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Ideas as to uses for my MPB?

A

Applenoob34

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 18, 2014
345
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Ok, so I purchased a retina MBP 13" back in 2013. My wife has an old hp that she has always used, and I figured it would be on the outs sooner than later. I ended up picking this up brand new and figured we'd use it quite a bit. Well, two years later and I'm still trying to justify the purchase of it lol.

I have been researching different ways to recoup the cost by selling on eBay, Craigslist, or even using Apples buy back program. The trade in value on this is not very good, as it's a 2 year old machine. We currently own an iPhone 6+, 6+s, iPad Air, Mini 4 and Apple tv3. I just don't have any need for the MBP that I can think of.

Since the return is relatively low and I don't think I'm willing to let it go for such a low dollar amount, I'm wondering if you all have any ideas as to how I can incorporate this into our daily usage? The only real use I've gotten out of it is downloading and saving my movies to an external hard drive for potential offline viewing and a little editing with the GoPro software. If I can't find any good use for it then I will most likely trade it in to apple for store credit. It's just a bit of a shame being that its pristine sitting on top of the box it came in.

Thanks for any ideas you may have in advance.
 
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I personally far prefer typing and doing just about everything on my MacBook. I personally wouldn't be able to live with a tablet.
 
Applenoob34 said:
Ok, so I purchased a retina MBP 13" back in 2013. My wife has an old hp that she has always used, and I figured it would be on the outs sooner than later. I ended up picking this up brand new and figured we'd use it quite a bit. Well, two years later and I'm still trying to justify the purchase of it lol.

I have been researching different ways to recoup the cost by selling on eBay, Craigslist, or even using Apples buy back program. The trade in value on this is not very good, as it's a 2 year old machine. We currently own an iPhone 6+, 6+s, iPad Air, Mini 4 and Apple tv3. I just don't have any need for the MBP that I can think of.

Since the return is relatively low and I don't think I'm willing to let it go for such a low dollar amount, I'm wondering if you all have any ideas as to how I can incorporate this into our daily usage? The only real use I've gotten out of it is downloading and saving my movies to an external hard drive for potential offline viewing and a little editing with the GoPro software. If I can't find any good use for it then I will most likely trade it in to apple for store credit. It's just a bit of a shame being that its pristine sitting on top of the box it came in.

Thanks for any ideas you may have in advance.
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If it's bugging you that much, I guess I could take it off your hands. I won't even charge you that much.
 
Applenoob34 said:
Ok, so I purchased a retina MBP 13" back in 2013. My wife has an old hp that she has always used, and I figured it would be on the outs sooner than later. I ended up picking this up brand new and figured we'd use it quite a bit. Well, two years later and I'm still trying to justify the purchase of it lol.

I have been researching different ways to recoup the cost by selling on eBay, Craigslist, or even using Apples buy back program. The trade in value on this is not very good, as it's a 2 year old machine. We currently own an iPhone 6+, 6+s, iPad Air, Mini 4 and Apple tv3. I just don't have any need for the MBP that I can think of.

Since the return is relatively low and I don't think I'm willing to let it go for such a low dollar amount, I'm wondering if you all have any ideas as to how I can incorporate this into our daily usage? The only real use I've gotten out of it is downloading and saving my movies to an external hard drive for potential offline viewing and a little editing with the GoPro software. If I can't find any good use for it then I will most likely trade it in to apple for store credit. It's just a bit of a shame being that its pristine sitting on top of the box it came in.

Thanks for any ideas you may have in advance.
Click to expand...
Sell it. You obviously don't need it.
 
Applenoob34 said:
Ok, so I purchased a retina MBP 13" back in 2013. My wife has an old hp that she has always used, and I figured it would be on the outs sooner than later. I ended up picking this up brand new and figured we'd use it quite a bit. Well, two years later and I'm still trying to justify the purchase of it lol.

I have been researching different ways to recoup the cost by selling on eBay, Craigslist, or even using Apples buy back program. The trade in value on this is not very good, as it's a 2 year old machine. We currently own an iPhone 6+, 6+s, iPad Air, Mini 4 and Apple tv3. I just don't have any need for the MBP that I can think of.

Since the return is relatively low and I don't think I'm willing to let it go for such a low dollar amount, I'm wondering if you all have any ideas as to how I can incorporate this into our daily usage? The only real use I've gotten out of it is downloading and saving my movies to an external hard drive for potential offline viewing and a little editing with the GoPro software. If I can't find any good use for it then I will most likely trade it in to apple for store credit. It's just a bit of a shame being that its pristine sitting on top of the box it came in.

Thanks for any ideas you may have in advance.
Click to expand...

I would suggest the following - As you already have a 6s+ and an iPad Air, I presume you use the iPhone outdoors and iPad indoors. Why don't you compare your needs of iPad and Macbook ?

I too have all the 3 devices and somehow have figured out usage for all of them. But yea, I do agree that having all the 3 devices is bit of a luxury and comfort rather than a necessity. Initially I only had an old iPhone (3gs). After the arrival of iPad Air, my usage of phone completely vanished at home as I was only using my iPad for all tasks (browsing, reading, videos, movies etc). But iPad is not a laptop / desktop and I do miss typing so I bough my macbook pro 2014 model. After its arrival my usage of iPad decreased a bit. I used it only while on couch or bed or for Skype calls (macbook sucks with Skype video calls).

Now I purchased my new iPhone 6s plus and post that it has eaten up portions of my usage of iPad and macbook. :)

So the thing is, its not a necessity to have all the 3 devices but if you have specific tasks that you prefer doing on each of them and you can afford to have it then nothing like that. You got too many devices at home. Think which one you prefer the least..

Personally it doesn't make any sense to have an iPhone 6s plus, iPad air and mini... Why on earth would I need 3 different sized mobile devices doing the same stuff.. one or max 2 of them should be enough.. Macbook is here to stay..
 
Anand953 said:
I would suggest the following - As you already have a 6s+ and an iPad Air, I presume you use the iPhone outdoors and iPad indoors. Why don't you compare your needs of iPad and Macbook ?

I too have all the 3 devices and somehow have figured out usage for all of them. But yea, I do agree that having all the 3 devices is bit of a luxury and comfort rather than a necessity. Initially I only had an old iPhone (3gs). After the arrival of iPad Air, my usage of phone completely vanished at home as I was only using my iPad for all tasks (browsing, reading, videos, movies etc). But iPad is not a laptop / desktop and I do miss typing so I bough my macbook pro 2014 model. After its arrival my usage of iPad decreased a bit. I used it only while on couch or bed or for Skype calls (macbook sucks with Skype video calls).

Now I purchased my new iPhone 6s plus and post that it has eaten up portions of my usage of iPad and macbook. :)

So the thing is, its not a necessity to have all the 3 devices but if you have specific tasks that you prefer doing on each of them and you can afford to have it then nothing like that. You got too many devices at home. Think which one you prefer the least..

Personally it doesn't make any sense to have an iPhone 6s plus, iPad air and mini... Why on earth would I need 3 different sized mobile devices doing the same stuff.. one or max 2 of them should be enough.. Macbook is here to stay..
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Thanks for taking the time replying! These devices are definitely luxury items, but each device has a use except for the mbp. I have 3 kids that love the Air for games and Netflix. The mini 4 is mine for gaming and is off limits to greasy little fingers lol. Both phones are for the wife and I. The wife would use the mbp for school, but the Mac isn't as school friendly with the program's she has to use. I'll probably just hold onto it.

This post was more for gaining any ideas for uses that I haven't thought of besides Everyday things.
 
Applenoob34 said:
Since the return is relatively low and I don't think I'm willing to let it go for such a low dollar amount, I'm wondering if you all have any ideas as to how I can incorporate this into our daily usage?
Click to expand...
You really have to use your daily life for ideas versus trying to find ideas to shoehorn into your daily life.

Applenoob34 said:
Well, two years later and I'm still trying to justify the purchase of it lol.
Click to expand...
Again, let the needs dictate the solutions versus finding solutions and trying to justify them.
 
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takeshi74 said:
You really have to use your daily life for ideas versus trying to find ideas to shoehorn into your daily life.


Again, let the needs dictate the solutions versus finding solutions and trying to justify them.
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Well, that's exactly what I'm doing and explained why I'm doing so in my lengthy post. That's what these forums are here for after all, getting ideas from other apple consumers that I may not have thought of.

To make this simpler, are there any unconventional ways you all have used your mbp in your home setup? Maybe incorporating it into the tv experience along side the Apple TV? I have no NEED for it right now. I just want to get some use out of it if possible.
 
Applenoob34 said:
Well, that's exactly what I'm doing and explained why I'm doing so in my lengthy post. That's what these forums are here for after all, getting ideas from other apple consumers that I may not have thought of.

To make this simpler, are there any unconventional ways you all have used your mbp in your home setup? Maybe incorporating it into the tv experience along side the Apple TV? I have no NEED for it right now. I just want to get some use out of it if possible.
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Makes sense.. But end of the day, mbp is a laptop.. So there isn't much you will find extra to do here apart from photo / video editing and making use of that wonderful trackpad and keyboard in your everyday laptop use.
 
Anand953 said:
Makes sense.. But end of the day, mbp is a laptop.. So there isn't much you will find extra to do here apart from photo / video editing and making use of that wonderful trackpad and keyboard in your everyday laptop use.
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I guess Apple Store credit wouldn't be the worst idea. I wish I could buy into the new Apple TV idea. I could use the credit and still come away with some spare change from the deal.
 
Applenoob34 said:
I guess Apple Store credit wouldn't be the worst idea. I wish I could buy into the new Apple TV idea. I could use the credit and still come away with some spare change from the deal.
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Looks the best option to you right now.. What buyback rate are they quoting ?
 
Applenoob34 said:
Since the return is relatively low and I don't think I'm willing to let it go for such a low dollar amount,
Click to expand...

Sell it, and eat the cost. The alternative is that you silently continue to eat the cost.

I had the same. I bought a Synology, thinking it would be nice to use it to share files across the household. Except that I already had a perfectly working solution (ownCloud with a virtual private server). I kept resisting selling it, until I realized that I had fallen for the sunk cost fallacy. Sold it and ate the €50 loss. It's a reminder to stop impulse buying.
 
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cerberusss said:
Sell it, and eat the cost. The alternative is that you silently continue to eat the cost.

I had the same. I bought a Synology, thinking it would be nice to use it to share files across the household. Except that I already had a perfectly working solution (ownCloud with a virtual private server). I kept resisting selling it, until I realized that I had fallen for the sunk cost fallacy. Sold it and ate the €50 loss. It's a reminder to stop impulse buying.
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A very good reminder. The only thing eating at me is the thought that their offerings are so low, it might be worth it even if I get little use out of it.
 
Applenoob34 said:
A very good reminder. The only thing eating at me is the thought that their offerings are so low, it might be worth it even if I get little use out of it.
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Just a thought - if this is the only laptop / desktop at your home then you can consider keeping it as it's always better to have at least one laptop / desktop
 
I have iPhone 6, iPad Air and a 2011 MacBook Pro. iPhone 6 is most used device because it's always with me. I usually use the air for single task (youtube or web surfing) on couch or bed. iPad would always be in my bag when I travel to other countries. My MacBook is used when I wanted to multitask. MacBook is used for downloading movies, backing up photos from DSLR, photo editing, GoPro video editing, watching DVD, etc. So each has it usage. I wouldn't sell anyone of those. It's definitely not luxury to me.
 
Anand953 said:
Just a thought - if this is the only laptop / desktop at your home then you can consider keeping it as it's always better to have at least one laptop / desktop
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It's not. My wife uses an HP PC for all her school work. I don't know how she would handle the transition to a mac. Some of her school items can't even be accessed by out mac.
 
So put windows on it and have her use the Mac?

Turn it into a firewall, a home server, a minecraft server, permanent airplay station, a juke box, put a screen with it and make it a playroom TV for the kids there are literally endless things to do with a spare computer.
 
lowendlinux said:
So put windows on it and have her use the Mac?

Turn it into a firewall, a home server, a minecraft server, permanent airplay station, a juke box, put a screen with it and make it a playroom TV for the kids there are literally endless things to do with a spare computer.
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These are some of the ideas I was looking for. The home server and boot camp could be good.
 
Absolutely what lowendlinux says. Although I'm a fan of Virtual Machines for many users, if my wife had to have Windows, I would bootcamp windows and have it boot into it (potentially exclusively).

As far as server is concerned, I would personally view it as a local backup. Seems as though iTunes cloud might be your "host" for multimedia though. We have a mini that stores all TV Shows and Movie content for the ATV to pull from... Every once in awhile the kids pull from the mini as well. I imagine you want to have a machine with all your local photos stored, and pushed/pulled to the cloud. Depends on what system you prefer to use; we use Apple's Photo app, but you can pull this off just as well in Windows 10 environment (or 7 if you prefer).

We're lucky in the sense we're 100% windows free. Bootcamp will allow you to successfully make the use of the solid laptop you currently own, and with minimal effort (compared to selling, and buying a windows machine).
 
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