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Picked up an '09 MacBook Pro cheap

B

bsurb

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 1, 2012
90
1
FL
OK guys.. i picked up a 2009 macbook pro 4gb ram on craiglist from this guy.. his listing price was $550 and some how i talked him down to $350 plus a pair of jordan shoes lol.. the mac works perfect. charges and all. i called apple and they confirmed the serial # but could not tell me if it were stolen or not. it does have a couple dings on the body and on the bottom its missing 3 plugs, but the keyboard and screen is perfectly fine..

now, i am wondering this..... should i KEEP this mac book.... or sell it for like $700-$750 and get a kick A$$ windows laptop?

ONLY con is this: i run a vinyl machine out of my house and the software ONLY supports windows. they no longer support mac. so selling my dell desktop and keeping this mac wouldnt help me much because i wouldnt be able to use the vinyl machine anymore.....

what i need a laptop for is: photoshop, illustrator, internet surfing for promotion, something that has lot of room. i will have lots of files to be saved from cutting vinyl.

would you recommend me getting a windows laptop or keeping this mac?? its a 2009.... i would rather have a 2010 or 2011 to be honest... but it runs fine.

i dont want to spend more than $700 on a mac honestly... if i sold this mac for $700-750, and i did want a mac i was going to try and buy a used 2010 or 11.

what do you think? does best buy have a laptop out on the market that is what i need it for?? or keep the mac?

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I don't see anybody paying $700 let alone $750 for an 09 MacBook Air when you can buy 2011 Refurbs off the Apple website for the same price. That being said, I would keep it and use it. You can't buy a laptop for $350 that will be better than that one!
 
Your thread title says MacBook Air but your post says MacBook Pro. Which one is it?
 
LOL my bad... i was reading a old air thread and had air in my mind.. its a pro.. wit the back light keyboard..
 
bsurb said:
LOL my bad... i was reading a old air thread and had air in my mind.. its a pro.. wit the back light keyboard..
Click to expand...

In either case you're unlikely to get $700-750 unless you find a clueless buyer. the problem is that you don't have to pay as much as this one cost new to exceed its performance at all or most levels today. It has no warranty. The display, battery, and hard drive have several years of wear and tear. For what you paid for it, you should just enjoy it if the performance meets your requirements. The really huge bump was the 2011 model at the 15" level. The 6750m (well the early 2011 low 15" had a bleh 6490m) and quad core cpus options represented some really significant gains. Just the move from dual to quad core made a lot of new stuf possible. When you consider that the lowest macbook air can outperform this across the board with refurbished options placing a 13" 2012 Air around $1000, you should be able to see why I wouldn't suggest a 2009 13" macbook pro for $700. I'd be extremely hesitant to suggest even a 2009 15" for that unless it was barely used and the battery tested perfectly. This isn't the same as a refurbished option. While they may not all be new parts, you won't get a battery with many cycles or a display with an obscene number of hours on it.

My 2011 17" still performs quite well. I see no reason to trade up. I'm not putting any thought into what it will be worth later. It suits my needs now, and that is basically all that matters.
 
i got someone who offered 750 cash on friday.

should i sell it and get something newer than a 09??
 
i know.. i only paid $350. but what im asking is if i should use that $750 to buy a newer mac from someone OR buy a PC laptop for around that price....

what is the difference between mac/windows in your opinion?

i need it for photoshop... illustrator.. vinyl software... ect.
 
If they're legit offering $750 take it! Buy a newer Mac because if you need to you can always run Windows on a Mac but you can't run OS X on a PC so the Mac would be a better choice.
 
hmm never thought of doing that...

are there any CONS to installing windows on a mac? and what good is a mac with windows on it? just wondering...??

because its very important that i run this software for my vinyl machine that cannot install on a mac. only windows. so im guessing that would work.

but what makes the mac good while running windows? and can you just buy the windows in the store and install it?
 
You can install it via a program built in to OS X called "Boot Camp" - that way you still keep OS X while having an install of Windows, too. Basically meaning that when you boot the computer, you select Windows or OS X. So you technically could have 2 machines in 1, rather than just having one machine that only runs one OS (Windows laptops).

Also you can run Windows inside OS X, it's called virtual machine. You can do this with software called Parallels, VMWare, etc.

I always recommend Macs to my PC-oriented friends because many of them aren't aware that you can install Windows on a Mac laptop side-by-side with OS X, no issues at all.

Personally I think the Mac makes Windows 8 looks nicer than any Windows laptop. It's amazing on my 17" MBP. :)


EDIT: Also, you can even put a second hard drive inside a Mac laptop and use it solely for Windows. So with a Mac you have many more options.
 
and when this tech guy says they do not support mac's for the software, will running windows on a mac fix that problem? would that install no problem?

and where do i go about getting these softwares? and how is the pricing?

im thinking about looking for a late 2010 or 2011 and going ahead and run the windows/os x on it..

windows 7 or windows 8??
 
bsurb said:
and when this tech guy says they do not support mac's for the software, will running windows on a mac fix that problem? would that install no problem?
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I don't know why they wouldn't support the software if it was running on Windows. Do they specify certain types of computers and only support those models?

and where do i go about getting these softwares? and how is the pricing?
Click to expand...

BootCamp is built into the operating system. It's free.

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

im thinking about looking for a late 2010 or 2011 and going ahead and run the windows/os x on it..

windows 7 or windows 8??
Click to expand...

I'd go with windows 7, but there were some good deals on windows 8 recently. Maybe they're still in effect...
 
so if i download that boot camp on that link, i dont need to buy the windows 7 software or i still do right?
 
ok i got you. im going to see if this guy buys my mac friday.. then get a newer one.
 
Dude sell it!!! If you can get $750 for it, don't even flinch;)

You can get late 2011 MBP for $800-850, if you are patient.
 
yeah i will.. hopefully $800 :p

what specs should i look for as in memory and ssd ect on the MBP..
 
bsurb said:
yeah i will.. hopefully $800 :p

what specs should i look for as in memory and ssd ect on the MBP..
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Basic late '11 MacBookPro8,1 with 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD for $800-850, if the seller upgraded to 8GB RAM, or even 16GB, even better... I wouldn't pay too much for extra RAM, as new RAM is dirt cheap these days. I mean you can get new 2x8GB 1333MHz for $45 from Newegg.com and put in yourself, for free;)

Don't think you will find a deal with SSD inside for this price, unless someone really, really wanted to get rid of his/her MBP fast. And I'd be careful then, it might be "hot" item... You just need to be patient;)
 
Right next to the kitchen sink and a glass of milk within dropping distance. With a bit of luck you won't have to list it as "For Sale - parts from liquid spill MBP"
 
bsurb said:
yeah i will.. hopefully $800 :p

what specs should i look for as in memory and ssd ect on the MBP..
Click to expand...

Yeah for $800 you won't get a 2011 with an SSD, but it will still be a great notebook with a regular HDD. It's super easy to put an SSD and more RAM in there when you have extra money in the future. Look for 4GB RAM, 500GB or 750GB HD if you're getting a 2011.
 
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