New User. Need advice on buying a used Mac.

[nismac]

Hi, everyone!
I’m going on a training session this April for a few month. And they told us to get MacBooks( preferably) not required but it would be nice to have it while on session. They can also supply us with MacBooks for $100 a month.

Anyways, I wanted to get a new one the cheapest model is 899.99 plus tax at Best Buy. I also checked local CL and found an individual who is selling MacBook Pro for $500. I was able to identify the model(mf839ll/a) using serial. I believe it’s an yearly 2015 retina 8gb ram,128gb storage, an i5. Never used.
Is this a good deal?

Why I’m looking at it this option is because the session is about 5 month so it would up to 500 and I would have to return it. if I’ll get this used one I can keep it or sell it afterwards.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Never used? Pretty good deal if it works. Cheapest refurb/used i5 (they're all 13") 2015 MBP at Macofalltrades.com is over $700.

And the 2015s are from a sort of "Golden Age" of MBPs. Nicely built and can run the latest version of macOS.

 

[funkiejack]

If you can find a 2015 MacBook Pro for $500 in mint or new condition, I think it’s a very good option for your situation. That was the last iteration before the new versions lost many features such as the wide selection of ports, SD card reader, and MagSafe 2 charging connector. Another big change was they went to the butterfly keyboard which been proven prone to be failure (although there is a free keyboard replacement on the newer keyboards offered by Apple). Downside is the newer versions have a slightly brighter display, better speakers, and slightly more compact and lighter form factor.

 

[mikzn]

I also checked local CL and found an individual who is selling MacBook Pro for $500. I was able to identify the model(mf839ll/a) using serial. I believe it’s an yearly 2015 retina 8gb ram,128gb storage, an i5. Never used.
Is this a good deal?

I agree with BrianBaughn - MacBook pros from this era are still ‘relevant and useable’ and can have storage upgraded relatively easily and economically by replacing the SSD

 

[nismac]

Yep, seller said never been used. I asked him/her twice but didn’t ask why. It’s opened though..

Thank you for the input. I’ll try to go get it today.

 

[BrianBaughn]

One thing...the battery in that MBP may be nearly dead.

 

[nismac]

One thing...the battery in that MBP may be nearly dead.

I asked to take picture of the battery cycle.

Does it says anything good or bad?

 

[VineRider]

Never used and 211 cycles on the battery doesn't make sense....

 

[nismac]

Yeah.. but it could be a person just didn’t use it a lot so it could be considered like never properly utilized for a full potential load tasks.


How many cycles those are good for 1000? So it’s got like 1/5 of the battery life.

 

[profcutter]

It has definitely seen some real use. Just using it for a couple minutes doesn’t count as a cycle. What else are they being dishonest about?

 

[smirking]

That CL ad might be ok, but it sure smells fishy. 211 load cycles means that machine's seen at least some light use on a regular basis and probably a lot more. Even more useful than load cycles is knowing what the maximum battery capacity is. You can have a laptop with 100 load cycles with a seriously degrated battery and one with 1000 cycles that managed to stay pretty healthy. Find out the maximum capacity of a new unit of that model and calculate the health percentage of the battery in the laptop you want to buy. Apple considers anything below 80% to be degraded so you want to be north of that percentage.

You can also find dealers who sell "refurbished" MBPs on eBay. I was shopping for a used laptop for my wife recently and found a number of 15" 2015 MBPs going in the $800-$1000 range. I use quotes around refurbished because there's Apple Certified Refurbished, which is as good as new and then there's third party refurbished with could simply mean they wiped the fingerprints off with a wet sponge.

You can find also find some recent MacBook Air's in great shape for between $700 and $900.

Many of the eBay sellers are qualified vendors that offer their own one year warranty on used Macs so all things being equal, I'd rather trust them than a random Craigslist seller. That's the problem with Craigslist stuff. There are no protections if you get a lemon or get scammed.

 

[nismac]

Yeah.. I couldn’t make to his area today. I’ll see what’s up tomorrow. Had a little conversation over the phone with the seller. I asked about IFE. He said it’s not set up.

 

[smirking]

IFE?

 

[nismac]

Sorry I meant EFI.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Never used? Pretty good deal if it works. Cheapest refurb/used i5 (they're all 13") 2015 MBP at Macofalltrades.com is over $700.

And the 2015s are from a sort of "Golden Age" of MBPs. Nicely built and can run the latest version of macOS.

They are.. I have one myself and its a great machine, and you can upgrade the SSD if you want. Just be sure you check the battery as some models had issue with battery, but Apple still support machine to fix battery. Sorry for my English.
[automerge]1581995981[/automerge]

If you can find a 2015 MacBook Pro for $500 in mint or new condition, I think it’s a very good option for your situation. That was the last iteration before the new versions lost many features such as the wide selection of ports, SD card reader, and MagSafe 2 charging connector. Another big change was they went to the butterfly keyboard which been proven prone to be failure (although there is a free keyboard replacement on the newer keyboards offered by Apple). Downside is the newer versions have a slightly brighter display, better speakers, and slightly more compact and lighter form factor.

Lighter doesn't mean better. I came from a 2012 MacBook Pro to a 2015 and I won't consider anything else. I think the speakers are great and the brightness is bright enough for me.

 

[nismac]

So, I got it. The seller was very friendly. Gave a quick tutorial on Mac OS because Im a total noob. Sold it to me for 425 and threw a few accessories with it (Ethernet and HDMI adapters). The screen is nice.. I like the quality. Seems to be working fine... I have entered my Apple ID upon setup. So whenever I log out it asks me for it again.. so added a pin code in the setting. It works with the pin but sometimes a message pops out to enter Apple ID password whenever on desktop. So I’m entering it and push notifications comes to my iPhone with the code.. but no window pops out on the desktop?