Early 2011 MBP

[chalupa_batman]

Its an early 2011 15" MBP 2.0 GHz i7 with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD. Comes with wireless Apple keyboard, Magic Mouse and Speck case. Seller says s/he's had it for 3 months and only used it for light recording. It comes with all the manuals, box, dvds, and cables. Seller wants just $1800 for everything.

I know the whole too good to be true deal, but I'm not sure about this one. It's not super low, but at the same time I would expect this to still be around the $2100 range.

I sent them an email to feel them out some and see what they say about it.

Thoughts? Comments?

Thanks!

Update:Seller responded to my email and they say that it is nothing more than an expensive paper weight. They use their iMac, iPad and iPhone over the MBP. Would it be out of line to ask for a Serial Number to verify with Apple it is what they say it is?

 

[danetello]

I would say go ahead with the purchase. If anything goes wrong you would still be protected by paypal/credit card, right?
Asking for the serial number is fine and when I was selling my old 13" Macbook pro, I was happy to give it out and had no problems.

 

[Nick McEnjoy]

Seller responded to my email and they say that it is nothing more than an expensive paper weight. They use their iMac, iPad and iPhone over the MBP. Would it be out of line to ask for a Serial Number to verify with Apple it is what they say it is?

Well, is it working then? Is it still covered under Apple's warranty?
What if it's actually an "expensive paper weight" and they specifically told you so then Paypal would not be able to cancel the deal?
An expensive paperweight can also have a serial number

 

[chalupa_batman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

They say it still works perfectly, but they use other machines instead of it. It says that there is still 9 months on Applecare.

 

[Nick McEnjoy]

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They say it still works perfectly, but they use other machines instead of it. It says that there is still 9 months on Applecare.

Then if the serial number cross-checking with Apple turned out positive then I do not see why you should not take the chance

Good luck!

 

[chalupa_batman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Well that's a little bit of a problem. He just emailed me back and said he won't send the serial number, but I can check it when we meet. He says that he doesn't know what people can do with serial numbers these days so he won't send via email. Would that be reason for skepticism or am I over thinking things?

 

[Kashika]

If you can check it when you meet, I don't see a problem.

Just look it up on the internet when you meet.

 

[howardnow]

Don't forget that with the latest update to mbp's last week, early 2011's prices have dropped and keep dropping.
Also, there are great deals on the quad 2.0ghz at the apple store refurbished section, especially if you can go with a 500gb regular hard drive.

 

[Nick McEnjoy]

If you can check it when you meet, I don't see a problem.

Just look it up on the internet when you meet.

How can we look it up on the Internet?

 

[Vantage Point]

As a reference point this same MBP new, but with 4Gb ram and 500gb hard drive is now $1,599 from Amazon - no tax in most states. Ram upgrade is about $50 to 8GB

The latest version, which is 10% faster and has 2x bigger GPU is currently $1,750 on Amazon - I may get that myself for $1,650 if they have the same Black Friday sale as last year.

The price you were quoted seems reasonable and there should be some warranty left

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)
He says that he doesn't know what people can do with serial numbers these days so he won't send via email. Would that be reason for skepticism or am I over thinking things?

This is what you can do with a serial number - enter it to see how much warranty is actually left
https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do?newid=y

 

[jdsingle]

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Well that's a little bit of a problem. He just emailed me back and said he won't send the serial number, but I can check it when we meet. He says that he doesn't know what people can do with serial numbers these days so he won't send via email. Would that be reason for skepticism or am I over thinking things?

I wouldn't say that is necessarily an issue. I sold a number of laptops recently and was very paranoid (with no legitimate basis) as to giving out serial numbers. I did not have anything to hide, but when it comes to selling stuff over the internet who knows what people will do. If he will meet with you and you can see it then I would not worry that much.

 

[r0k]

I wouldn't say that is necessarily an issue. I sold a number of laptops recently and was very paranoid (with no legitimate basis) as to giving out serial numbers. I did not have anything to hide, but when it comes to selling stuff over the internet who knows what people will do. If he will meet with you and you can see it then I would not worry that much.

I agree a seller should keep the serial number to themselves until they have a committed buyer. The guy who is selling the laptop to the OP has every right to be concerned that the persion they give the s/n to might be able to go and use that s/n to claim to be selling the same machine to someone else just to scam ppl.

However, I do remember seeing ESN#'s in ebay listing for cell phones, though. So I guess it depends on how motivated / paranoid the seller is. If you have mobile internet, you can check the s/n at the point of sale. Even without mobile internet, I'm sure you could call Applecare at the point of sale with the s/n and ask about getting it registered in your name and confirm the amount of applecare remaining.

 

[chalupa_batman]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to meet with the seller this week to check it out. As far as the serial number goes, I was more concerned about the laptop being stolen and not legitimately his. But the more I think about it, the more I realize I may have just been overly paranoid. He says to have the original receipt, discs, boxes, etc., and I have pictures of everything but the receipt. Hopefully this works out!