I want to buy a new Mac every year and sell the old one

[Christina1971]

I was thinking about this thread when I was reading in one of the other threads about a guy who went through *six* 27-inch iMacs because each one of them had some problem (he's finally given up.) Maybe that guy was just extremely unlucky, but it occurs to me that this disposable-computer plan works best when you know for sure you're going to get a perfect machine every time. Otherwise, you have to take into account the time you'll waste dealing with Apple and with unexpected repairs or returns. And this is without considering the danger that a malfunctioning machine may chew up some of your data before it dies.

My guess is that the more machines you buy, the more risk you run of getting a dud. Maybe it'll never happen, but it's just another risk/reward variable.

 

[duky]

My guess is that the more machines you buy, the more risk you run of getting a dud. Maybe it'll never happen, but it's just another risk/reward variable.

Definitely is; it's not for the faint of heart!

 

[superspiffy]

Depends on what comes out of course I would say less than 500$ per upgrade, even less if you have edu discount

I usually only loose about 100 - 200, my record is a MBP that I actually got about $400 more than I paid for it....thank goodness for ebayers who don't research!

Every time I go back I sell my computer, cellphone, and any other device I can sell for more than 100% profit.

You can definitely sell your computer every year losing about 20% of it's original value in the U.S. or sell it to someone overseas and use UPS or DHL to deliver it.

Ok so the consensus is that I loose less than 500 if I sell a Mac every year. How'd you guys get that number? Looking at the Ebay listings... it looks a little a different.

Using last year's top of the line 15'' MacBook Pro (mid-2009) for comparison, because they recently got updated, they average around $1500 used (and that's usually if the seller bundles it with AppleCare).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Macbook-Pro-15-...ple_Laptops&hash=item35a95818a9#ht_500wt_1130

A new early-2010 top of the line 15'' MBP would cost $2200+tax.

$2200 - $1500 = $700. Also tack on + AppleCare + tax (and in CA where I live it's 9.75) So ouch. I'm actually looking at a loss of $800-1000 upgrade fee every year if I were to sell last year's Mac to get this year's.

 

[Christina1971]

If you buy a new computer every year, do you need Apple Care?

ETA: Oops, sorry, I didn't read your whole post closely enough. Well, maybe eBay isn't the way to go if you want to do this; maybe their prices are artificially low. But if you sell through Craigslist or something other venue, you have to take time and effort into account, deal with all the CL loons and the people who will try to lowball you, etc.

And why do you want to do this again? Just a pursuit of the latest and greatest?

 

[andiwm2003]

you should be able to do this without a loss at all.

buy a MBP (you need to be smart and pick the most popular model)
save edu discount $200
save apple care $349
save tax by shipping to a friend or so
find a unknowing customer who buys the MBP after 11 month with some warranty left for $500 (25%) of retail price.

that worked well in the past for some.

your risks are that you have to sell after 11 month (or before an update) no matter what. so be prepared to be a few weeks or month without MBP because you have to buy right after an update.

you can mitigate risks by upgrading ram and HD yourself because some people are willing to pay a lot more for a maxed out MBP because they have no idea how cheap it can be done. you need to keep all the packaging and disks in pristine condition.

on average you should not lose money unless you buy the wrong configuration or you miss an update.

I don't do it because I'm simply too lazy to go through the hassle of selling, buying, wiping the data, reinstall all my software and what not.

the ebay link provided shows the selling prize just AFTER an important update (psychologically important). If he had sold 2 month ago it would be a much higher prize.

also keep in mind that a MBP lasts around 5 years. So if you buy the top model you lose about $400-500 per year if you would keep it for 5 years and sell then for cheap. So you can allow for $400 loss when you buy a new MBP every year.