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MBP Depreciation and my EVIL scheme

mrdobo

mrdobo

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 22, 2010
37
0
Hey all, previously I made a post asking for people's overall experience with Macs, with an emphasis on opinions coming from old Windows sea dogs that made the switch. I was looking to be convinced, and I was, but I now face the issue that floods these forums daily... wait for the refresh (which is anyone's guess as to how far away it is, and may only be a minor speed bump... which is pointless because I'm really mainly concerned with the GPU bump) or pull the trigger now. I've already begun school and I'm currently using a Dell 1545. It... does the job I guess... but not well. I want an MBP!

So! Here's my grand plan, and I'd like to hear whether or not it's sound from people who have experience with selling their old MBP's. I have a bud who's an Apple rep at a BestBuy who's told me I can use one of his 3 Friend's and Family discounts, as he loses his last discount come Jan 1. That's 15% off. Looking at the Apple store, my final price on the MBP I'd like (i5 w/ high res anti-glare) would be $1,805.00 after tax, down from $2,124.00. So, If I buy the 15" MBP now with that discount, how much of a loss do you think I'd take if I sold it once the new one came out?

P.S. I've never really sold anything on eBay, but I assume that's the best place to sell a used laptop (or anything really lol). I have an account, but no positive feedback - will people be wary of bidding on something from someone with little to no feedback? Any tips/words of advice are appreciated!
 
You're gonna take a hit selling a nearly new MBP no matter what. For what?

Yes Apple holds it's value well, yet you are going to lose no matter what. Every post that appears is going to be pure guesswork, why bother? Just buy one now, or you will never be happy. You can wait and wait and as soon as you buy they will have an odd problem, or something else to focus on.

So just do it.... :)

Buy it now, enjoy it now.

(I'm really enjoying my mid 2010 Core i7 MBP, glad I didn't wait)
 
You really wouldn't take that much of a hit. You could probably turn around and sell it for $1600 or likely more. Now, that's a $200 loss, but I think it will be quite likely that the coming revision won't be worth getting if you buy that one. I agree with the above post, I'd just buy now.
 
I bought mine now so that I could buy a new one when ivy bridge hits, and still turn this one round for $1400-1700
 
mrdobo said:
Hey all, previously I made a post asking for people's overall experience with Macs, with an emphasis on opinions coming from old Windows sea dogs that made the switch. I was looking to be convinced, and I was, but I now face the issue that floods these forums daily... wait for the refresh (which is anyone's guess as to how far away it is, and may only be a minor speed bump... which is pointless because I'm really mainly concerned with the GPU bump) or pull the trigger now. I've already begun school and I'm currently using a Dell 1545. It... does the job I guess... but not well. I want an MBP!

So! Here's my grand plan, and I'd like to hear whether or not it's sound from people who have experience with selling their old MBP's. I have a bud who's an Apple rep at a BestBuy who's told me I can use one of his 3 Friend's and Family discounts, as he loses his last discount come Jan 1. That's 15% off. Looking at the Apple store, my final price on the MBP I'd like (i5 w/ high res anti-glare) would be $1,805.00 after tax, down from $2,124.00. So, If I buy the 15" MBP now with that discount, how much of a loss do you think I'd take if I sold it once the new one came out?

P.S. I've never really sold anything on eBay, but I assume that's the best place to sell a used laptop (or anything really lol). I have an account, but no positive feedback - will people be wary of bidding on something from someone with little to no feedback? Any tips/words of advice are appreciated!
Click to expand...

Ebay and Paypal fees will destroy you if you choose ebay. I think the macrumors marketplace is one of the best places to sell/buy things once you have the necessary requirements (which I don't even have QQ - my friend has to buy things for me)
 
You'll not recoup what you paid even with the discount. Plus it all depends on when apple updates the MBP. They have been lengthening product refreshes so it will be longer then what people hope for
 
alust2013 said:
You really wouldn't take that much of a hit. You could probably turn around and sell it for $1600 or likely more. Now, that's a $200 loss, but I think it will be quite likely that the coming revision won't be worth getting if you buy that one. I agree with the above post, I'd just buy now.
Click to expand...

I somewhat agree. If you can already get the current model at a discount, then sell it at a reasonable price below that, you'll probably be able to get it to move.

Still don't expect what you paid after discount or anything higher than that. Even if you sell it in pristine condition with all the original components (box etc) and free shipping, you'll still have to give your buyer some sort of incentive for the loss of x(number) of months of warranty, the overall depreciation of the machine from your use, the influx of old machines on the market (which can be mitigated slightly depending on timing), any price drops from the new machines, any higher end features on the new machines, and a myriad of other things.

IMO, if you are buying the machine to only take advantage of the discount, don't do it, because once you factor in the headache of moving it (including fraud risk and the above), you probably won't come out ahead. Then again, none of us know when the new machine is coming out or just how awesome it'll be. If you can hold off, do so.
 
mrdobo said:
P.S. I've never really sold anything on eBay, but I assume that's the best place to sell a used laptop (or anything really lol). I have an account, but no positive feedback - will people be wary of bidding on something from someone with little to no feedback? Any tips/words of advice are appreciated!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, if you follow this and other forums, you'll find that individual sellers, especially new ones, have almost no protection at all on ebay now with their revised policies.
 
Just purely as a comment on where to sell it, I'd suggest Craigslist over eBay. Follow the usual guidelines, i.e. meet in a public place, accept only cash, etc...
 
nwbusa said:
Just purely as a comment on where to sell it, I'd suggest Craigslist over eBay. Follow the usual guidelines, i.e. meet in a public place, accept only cash, etc...
Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. eBay is great for buyers (protection, etc.) and HORRIBLE for sellers if you are unfortunate enough to get an ****** buyer. The buyer could scratch your computer and say it was scratched, and you'd be stuck with it, even if you say no returns. eBay would side with them.

This has only happened to me once, but since then, I sell my big ticket items on craigslist. Things less than $100, I still use eBay.
 
just buy now and be happy with it.

If you're using that dell for school and it's doing just "fine" then you really don't need the latest and fastest,

Heck, if I were you, I'd wait until the refresh comes out, take a look at it, see If its worth it, if it is, buy it, use your buddies discount (he'll get another 3 for next year :)). And if you don't think the upgrade is that big of a deal, I'd go for the old model (since apple will do a hardcore discount to try to get rid of the outgoing models from their warehouses fast). Heck, perhaps you'll even be able to use your buddies 15% discount in conjunction with the discount apple applies to the outgoing models. Then you could even get a core i7 + HR AG for even cheaper ;).

Just my 2 cents though.
 
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