recommendations for a cheap MacBook

[wfriedwald]

Finally thinking about getting a low price MacBook - a refurb or used model is a possiblity.

mainly need it to:

* do the internet, including google doc's.

* run VLC (for video presentations, I use VLC like crazy - don't use keynote or power point very often)

* and iTunes / Apple Music. (the latter is important.)

I won't mind getting a low cost refurb, small size mac (11" or 12" is fine, would suit me better than a 15" big boy) a 2013 or 2014 model would probably suit me.

does anyone have any thoughts? or recommendations?

thanks for feedback!

w

 

[Bart Kela]

Buy whatever suits your fancy. Your usage case is utterly unremarkable; any PC built in the past five years can handle those tasks.

The four year old 11" MacBook Air (mid 2013) I'm typing on can do all of that.

 

[wfriedwald]

thanks! I should have included one more question: can anyone suggest what a reasonable price range would be for such a unit?

thanks again!

 

[elf69]

I am using a 2012 11.6" MacBook Air and easy do what you want.

2012 and 2013 can be had with decent size SSD for 300-400 roughly or less on ebay (probably other sources too)
I got mine for £250 and am happy but 64GB SSD bit small but thunderbolt is great!

 

[Bart Kela]

I don't know where you live, but at least here in the USA, Apple sells refurbished units in their online store (refurbs are not offered in all countries where Apple does business). I'd never buy a refurb from a third-party retailer, only genuine Apple refurbs from their own store (I recently bought a refurb MacBook 2017).

Since one can run VLC and iTunes on Windows, you also have a wide range of non-Apple notebooks from which to choose. I see brand-new Lenovo Yoga models running Windows 10 around $400 at Amazon.

 

[Boyd01]

I won't mind getting a low cost refurb, small size mac (11" or 12" is fine, would suit me better than a 15" big boy)

Well you may be asking this in the wrong place. This is the MacBook Air forum and they are all 13" now. Apple discontinued the 11" MacBook air a couple years ago (they are great, still using my 11" 2013). Not sure if you can still get refurbed 11" MacBook Airs anymore, there aren't any in the refurb store right now but they still have a heading for them. They sell the refurb base model 13" MacBook Air for $850 with 8gb/128gb. Also note that they made 8gb RAM standard on the 13" model a few years ago but this never happened with the 11" model where the base configuration only had 4gb.

If you look at used ones, don't go back any farther than 2013. The 2012 MacBook Air only has USB 2.0 which will be slow if you're transfering big video files. The 2012 also has slower wifi and (probably most important) much shorter battery run times. In 2013 Apple switched to more power efficient processors that give almost twice the run time. And if you go back father than 2011 you will get a Core2Duo CPU that is significantly slower than newer models.

 

[sracer]

Finally thinking about getting a low price MacBook - a refurb or used model is a possiblity.

mainly need it to:

* do the internet, including google doc's.

* run VLC (for video presentations, I use VLC like crazy - don't use keynote or power point very often)

* and iTunes / Apple Music. (the latter is important.)

I won't mind getting a low cost refurb, small size mac (11" or 12" is fine, would suit me better than a 15" big boy) a 2013 or 2014 model would probably suit me.

does anyone have any thoughts? or recommendations?

thanks for feedback!

w

already good advice given. If it weren't for your Apple Music requirement, I would've suggested a chromebook.

As @Boyd01 mentioned, the 11" Macbook Air would be a fine option if you can find one in good condition. I use my 11" MBA for presentations and it is quite the little powerhouse.