Macbook Resale Value in Future

[dingdongbubble]

Hey

I was kind of really shocked and amazed to find out that G4 Mac laptops are selling for $500. I mean such an old computer and for that kind of money. Its not the same in the PC market though.

So I was wondering if you can guess or speculate and tell me how much you think a Macbook (not Pro) would sell for after 2 years? Can you specify different prices for different configs. Like with/without APP or DVD etc.

I just feel that now that Macs and PCs are so similar in hardware, people might start comparing the resale value with PCs and I end up getting far less for my Macbook.

 

[CanadaRAM]

To guess would be to make assumptions about new technology being released in the future, and what industry pricing trends would be overall -- very tough thing to do.

More importantly is obsolescence -- will a major OS or application upgrade make a machine unusable? Part of the reason that Macs hold their value well is that older machines can run OSX 10.3 or 10.4. This may change with 10.5, as it has with Vista, causing older equipment to drop in value quickly. So what will happen with 10.next?

Another reason is that Macs have an assumed quality control and consistency, vs. PC machines since there is only one source. As you mentioned, Macs may lose their higher used price advantage as the hardware becomes more similar to PCs.

 

[homeboy]

I was kind of really shocked and amazed to find out that G4 Mac laptops are selling for $500.
Its not the same in the PC market though.

That's nothing unusual with that. Most PC laptops from the same era are also priced at $400-500 that's about as low as many people will sell their laptops.

Off course Apple laptops have a slightly higher resale value, especially the macbook pro since there aren't many of them on the market and also because they are pretty high tech.

Other than that I think that 2 years is a long time and Apple computers are by no means like watches or exclusive cars. They do depreciate and become obsolete just like all other gadgets and computers. In two years time a macbook would love 40% of it's value.

Computers depreciate heavily the first 2-3 years and then lose their value at a much slower rate.
Technology advances fast and in two years there will be bluray/HD-DVD readers in most high end laptops, quad CPUs, screens with higher resolution, 300Mbit Wifi support and much better GPU. A macbook bought today will be ancient.

Lastly some people over charge for their used Apple laptops. They will easily give it away even it you want to buy it for 10-20% less.

Now when Apple laptops are comparable to PCs it's even much better since many people were in the past heavily turned off by the inferior Mhz figure for Macs compared with PCs.