Is Selling and Buying a New MBP Every Year a Good Idea?

[Vanarak19]

I keep buying about every 10 months, to avoid apple care. That would be another 250$ out of pocket.

I think I may keep my current Penryn MBP for 2 yrs, purchase the apple care, and sell the laptop with a year of warranty left. Laptops with warranties sell much better on ebay than without.

To this point, I have only lost about 100$ each upgrade over the past 3 years. I went from a 1.83 CD MB, to a C2D MBP, to another 2.4 SR MB, and now the Penny 2.4 MBP. 100$ a year is nice to be able to switch from MB-MBP-MB-MBP. If it was just 4x MBP, it may not be "as justifiable" to me.

 

[m1stake]

But if you can afford it may not be a bad idea. For some people, blowing $2500 on a computer is like me spending $10 on a movie ticket: it just doesn't matter and isn't worth considering. I don't think the OP is in that category (or he wouldn't be asking us ), but you never know.

It's not prudent to spend money like water regardless of your income level.

 

[john123]

It's not prudent to spend money like water regardless of your income level.

Not prudent is not doing the things that make you happy. If wasting some money makes you happy, *and* you're in a position to do it (such that your short-term happiness isn't negated by long-term hardship), I see no cogent argument for why someone shouldn't do it.

And besides, per my earlier post, if you're smart about it, you can actually do quite well over the long term. My track record, if you factor in AppleCare and depreciation, is that I do *better* with my frequent upgrades than by holding. The only exception is my last MBP, where I've had a heck of a time selling it (but admittedly haven't pushed consistently).

 

[m1stake]

You have no idea what the future holds, so why be frivolous?

 

[mox123]

Actually this may work if you know someone who can get employee 40% discount....i thought about doing it if not for the trouble of listing and selling the machine....

you can sell the one-year machine at the standard going rate and get a new one at 40% discount....then repeat after a year....one does not lose money and probably make a small profit flipping through each successive machines

 

[Deguello]

You have no idea what the future holds, so why be frivolous?

Because you might be dead tomorrow? Not knowing what tomorrow holds doesn't always argue in favor of saving.

As has been pointed out, expenses, like incomes, are relative. $2500 can be a trivial expense or a nice dinner and wine with a couple of friends for some people.

That being said, it's not non-trivial to me so I'm trying to decide whether the MBP is worth the price as an upgrade to my 7 year old Toshiba. I'm thinking it might be.

 

[Firefly2002]

I always do

Good to hear

But you can understand my concern with a thread such as this.... I mean, a new computer every year? *strokes non-existent beard*

??
I haven't mentioned about 9700 GTS. I'm not the man you take me for.

I know, I was talking to someone else by this point, hence the words "you as well."

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[m1stake]

Buy me a something to replace my Airport B card and a cable connection and an Airport extreme so I can stop stealing my neighbors wireless and not make doubleposts.

Thanks

 

[m1stake]

Because you might be dead tomorrow? Not knowing what tomorrow holds doesn't always argue in favor of saving.

As has been pointed out, expenses, like incomes, are relative. $2500 can be a trivial expense or a nice dinner and wine with a couple of friends for some people.

That being said, it's not non-trivial to me so I'm trying to decide whether the MBP is worth the price as an upgrade to my 7 year old Toshiba. I'm thinking it might be.

Being dead is not quite what I had in mind. Under those circumstances, it would be of no consequence if you had spent money or not. I was thinking of more "practical" problems that could happen. You could lose your job or be injured and not be able to work. During long stints of unemployment you would have much better things to do with $2,500 than making sure your computer isn't 6 months old, like paying rent or your medical bills.

 

[MICHAELSD]

The only reason I thought of the idea was because of the great resale value for the current MBPs, which usually go around the new retail value (I saw a one and a half year old 2.33GHz MBP go for $1800). Obviously, I would only want to upgrade for the major updates, and for gaming at least, the difference between each new video card is justifiable. Like in a PC desktop, most people that upgrade their video card spend $200-$300 on average on a new card, so it depends on the upgrade. I guess I'll really have to wait until I see the specs of the new MBP before deciding anything.

 

[SpookyLars]

But you can understand my concern with a thread such as this.... I mean, a new computer every year?

Easy man As I mentioned earlier, for me every year is too often, but two years is reasonable period of time for change.

I know, I was talking to someone else by this point, hence the words "you as well."

OK. English isn't my native language, so I could miss something.

Sorry for the confusion.

No problem.

 

[DaveF]

That being said, it's not non-trivial to me so I'm trying to decide whether the MBP is worth the price as an upgrade to my 7 year old Toshiba. I'm thinking it might be.

Last year I had a similar question: is the MBP worth the price as an upgrade to my 9-year old Dell PIII?

It was.

I'm not saying a person shouldn't upgrade annually: as I noted at the beginning, it's about a $900 loss to upgrade annually (unless you're one of these very savvy folks here that manage to break even). People easily spend $900 annually on hobbies, vacation, home improvement, cable TV / broadband, iPhone, etc. This could fit into someone's budget priorities.

 

[queshy]

It really depends on the user. I used to have the first SR MacBook Pro where they introduced the LED backlit screen. Had I not sold it to get the Air when that came out, I'd still have it, because the new MacBook Pros don't offer anything that interests me that wasn't already in the MacBook Pro that I had.

My MacBook Pro was $1999, but then I sold the iPod nano I was given with it for $180 so the computer really cost me around $1820. This was around a year ago. I snatched a brand new MacBook Air on the Best Buy website while they were having a 3 hr online sale for $1699. The MacBook Pro was sold for $1750. So the "upgrade" (whether or not the MBA is an upgrade for YOU is another issue altogether, but I prefer the portability of the MBA) cost me very little. It depends what kind of deal you get.

 

[andiwm2003]

if you're good about selling at ebay or craigslist it's probably better to buy a new maxed out MBP every year. you save the money for apple care, new OS X and ilfe. maybe you even get a students discount. with that you have always a new computer with minimal to no costs beyond the initial investment.

however there are a few drawbacks:

if you scratch you MBP you won't be able to sell it for a good price an hence lose money.

if people stop buying used apple machines for insane amounts that buy/sell scheme won't work anymore.

it's actually a lot of work mto keep your data/programs/settings organized and moving everything over to a new machine every year is tedious. that is the main reason why i don't do it. i'm just to lazy.

 

[ViViDboarder]

I don't want to move to a new machine every year... I just want more computers. Hehe.

I have a MBP, a Greybox desktop and a few video game systems, but I want a Mac Mini for my TV set and when I get a car, I want one in there too, and in my bathroom. A Mac for every room!

 

[SpookyLars]

A Mac for every room!

Great idea, but... what about the synchronization between computers?

 

[SpookyLars]

A Mac for every room!

Great idea, but... what about the synchronization of data between computers?

EDIT: I'm sorry for double post.

 

[ViViDboarder]

Great idea, but... what about the synchronization between computers?

Bonjour and Applescript should make things pretty simple. I mean to basically run Mac Mini as frontends for various systems. The data would be running on a "server" computer. Probably running Linux.

That model makes sync unnecesary. Fortunately for me, in my current finances I only have 1 room... and 1 mac. So I'm on par.