Opinion on trading in to Apple Store & buying a new MacBook Pro every 3 years?

[Luba]

I don't know anybody with a 3-year old MacBook Pro so I can't get an idea the trade-in value of a 3-year old MacBook Pro. My plan is to get AppleCare and buy a base model 16" MacBook ($2500) every 3 years and trade-in the old one to Apple, sort of like leasing a car. Do you think Apple will pay me 50% of what I paid for a 3-year old MacBook Pro? $40%? If it's 50% then I figure it's around $500 year.

 

[Zadillo]

You’ll be much better off selling on Swappa/eBay/Craigslist than trading in to Apple

 

[mikethebigo]

You’ll be much better off selling on Swappa/eBay/Craigslist than trading in to Apple

Trading into Apple has its advantages though. Less effort, less fuss. I know I'd get more elsewhere, but nothing can beat for me the ease of just going through Apple.
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I don't know anybody with a 3-year old MacBook Pro so I can't get an idea the trade-in value of a 3-year old MacBook Pro. My plan is to get AppleCare and buy a base model 16" MacBook ($2500) every 3 years and trade-in the old one to Apple, sort of like leasing a car. Do you think Apple will pay me 50% of what I paid for a 3-year old MacBook Pro? $40%? If it's 50% then I figure it's around $500 year.

You won't get anywhere close to 50% after 3 years probably. I'd think more like 30% TBH.

I paid $3,000 for my loaded 2018 MBP, and they're offering me $1,090 for it now. And that's after only one year.

 

[Zadillo]

Trading into Apple has its advantages though. Less effort, less fuss. I know I'd get more elsewhere, but nothing can beat for me the ease of just going through Apple.
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You won't get anywhere close to 50% after 3 years probably. I'd think more like 30% TBH.

I paid $3,000 for my loaded 2018 MBP, and they're offering me $1,090 for it now. And that's after only one year.

Less effort, maybe. Less hassle, maybe. But you still have to mail it in yourself, and Apple’s trade in partner is notorious for offering less than the quoted trade in value, especially if there are any scratches or damage.

But yeah, it requires slightly more effort to list on eBay or swappa and there’s more risk of a bad experience (although PayPal or eBay protect against some things). I think it’s worth getting hundreds more compared to a trade in

 

[mouthster]

I paid $3,000 for my loaded 2018 MBP, and they're offering me $1,090 for it now. And that's after only one year.

That's crazy, considering that they are offering me $520 for a base model 2014 MBP.

 

[ruslan120]

You'd save a lot of money and get most of the performance buying three-year-old models every three years instead.

 

[Luba]

Less effort, maybe. Less hassle, maybe. But you still have to mail it in yourself, and Apple’s trade in partner is notorious for offering less than the quoted trade in value, especially if there are any scratches or damage.

But yeah, it requires slightly more effort to list on eBay or swappa and there’s more risk of a bad experience (although PayPal or eBay protect against some things). I think it’s worth getting hundreds more compared to a trade in

In the past, I've brought my devices to the Apple Store to be traded-in. I think that's the way to do it as an Apple rep looks it over and quotes you a trade-in price. There is randomness in hassle factor though. Sometimes it's as easy as accepting a quote then you get a gift card. At one time I had an Apple rep (who just also happened to be unfriendly) wanting my license to process a trade-in.
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You'd save a lot of money and get most of the performance buying three-year-old models every three years instead.

Hmmm, that's an interesting strategy. This time I would buy new because of the scissors keyboard vs. butterfly, but in the future . . .

Also, maybe a two-year old or a 1-year old, but we couldn't AppleCare on those though. I thought of refurbished, but feel a complicated electronic item like a laptop once brought to be fixed can never be fully fixed. But then again maybe some of the refurbished are simply laptops from consumer who had buyers remorse??

 

[Nacho98]

In the past, I've brought my devices to the Apple Store to be traded-in. I think that's the way to do it as an Apple rep looks it over and quotes you a trade-in price. There is randomness in hassle factor though. Sometimes it's as easy as accepting a quote then you get a gift card. At one time I had an Apple rep (who just also happened to be unfriendly) wanting my license to process a trade-in.
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Hmmm, that's an interesting strategy. This time I would buy new because of the scissors keyboard vs. butterfly, but in the future . . .

Also, maybe a two-year old or a 1-year old, but we couldn't AppleCare on those though. I thought of refurbished, but feel a complicated electronic item like a laptop once brought to be fixed can never be fully fixed. But then again maybe some of the refurbished are simply laptops from consumer who had buyers remorse??

unfortunately you cant trade in computers at the applestore - theyhave to be mailed to their third party scam companies. do a search on Phobio and read the horrorstories.

 

[alphaod]

They offered to recycle my 2016 MacBook Pro for free.

So... not a chance OP.

 

[Zwhaler]

Trade in is throwing away money. If you insist on maximum convenience at absolute maximum penalty, go for it but you will pay dearly (if you care at all about the money). As others have said, sell on Swappa or somewhere similar instead of Apple.

 

[jerryk]

I don't know anybody with a 3-year old MacBook Pro so I can't get an idea the trade-in value of a 3-year old MacBook Pro. My plan is to get AppleCare and buy a base model 16" MacBook ($2500) every 3 years and trade-in the old one to Apple, sort of like leasing a car. Do you think Apple will pay me 50% of what I paid for a 3-year old MacBook Pro? $40%? If it's 50% then I figure it's around $500 year.

No idea what the future holds but I just got $1400 on trade in for a 2018 15" MBP. 512GB SSD. So around a than 50% decrease in 14 months. But since it is a business expense it was already written off on the taxes.

Also remember depreciation is not linear. As soon as you take it home a big chunk of depreciation has occurred. And the price difference for a 5 vs 4 year-old system is minimal, unless there was a major design change
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Trade in is throwing away money. If you insist on maximum convenience at absolute maximum penalty, go for it but you will pay dearly (if you care at all about the money). As others have said, sell on Swappa or somewhere similar instead of Apple.

I tried several places. Apple's trade of $1400 was close to the max I was offered, $1475, for my 2018 15", 512 GB. You might do better on eBay, but then there are the hassles and time value.

 

[3SQ Machine]

Two months ago I sold my base model 1TB HDD 2013 iMac to experimax which has about 16 stores nationally for $375. Helluva deal for an old machine given that I only paid $1k for it in 2014 (it was open box). Brought it in. Walked out with a check. Minor hassles (they quoted me $25 more over the phone), but overall well worth it instead of the "ship and pray" approach.