New to Mac-Might Buy this-What is it worth

[cougarcat454]

I posted this in the macbook pro section but after looking through the forums, it looks like it is a better fit to ask for help in regards to pricing in this section.

I punched the serial number for this unit in the Apple Store web site. You can check out the info here https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreemen...sn=W80520M1AGW

Details I know about it are that it is a 15" has the Lion OS and Windows 7 loaded on it along with the CS5 master creative suite for windows, processor I7 2.6GHZ. It is a mid 2010 and the apple care warranty is good through Jan 2014. What else should I be looking for and what kind of a price range do you think I should be looking at?
New to all of this and appreciate any input.

Thanks.

 

[thekev]

Be sure you get a receipt. Do NOT factor in the CS5 master collection. That is not something you give away. Most likely it's illegal software. Say a hard drive crashes or you need to reformat, it's not like you'll be seeing that back again. When you buy either a single Adobe product or the suite, you activate your serial number. Adobe lets you use it on a desktop + a laptop as long as they aren't in concurrent use. Given the price of that, no one is just going to give away their activation with a used computer. If it was a legitimate license, they would deactivate it, remove it from the computer, and install/activate it on their new computer. My point being don't give thieves money.

On the computer itself, I was going to say look at refurb store prices but they're weird. They show a 2010 for $1529, then a faster 2011 in the same size for $200 less. Both of these were stock configurations. Don't put too much emphasis on base clock speeds. Turbo boost does some weird things to those numbers, so even with a significantly lower base clock than the previous year, it can still be a nice performance gain even in cpu intensive tasks.

 

[cougarcat454]

I know what you mean about the CS5.
We bought the academic discounted version for my son who is going to school. I know we have to deactivate it on the machine it is running on in order to install it on another one. In the end we could remove it from the desktop it is on now and move it to the mac.

The guy wants $1600.00 for this one.

 

[cougarcat454]

The other unit I was looking at is this one.



Mac pro 15" early 2011 2.0 ghz 4GB 500 Hard drive. One year warranty runs out May of next year.

Wants $1200.00 only upgrade is the high res screen.

What do you think between the first one I posted and this unit?
Thanks again.

 

[thundersteele]

about the 2010 model:
Is the vendor providing the licenses for Lion, Windows 7 and the CS5 suite? If not, I would be very careful, since he is illegally using the installed software to increase the price.
It has applecare, which is nice. If it doesn't come with the licenses, I think $1600 is too much.

the 2011 model:
$1200 for an early 2011 machine with the upgraded screen sounds like a nice deal. You can still buy applecare for it, $240 with education discount.

You should also consider a Apple refurbished Mac:
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/15

They start at $1360, and you get essentially a new machine with 1 year of warranty.

 

[Naimfan]

The other unit I was looking at is this one.



Mac pro 15" early 2011 2.0 ghz 4GB 500 Hard drive. One year warranty runs out May of next year.

Wants $1200.00 only upgrade is the high res screen.

What do you think between the first one I posted and this unit?
Thanks again.

I'd go for the early 2011. See if you can get it for $1100 and put Applecare on it and bump the RAM to 8 GB. Much better buy than the mid-2010, even at $1200.

 

[thekev]

about the 2010 model:
Is the vendor providing the licenses for Lion, Windows 7 and the CS5 suite? If not, I would be very careful, since he is illegally using the installed software to increase the price.
It has applecare, which is nice. If it doesn't come with the licenses, I think $1600 is too much.

Not to be rude, but please use some logic here. Even on Amazon it's $2320 for that software package not including the Windows license. If it was an oem license of Windows from Newegg it would be useless to the seller after that so I could see him including it. No one is just going to give away their creative suite license. I don't personally care if the OP uses it, but it should in no way be reflected in the price paid for the machine. FYI I don't own one of the suites. I only own a couple of the programs, and I only bother upgrading if I like the release (or if it gets far enough back to where I have to upgrade or lose eligibility to do so later).

I know what you mean about the CS5.
We bought the academic discounted version for my son who is going to school. I know we have to deactivate it on the machine it is running on in order to install it on another one. In the end we could remove it from the desktop it is on now and move it to the mac.

The guy wants $1600.00 for this one.

He's asking too much in my opinion.

http://barefeats.com/mbps01.html

http://barefeats.com/mbps05.html

http://barefeats.com/mbps06.html

This was a dual core i7. Note in laptops there's no difference on hyperthreading between i5 and i7 at least in Sandy Bridge. Look at this now.


http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC721LL/A

Note that's a Sandy Bridge quad core version with a better gpu for $1359 in the refurb store. I know it isn't present in some of the tests linked, but the 2.3 sandy bridge, while more expensive, isn't that much faster than the 2.0. Basically if they're running cool enough their turbo boosts cap out pretty close to one another. Anyway it's significantly faster than that one at $1600.

Applecare is around $350 for the 15" macbook pros, and then of course there's tax, but my point remains you could get a faster 2011 in the same price range.

Also one last thing I need to mention. With a used computer that has applecare, make sure you get some kind of a receipt or something so they can't cancel it once they hand you the computer (as it is partially refundable to whoever bought it), and remember that applecare doesn't cover any kind of accidental damage, liquid damage, etc. This means that you need to be sure of its condition when you buy it. I'm not trying to make you paranoid, but I wanted to point out stuff that some people miss.

 

[thekev]

The other unit I was looking at is this one.



Mac pro 15" early 2011 2.0 ghz 4GB 500 Hard drive. One year warranty runs out May of next year.

Wants $1200.00 only upgrade is the high res screen.

What do you think between the first one I posted and this unit?
Thanks again.

That one isn't a bad buy at all, assuming everything is in good working order. Like I said it's important to examine a unit carefully as the warranty won't cover any accidental damage done by the previous user. You would have the option to purchase Applecare within the initial warranty period if you want it. It's $350 on top of $1200, and basically you'd only be buying it for the logic board/gpu. If something like a hard drive dies, use it as an opportunity to upgrade to a nicer one. If ram goes bad, these days 8GB can be purchased for under $50. I haven't seen a display break on one of those. If something dies it's always a battery or logic board component.

I'm not sure I'd spend $350 on a warranty for a $1200 purchase personally, but the machine sounds like a good value. Something like that in the refurb section of the Apple store (not including tax) is around $1400-1500 for units with the high res screen.

 

[cougarcat454]

Thanks for all your input. I am going to look at the early 2011 this afternoon. He went to $1150.00. I think this makes more sense from what you are telling me. Will be sure to physically inspect it well. He has the original reciept, bought it in May of this year. Says he also has all of the original documentation etc..
Thanks again. Before I posted here I was leaning the other direction. Thanks for helping out a newbee

 

[thekev]

Thanks for all your input. I am going to look at the early 2011 this afternoon. He went to $1150.00. I think this makes more sense from what you are telling me. Will be sure to physically inspect it well. He has the original reciept, bought it in May of this year. Says he also has all of the original documentation etc..
Thanks again. Before I posted here I was leaning the other direction. Thanks for helping out a newbee

That one sounds like a really excellent option! Newer/cheaper/more powerful.