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Good deal on a 15"?

myrtlebee

myrtlebee

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 9, 2011
2,677
2,243
Maryland
I managed to purchase a late 2008 15" unibody MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.4 Ghz 4GB 500GB online for $700 in great condition recently. It will be replacing a White MacBook. I was originally going to go for a 13" used Pro, but came across this for nearly the same price. Also, processor isn't much of an issue Core 2 Duo is good enough. It will be used mostly for entertainment and writing. I also plan to swap the HD for a spare SSD I already have.

I haven't yet received it, but assuming everything arrives as stated, was this as good a deal as I think it was? Has anyone else recently purchased a used 15" for a similar price?
 
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Good Deal

You will probably be fine. It might just be a little bit slower than a newer model. That MIGHT happen. If it doesn't, then it is a good buy. On Apple.com, a refurbished MacBook Pro 15" is around $1,320.00. Great deal.
 
MacBookBroLax said:
You will probably be fine. It might just be a little bit slower than a newer model. That MIGHT happen. If it doesn't, then it is a good buy. On Apple.com, a refurbished MacBook Pro 15" is around $1,320.00. Great deal.
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I know it will be slower than a new one with i5, I don't care about that. Coming from a Core 2 Duo 2.13ghz White MacBook, it will actually be a bit speedier. (With SSD my MacBook is flying pretty fast as it is, the way I use it). I have seen the refurbs as high as you mention on the Apple Store, that's why half of me is saying ... wait a minute- has anyone else ever gotten one that was fully functional this cheap? Then again, the refurbs on the Apple Store are for i5s, not late 2008 C2Ds.
 
If its in great condition and the battery holds a good charge, then you obviously bought it knowing it was a good buy. I think it is, knowing the original price 3 years ago was $1999. Everymac has it listed current retail for $1200-$1300.

Upgrade to 8gb ram, and a nice SSD, you definitely will have a great machine, especially with a 9600gt.

Theres not too much of a difference in speeds in your model vs the newer ones. I had a SSD in a powermac dual g5 2.0 and it felt much faster than my 2.3 i7 17" with the 5400 rpm in it (this was before I put the intel 320 in it).
 
shardey said:
Everymac has it listed current retail for $1200-$1300.
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Really? Damn, then. I knew it was a good buy, but not that good. I really hope this isn't a too good to be true scenario. It ships tomorrow, so I'll see soon enough. I have a Crucial SSD from the MacBook... hoping I can use it in the Pro as well.
 
myrtlebee said:
Really? Damn, then. I knew it was a good buy, but not that good. I really hope this isn't a too good to be true scenario. It ships tomorrow, so I'll see soon enough. I have a Crucial SSD from the MacBook... hoping I can use it in the Pro as well.
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That everymac price is insane, no one would pay that for a 2008 MBP. $700-$800 is about what that model has been going for on Craigslist and in our marketplace. I think you paid a fair price and coming in under $800 is great with the RAM and HDD upgrades, but it's about in line with what that model is worth.
 
Sorry but i think u paid too much for it. A battery for a 2008 mbp is likely near the end of its lifespan. That means you will likely need to pay a lot for it. Ram nowadays is cheap as crap. Also the screen's lifespan ain't that great anymore. If I were u i would have bought a refurbished mbp. There's little to no point buying an old machine. No warranty, battries don't last forever, keyboard and the rest of the machine has seen use. Furthermore, the 15 inch 2011 early mbps have nearly 5x the speed increase. a few hundred dollars more for them is worth it. Even if u buy a 13 inch mbp refurn 2011 early, It is estimated at least 3-4x faster.

Laptops are not houses or paintings. Essentially they are ticking timebombs. Once their out of warranty the probablity of one component failing and having to pay yourself increased. Essentially you could end up with a 700 paper weight soon.

Also a telling show of why u don't think of it as a good purchase is that u came to macrumors to ask if u had made a good purchase. Meaning somewhere in your heart u don't think u did the right thing. If u were satisfied why even come here in the first place? infact the best recourse would have been to come here to ask for our opinion first.

Solution: Try to sell the mbp as fast as u can and buy a 13 inch early 2011 refurb for around 200 more.

BTW prices on the auctions and ebays are not really the going prices. They are just show prices that are meant to be negotiated down.
 
mrsavage1 said:
Sorry but i think u paid too much for it. A battery for a 2008 mbp is likely near the end of its lifespan. That means you will likely need to pay a lot for it. Ram nowadays is cheap as crap. Also the screen's lifespan ain't that great anymore. If I were u i would have bought a refurbished mbp. There's little to no point buying an old machine. No warranty, battries don't last forever, keyboard and the rest of the machine has seen use. Furthermore, the 15 inch 2011 early mbps have nearly 5x the speed increase.
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I already said- I don't care about this. I don't need/ want that.

mrsavage1 said:
a few hundred dollars more for them is worth it. Even if u buy a 13 inch mbp refurn 2011 early, It is estimated at least 3-4x faster.
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I honestly don't have a penny more than $700. All I am asking here is if the price seemed fair. That's all.

mrsavage1 said:
Laptops are not houses or paintings. Essentially they are ticking timebombs. Once their out of warranty the probablity of one component failing and having to pay yourself increased. Essentially you could end up with a 700 paper weight soon.
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So, by your logic, anyone whose AppleCare has expired should sell their machine?

mrsavage1 said:
Also a telling show of why u don't think of it as a good purchase is that u came to macrumors to ask if u had made a good purchase. Meaning somewhere in your heart u don't think u did the right thing. If u were satisfied why even come here in the first place? infact the best recourse would have been to come here to ask for our opinion first.
Click to expand...

LOL! No. I think it was a hell of a good purchase. Somewhere in my heart? I love Apple products, but not that deeply. I came on here to ask what the going rate was for that model. That's all. Not if I made a good decision buying used or not. What do you mean if I am satisfied? How can I be satisfied or unsatisfied since, as I said, the thing hasn't even shipped yet.

mrsavage1 said:
Solution: Try to sell the mbp as fast as u can and buy a 13 inch early 2011 refurb for around 200 more.
Click to expand...
Not happening. There was no problem, so I don't need a "solution".

mrsavage1 said:
BTW prices on the auctions and ebays are not really the going prices. They are just show prices that are meant to be negotiated down.
Click to expand...

What? Average end-of-auction prices are a good estimate of the current market values of used Macs. Do you even know how Ebay works? The auction usually starts at zero and the bidders set the prices by bidding their highest bids. There is no negotiating in auctions.
 
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