the condition it's in. If it looks virtually new then maybe the higher price will seem more reasonable. :confused:

EDIT: my depreciation in value may be a little harsh (or not harsh enough :))
 
I agree. $1100 at best, I would feel better paying around $1000 though. The thing is there is such a small gap between even $1000 and $1300 or so that you can find the 2008's for that I would definitely go with the newer one.
 
clyde2801 said:
Would the iWork, Office and CS software make a difference in price?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure iWork adds a great deal to the value since Office can do the same and probably much more. CS changes might be worth it though. I'd say overall that'd add about $300 depending on how new the software is. Again, my judgement could be way off but this seems to be a good deal ;)

But then again I'd always try to push the price down regardless :D

EDIT: I just saw that it's CS4. that makes the software altogether worth a LOT more. CS4 retails for $2,499 apparently http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/mastercollection/ assuming that it's all official and not pirated.
 
1200 seems reasonable, considering that it was upgraded to 2.33 GHz CPU (from 2.16 standard)
 
I'm figuring it will handle 10.6 with the 256 meg ati card, but have none of the reliability problems of the nvidia 8600's. 3 gigs should work for me ram wise, and the matte screen would be a plus.

I'm just wondering how the people who have similar rigs feel about them.
 
Not that this would justify the cost, but I did see he was throwing that timbuk2 bag in there. I have one of them and they are amazing bags. As for the software, unless you are getting the original install discs they really dont add anything to the computer.
 
I agree

If you haven't decided yet:

Don't consider the s/w when considering the value! Unless it comes with the ORIGINAL install discs.

Otherwise you could d/l and install them for free yourself or buy them cheaply off craigslist(if you don't mind pirated s/w).

If you do care about having legal s/w than you'll most likely have to add that cost anyways, as I'm 99.9% sure that the s/w isn't legit, unless he said that.

Most sellers do that on ebay as well. They sell a g5 or other computer with adobe and final cut and say, hey it's like you're getting a free computer :p
 
Man, it's threads like this that make me wish I had taken that offer of an $1199, tax-free last gen MBP - 512MB video RAM Penryn. Brand new, full warranty etc. It was a clearance sale to get rid of them when the new ones rolled in. The only reason I didn't was because I had a 256 MB version I bought earlier in February last year.
 
clyde2801 said:
I'm figuring it will handle 10.6 with the 256 meg ati card, but have none of the reliability problems of the nvidia 8600's. 3 gigs should work for me ram wise, and the matte screen would be a plus.

I'm just wondering how the people who have similar rigs feel about them.
Click to expand...

I have the 17" version and I love it. It runs 10.6 + Photoshop + Quark and the every day stuff with absolutely no problems.
 
Got him down to $1100, pulled the trigger.

Update: Went to see the machine today and it is FLAWLESS! (Except for one light 1/2" scratch on bottom of the case. Took along my tech tool pro disk, and it came out with flying colors. 120 cycles on the battery.

Got him to accept $1100, so I took the machine, box, carrying bag, restore disks and all. Next thing is to swap out a 2 gig ram stick out of an used netbook to bring it to 3 gigs, and install bootcamp/vmware. Will eventually look at swapping disk out with a scorpio black, but not for a bit.

Keeping the powerbook for light duty, carry around the house, run off to the coffeeshop duty. Sorry, not changing my avatar or signature. Will use the MBP for more serious work and windows programs. May have to play around with cs4 for a bit now-when I get some time...

Considering I got it for slightly more than the base level white macbook (almost the same when you count in tax) I'm ecstatic about it!
 
Congrats!

I think you'll really like it. Love my 17"er. I'm upgrading it to a 500Gig HD later tonight so I'll have plenty of room for Final Cut editing while traveling.
 
zero85ZEN said:
I think you'll really like it. Love my 17"er. I'm upgrading it to a 500Gig HD later tonight so I'll have plenty of room for Final Cut editing while traveling.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Let me know how hard the well, hard drive replacement is. Upgrading the ram doesn't look too bad. I'm thinking about a 320 gig scorpio black instead of a 500 gig 5400 drive when I upgrade mine.

God, the matte display is nice, too. Considering this was a $2500 machine a couple of years ago, I'm happy with the purchase. It's amazing how everyone thinks they've got to have the latest and greatest.
 
I wanted a Seagate 7200rpm 500Gig...but they are nowhere to be found after the initial wave sold out in February. I figure I'll just upgrade to one in a half a year or so...with the cheap cost of HD's these days it's not a big expense.
 
I think I'll clone my existing rig to a sata drive I've got lying around (just in case) and wait a while. One nice thing about hard drives and ram, they're cheap and getting cheaper. Who knows, by the time the old one gives out I can get an ssd for the same money!

mrkgoo said:
Man, it's threads like this that make me wish I had taken that offer of an $1199, tax-free last gen MBP - 512MB video RAM Penryn. Brand new, full warranty etc. It was a clearance sale to get rid of them when the new ones rolled in. The only reason I didn't was because I had a 256 MB version I bought earlier in February last year.
Click to expand...

God, that's a good price, but I'll be holding onto this machine for the long run. I've just heard too many bad things about the nvidia 8600 cards.
 
mrkgoo said:
Man, it's threads like this that make me wish I had taken that offer of an $1199, tax-free last gen MBP - 512MB video RAM Penryn. Brand new, full warranty etc. It was a clearance sale to get rid of them when the new ones rolled in. The only reason I didn't was because I had a 256 MB version I bought earlier in February last year.
Click to expand...

INSANE price. But, what's the gpu in that machine? If it's the dreaded Nvidia 8600 you probably did the right thing.
 
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