Resale Value of a Refurbished MacBook Pro 15"

[EsTriFee]

Hey everyone, so I've been looking to get the 15" retina macbook pro (high end model) for quite some time (over a year!), however here in Europe it's way more expensive than in the states, which always held me back. The new 2014 model is now in the refurbished store for my country and it costs 400 less than the retail price and 200 less than the education pricing.

Since I would like to get the next revision (broadwell) or the revision after that (skylake) especially if there is some size/weight reduction (for carrying it around) and a maxwell GPU, I'm interested in the resale value of this machine.

I could live without a laptop, however having it would help quite a bit.

My question is do I loose a lot of resale value by buying refurbished? I myself like getting the new box and stuff, however saving another 200 would be nice, but if i loose those 200 on the resale value due to it being refurbished than it's not worth it.

Just in case people try to suggest the 13" model due to it being more portable and more affordable, I've already kind of ruled that out since I will most probably end up having a VM of windows running half the time and this will be my main computer.

Thank you for the answers.

 

[GGJstudios]

My question is do I loose a lot of resale value by buying refurbished?

No, there is little, if any, difference in the resale value of an Apple refurb compared with a new version of the same unit.

Apple refurbished products are considered by most to be a very good deal, as they're pretty much like buying a new Mac, except for the box.

Apple Certified Refurbished Products are pre-owned Apple products that undergo Apple's stringent refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale. While only some units are returned due to technical issues, all units undergo Apple's stringent quality refurbishment process.

Click the link in that quote for more details on the refurbishment process.

• Apple Certified Refurbished Products are available online from the Apple Refurb Store and are not sold in local Apple stores
• Educational discounts do not apply to refurb products.
• Refurb products come with the same warranty as new products, and qualify for AppleCare
• Refurb products have a changed serial number that identifies them as refurbished
• Refurb products come with whatever OS version and software they originally shipped with as new
• Refurb products come with the same items in the box as new products, only the box is a plain one, not the new box.
• A refurb product could have some cosmetic signs of prior use, but rarely do
• A refurb Mac notebook may have some cycles on the battery, but not a significant enough amount to affect usable life
• The refurb store inventory changes frequently, sometimes several times a day, and doesn't have any direct relation to upcoming product releases. What's available in the refurb store is determined by what has been returned to Apple.
• If you're looking for a particular item, refurb.me can alert you when it becomes available.

 

[someoneoutthere]

Since I would like to get the next revision (broadwell) or the revision after that (skylake) especially if there is some size/weight reduction (for carrying it around) and a maxwell GPU, I'm interested in the resale value of this machine.

I'd safely assume the size will be virtually the same. The current mid '14 15" rMBP is pretty thin anyways. Weight-wise, I'd assume the same, wouldn't expect a major difference in weight.
They might throw in a new discrete GPU, more power efficient CPU, and perhaps DDR4 RAM - you can find all that good stuff being discussed under plenty of forum threads.
Best.