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MBP: Did I make a wise choice

M

manofmany

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 11, 2009
20
0
I owned a MA610LL when it was first released. I ended up selling it 6 months later and getting a nice fast PC and 21" widescreen which I am still using today. I've turned it into a dual booting amd rig running Windows Vista/7/OSX :D

Even though I have OSX on here, I really miss my old MBP. My laptop is getting pretty old and too slow for more liking, so I've been hunting on eBay for a good deal.

Late last night I came across one I like and I sniped it and won it at a cost of $810, it is a MA609LL. The specs are

15.4" Matte
2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
3 GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120GB 5400-rpm hard drive
ATI x1600 Radeon Video Card

Comes with all retail attachments and the retail box. Also comes with 2 magsafe power adapters. Applecare plan is good until 1/25/2010.

For $810, did I get a good deal?
 
flopticalcube said:
That looks pretty good. If you still have it when the AppleCare expires, swap in a good sized 7200RPM drive and it will feel like a new machine.
Click to expand...

That was one of the downsides of the purchase. I would really like a larger speedier hard drive, but I can certainly deal with that until January. Applecare transfers with the computer and is not bound to the original purchaser, correct? The guy said the battery only lasts about an hour so I may have to pickup a new one.
 
manofmany said:
That was one of the downsides of the purchase. I would really like a larger speedier hard drive, but I can certainly deal with that until January. Applecare transfers with the computer and is not bound to the original purchaser, correct? The guy said the battery only lasts about an hour so I may have to pickup a new one.
Click to expand...
Correct. If you have less than 300 cycles on the battery, Apple may give you a new one if you ask nicely.
 
flopticalcube said:
Correct. If you have less than 300 cycles on the battery, Apple may give you a new one if you ask nicely.
Click to expand...

There are 189 cycles on the battery and it lasts just under an hour after being fully charged. Is it worth the 30 minute drive to the apple store to see about getting a new battery? Applecare is effective until 2010
 
Just got off the phone with apple and they are sending me a brand new battery tomorrow even though it's been longer than a year. 189 cycles and it's only holding a 54% charge so the lady granted an exception.

Awesome! She said I could go to the apple store to get it replaced or have one sent. I chose to have it sent and just place a temp hold on my credit card.
 
manofmany said:
Just got off the phone with apple and they are sending me a brand new battery tomorrow even though it's been longer than a year. 189 cycles and it's only holding a 54% charge so the lady granted an exception.

Awesome! She said I could go to the apple store to get it replaced or have one sent. I chose to have it sent and just place a temp hold on my credit card.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you got a good deal. I got the charger replaced for my 12" PB and they held my card with no problems. The RMA is so easy, it comes in the box.

The hdd is user replaceable (does not void warranty) in my Macbook. Is it not, in the MBP? I put a 500 gb (5400 of course) in my MB and it is 6X faster (the way I understand it) than the original 160.
 
iknowyourider said:
Sounds like you got a good deal. I got the charger replaced for my 12" PB and they held my card with no problems. The RMA is so easy, it comes in the box.

The hdd is user replaceable (does not void warranty) in my Macbook. Is it not, in the MBP? I put a 500 gb (5400 of course) in my MB and it is 6X faster (the way I understand it) than the original 160.
Click to expand...

As far as I know it's not suppose to be user replaceable but I may be wrong. I would love nothing more than to replace my current drive.
 
manofmany said:
That was one of the downsides of the purchase. I would really like a larger speedier hard drive, but I can certainly deal with that until January. Applecare transfers with the computer and is not bound to the original purchaser, correct? The guy said the battery only lasts about an hour so I may have to pickup a new one.
Click to expand...


Apple care is linked via SN not owner so no problem there. Also a HD is an end-user serviceable part. You have no reason to wait for Apple care to run out before you upgrade the HD.
 
synth3tik said:
Apple care is linked via SN not owner so no problem there. Also a HD is an end-user serviceable part. You have no reason to wait for Apple care to run out before you upgrade the HD.
Click to expand...

Even in the macbook pro? I've worked on many laptops before but I'm not sure I like the idea of taking a MBP apart lol!

EDIT: Actually it looks fairly simple, but I've seen conflicting info on whether or not it would void the applecare.
 
manofmany said:
Just got off the phone with apple and they are sending me a brand new battery tomorrow even though it's been longer than a year. 189 cycles and it's only holding a 54% charge so the lady granted an exception.

Awesome! She said I could go to the apple store to get it replaced or have one sent. I chose to have it sent and just place a temp hold on my credit card.
Click to expand...
Outstanding!

synth3tik said:
Apple care is linked via SN not owner so no problem there. Also a HD is an end-user serviceable part. You have no reason to wait for Apple care to run out before you upgrade the HD.
Click to expand...
For his particular model of MacBook Pro, it is not user serviceable according to Apple: MacBook Pro 15-inch and 17-inch (Intel Core 2 Duo) User's Guide

Of course, this does not stop him from being careful when he swaps drives so that Apple doesn't know he's done it. The odd thing about the User Guide is that it mentions memory as the only User Serviceable part but, as we have just seen, the battery is also user serviceable. :rolleyes:
 
OK, how about this idea? Get you a nice drive of choice for $99><. Take it to apple store and ask them to install it. The first time I upgraded mine from 160 to 250, I called apple to confirm that it was OK for me to do it. The guy said, don't do it, just take it in and have a genius do it. When I insisted that I could do it, he had his supervisor confirm that it was OK for me to do it. But my point is, he first told me to take my new drive to the genius bar.
 
Battery Cycles

How can you determine the amount of Cycles on your battery without really knowing how much you charged it and recharged it, does Apple have a utility that tells you this information?


Wicked1
 
I would say you got a great deal, especially with 2 magsafes and a new battery. Extra ram is nice as well.

Applecare seals the deal.

Just change the HD out yourself, apple won't do it if I recall correctly. Its not bad to do at all, just removing screws. Hardest part is putting the top case on again and being afraid to push the top down enough to snap it in.

Nice buy.
 
Excellent deal You can never beat OSX running on a real mac!
signature_apple1.jpg
 
Does the ati card have 128 or 256 megs of ram? www.mac2sell.net is a good pricing resource, though many think they're a bit on the low side. If your machine matches their quoted price, you can at least bet you didn't get screwed.

I just got a 15" 2.33 with the 256 meg ati card for $1100, and it was out of applecare. It is in flawless condition, and came with the box, discs, a lot of extra software, and a really nice carrying bag. I'm happy with mine for the price. I only risked it because of the ati card; there was no way I was going to gamble on the nvidia 8600 on a machine with no applecare.

Congrats on your purchase.
 
clyde2801 said:
Does the ati card have 128 or 256 megs of ram? www.mac2sell.net is a good pricing resource, though many think they're a bit on the low side. If your machine matches their quoted price, you can at least bet you didn't get screwed.

I just got a 15" 2.33 with the 256 meg ati card for $1100, and it was out of applecare. It is in flawless condition, and came with the box, discs, a lot of extra software, and a really nice carrying bag. I'm happy with mine for the price. I only risked it because of the ati card; there was no way I was going to gamble on the nvidia 8600 on a machine with no applecare.

Congrats on your purchase.
Click to expand...

It's got the 128MB of ram. According the that site, the value is $1,110

The seller just sent me a $15.50 refund on shipping because it wasn't insured like it was suppose to be. So for the final price of $840 shipped I got

A pristine 15" 2.16ghz Matte Macbook Pro
3GB Ram
120GB HD
ATI Radeon x1600 128mb ram
Superdrive

All the original packaging, 2 85w magsafe adapters, remote, couple adapters, new 10.5.6 still in the box family pack, and applecare until 2010. I also got Apple to send me a brand new battery for it. I got VERY lucky getting this kind of deal on a MBP in new condition. I am very very happy.

Only thing is, I want to upgrade the hard drive to a 320gb 7200rpm drive asap, just don't want to void the remaining applecare.
 
manofmany said:
Only thing is, I want to upgrade the hard drive to a 320gb 7200rpm drive asap, just don't want to void the remaining applecare.
Click to expand...

You either have a 3rd party apple authorized repair shop put in a drive for you, and use an apple drive so it will be covered under applecare since it's not a user serviceable part in our model, or wait til 2/1/10.

You got a great deal I'm so happy with mine.
 
clyde2801 said:
You either have a 3rd party apple authorized repair shop put in a drive for you, and use an apple drive so it will be covered under applecare since it's not a user serviceable part in our model, or wait til 2/1/10.

You got a great deal I'm so happy with mine.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'll probably wait it out until the end of the month and maybe I can get a great deal on a drive come December. I love these things. I think I would have rather had a 17" but this deal was far too good to pass up. I'm not disappointed. Hopefully I can get back into web development and design now.
 
manofmany said:
...Only thing is, I want to upgrade the hard drive to a 320gb 7200rpm drive asap, just don't want to void the remaining applecare.
Click to expand...

Excellent purchase. You may want to ask Apple about the drive upgrade...I asked at my local Apple Store and was told that I could do it myself and not void my remaining Apple Care...BUT the drive would not be covered (obviously) and any problems that I might cause would not be covered. I worked in IT for 5 years (systems tech/admin) and have opened up a lot of laptops so I'm confident with doing it myself. There are a lot of step-by-step instructions on the web for how to do it yourself.

And if I ever need to send mine in for warranty work it will go in with the original drive back inside. :)
 
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