Good deal or not?

[Guacamole]

I’ve seen a seller on ebay selling refurbished Macbook Pros 15” for under £900

here’s the deal: "MacBook Pro i7 3.3GHz Quad Core 16GB 1TB SSD Fusion Drive GeForce GT 650M, brand new 16GB RAM, new genuine Apple battery fitted charger and 500GB SSD + 500GB HDD in DVD Drive Caddy - Combined into a 1TB SSD Fusion Drive and we supply a External USB DVD Drive. New thermal grease has been applied to the CPU and Graphics Card to ensure years of cool running operation”

I guess this is a 2012 model since they swapped the dvd drive for more hard drive

I’m after a new laptop, I already have a late 2012 macbook pro but I hardly have any HD left and it’s rather slow. I would get a brand new now but I now I find them rather expensive for what you get,

so the above on ebay is it worth it???

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

That's quite a lot for a 5 year old computer...

The fusion drive will be an unofficial terminal hack, and unless you know how to do that it could stop working at any update really. I don't know what Mac you currently have but the speed differences between Macs of the same generation largely affect top end processing power. The day to day running is largely the same on a base 13" as it is a top end 15". I'm also a bit skeptical over the application of thermal 'grease' as they've put it, and I wouldn't personally trust something on eBay that I know has been played with as much as they have, especially not for £900! A brand new HP for £500 is going to give the same if not better performance, or you can get a base 13" Pro for not much more that'll be a great deal faster. Heck even a 12" will be better, and at least modern.

If you say you already have a 2012, you could perform these upgrades to it yourself for less than £150. I really wouldn't bother with a 2012 unless it was £200, as it has no use to me and will stop being supported in the next few years. I know some people can get use out of old machines but I'd rather spend £2000 on a new one than even £400 on an obsolete model.

So I say it's not worth it at all. If money is super tight consider upgrading yourself. Or if you can look at a 2015+ refurb option, keep an eye on the Apple refurb site https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produ...core-Intel-Core-i5-with-Retina-Display-Silver too.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I would not and don't assume all is new parts and even the new parts may well be sitting on the shelf.

Look for a good deal on an up to 30 month old Mac with 6 months of AC left if you don't fancy upgrading yourself and/or your on a budget etc

 

[windows4ever]

That model of mid 2012 would go for about $750-$800 in the U.S. because of the SSD (worth about $150). I know computers are priced higher in the U.K. but £900 is too high.

You said you had a late 2012 model (15" ?) which has a retina screen so this computer would be a downgrade. The quad core processors in the 2012 model still hold their own. They are not that much slower than more current models

You can upgrade your SSD to a larger one very easily (ifixit.com) and lucky for you they are relatively cheap for the 2012 model compared to the later models.

 

[Guacamole]

Thank you. You’re all right. It’s not worth spend all that money on an old computer. I’ll hold on to mine for a little longer and wait for the next models.. unless I find a good deal on the Apple Refurbished store.
Shame that even the refurbished are still too expensive

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Thank you. You’re all right. It’s not worth spend all that money on an old computer. I’ll hold on to mine for a little longer and wait for the next models.. unless I find a good deal on the Apple Refurbished store.
Shame that even the refurbished are still too expensive

They're expensive because they're a high end professional device. Only buy one if you absolutely need it, or really want it and can afford it. Windows 10 is a really good OS and you can get a good quality Windows device for half the price if just having a computer is essential. It won't be as nice or as powerful, but consider what you need and what you can afford. Don't drain your savings just to get a Mac, you'll grow bored of it after a few months if you're not using it in some professional capacity and it'll just be a really expensive paperweight.

Anyway not discouraging, but if you're currently using a 2012 machine then chances are a 2015 would be more than enough for you. Keep an eye out for a good refurbished 2015 model and you may find it's not much more than that £900 you were looking to spend on the 2012. Dell XPS, or HP Spectre, or Razor will be about the same price band as that though.