Does anyone have an average % drop in private seller value for the iMac per year? ie. If I buy a new 5K $3000 iMac now, roughly what can I expect to sell it for in 1 year or when the next model/update is shipping (hopefully this fall)???
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iMac Value Loss % Per Year?
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Check prices in your area using Craigslist or whatever reselling site is popular in your area. Sales will be like any used product, what the market (local market) will bear.
Apple will be selling refurbished, older models at a discount of 12 to 14%, so you have to figure a used computer will have a decrease in excess of 14%. Also if you're going the BTO route, it will actually be harder to sell, as there will be less people willing to spend more money on a used computer.
A good answer.
I'm sure the OP realizes that the day one walks out of a store with a new computer, it's immediately worth what one paid less the sales tax. If one is really pre-occupied about what a new Mac will be worth in a years time, it has to make sense to buy refurbished rather than pay full retail price.
I always look at a computer as a tool to get the task you want done. Just as a carpenter looks at a hammer as a tool. I usually run my computers into the ground until applications start getting more sophisticated and require more horsepower. It's like buying a new car and driving out the dealership knowing that it depreciated a lot in just doing that. Though with Apple I hear you get a 14 day grace period. 
Or to put another way, you don't buy a new car to trade it in the next year, but use it.
If the current computer isn't cutting it for you, wait until next year