How much should I pay for this 2.4 Alu MB?

G

Germwise

macrumors regular
Guys I need your advice.

I was going to wait for WWDC to buy an alu macbook but just for kicks I kept my eye out on craigslist.

I found a 3 month old ALU MB 2.4 with 4gig of ram and Apple Care.

How much should I pay for this?

I read earlier another poster sold his 2.0 similar specs shipped for 880. I realize this is a 2.4 however.

They guy originally posted it at 1600. This is because he bought it new, with apple care from the apple store and with the upgraded 4gig of ram. He paid over 2k after tax.

My take is that if I were to buy this new today it would cost me

1299 refurb 2.4
60 ram upgrade
100 applecare from ebay.

With tax that comes down to 1550 (only tax on MB)


This is however a used MB and I suspect that there might be a moderate speed bump at WWDC and maybe a small price drop (100-150).

At the very least, if there is a speed bump to 2.53 for example, the 2.4s would be dropped in price as a "special deal" since it would be older gen so to speak.

I had the owner check the screen to make sure it isn't one of the older ones people complain about.

Barring any major defects/damage, how much would you pay for this MB?
 
Germwise said:
has the old 9C89 screen :(
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There's nothing wrong with the 9C89 screen, really. I have one and as long as you have a decent color profile loaded, it looks fine. I think a lot of picky people have made this seem like much more of an issue than it really is :)
 
Honestly, it would have to be more than $100 less than the price of a referb for me to consider it. The hassle/risk alone (for me) has to exceed 15% to even consider it.
 
UnderLoK said:
Honestly, it would have to be more than $100 less than the price of a referb for me to consider it. The hassle/risk alone (for me) has to exceed 15% to even consider it.
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I agree. Buying from the manufacturer is far safer than buying from another person. It ensures that the machine works prior to shipping, has no water damage, no external damage, and no major defective parts. Plus an extension of three months on your warranty.
 
UnderLoK said:
Honestly, it would have to be more than $100 less than the price of a referb for me to consider it. The hassle/risk alone (for me) has to exceed 15% to even consider it.
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That is why Apple Macs do not have as good resale value as many people believe them to be. ;)
 
I went to the store and compared the 9c89 screen to the macbook air.

Night and day. Lots of faded blacks in the 9c89.

How much is fixed by calibration? Otherwise its not worth it for me.
 
SPEEDwithJJ said:
That is why Apple Macs do not have as good resale value as many people believe them to be. ;)
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The Pros still seem to sell pretty high though. Resale has never concerned me as I have yet to sell an old computer... Although that isn't necessarily a good thing, I have something like 9 computers... haha
 
Germwise said:
I went to the store and compared the 9c89 screen to the macbook air.

Night and day. Lots of faded blacks in the 9c89.

How much is fixed by calibration? Otherwise its not worth it for me.
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I've compared my screen, a 9C5E, with a 9C89 and the difference is subtle, but noticeable. Regardless, I noticed a seemingly higher contrast with slightly darker blacks. If you bought a refurb MacBook, there is a slight chance that you may receive one of the newer screens which undoubtably look better. My MacBook is three months old evidenced by the serial number.

Calibration can fix a lot of the issues as the default is severely washed out. There are a few threads on here advocating the use of these profiles, some by other users, of which the Spyder profiles are my favorite.
 
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