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Resale Value?

V

VaioGrave

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2011
12
0
Hello, I'm a student and need a laptop very soon. I decided on the Macbook Air, but am a little OCD about not getting it during the back to school sale or having enough finances yet for a high end MBP. I was wondering, if I bought the MBA now how much would I expect to be able to sell the higher end 11" for by the time of a BTS/Refresh?
 
Last edited:
VaioGrave said:
Hello, I'm a student and need a laptop very soon. I decided on the Macbook Air, but am a little OCD about not getting it during the back to school sale or having enough finances yet for a high end MBP. I was wondering, if I bought the MBA now how much would I expect to be able to sell the higher end 11" for by the time of a BTS/Refresh?
Click to expand...

Focus on earning the money & choosing a model you _can_ afford. The likelihood of you needing a "high end MBP" is quite low. Unless your needs involve resource intense computing, I'd suggest a 13" MBA. Its a great model for the average curriculum.
 
vitzr said:
Focus on earning the money & choosing a model you _can_ afford. The likelihood of you needing a "high end MBP" is quite low. Unless your needs involve resource intense computing, I'd suggest a 13" MBA. Its a great model for the average curriculum.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll be needing one later for heavy video editing (FCP) on the go, but for now I can manage using the macs at my school's lab. I prefer the 11" because it's way more portable and it's more than enough for now, but I fear it won't be in the future that's why I'm asking about resale for a MPB. I imagine that since the design won't change and performance won't go up by that much, it'll be a little less than Apple refurbished prices at the time of sale?

^Oh and I'm not buying purely for resale value, that would be kind of pointless.
 
VaioGrave said:
Hello, I'm a student and need a laptop very soon. I decided on the Macbook Air, but am a little OCD about not getting it during the back to school sale or having enough finances yet for a high end MBP. I was wondering, if I bought the MBA now how much would I expect to be able to sell the higher end 11" for by the time of a BTS/Refresh?
Click to expand...


lower ends typically hold value better / sell better than higher end.

buy refurbished or used to begin with and you shouldn't lose too much money.
 
jenlevin said:
lower ends typically hold value better / sell better than higher end.

buy refurbished or used to begin with and you shouldn't lose too much money.
Click to expand...

This... I am now only buying base models for Macs I plan to not hold on to for very long. Joe Average does not care about specs, he just cares what year the Mac is from and that it is a Mac. If you buy a high end version (like my MBP), expect to lose all of the value of the "bells and whistles" when you go to sell it. Joe Average will compare a 2011 11" base to a 2011 11" Ultimate and inevitably choose the base because "it is cheaper" and "the same thing".... Even if the additional cost is justified.
 
VaioGrave said:
Yeah, I'll be needing one later for heavy video editing (FCP) on the go, but for now I can manage using the macs at my school's lab. I prefer the 11" because it's way more portable and it's more than enough for now, but I fear it won't be in the future that's why I'm asking about resale for a MPB. I imagine that since the design won't change and performance won't go up by that much, it'll be a little less than Apple refurbished prices at the time of sale?

^Oh and I'm not buying purely for resale value, that would be kind of pointless.
Click to expand...

The current mac book pro 13's are quite portable. RAM upgrades make them instantly upgradeable.

While I like my mba 13 a lot then current restriction of 4 gb RAM is a huge limitation.

You could perhaps budget for a macbook pro 13 and a 40 buck upgrade to increase it to 8 gb of RAM ... then save for an SSD upgrade to increase speed if that is useful to you.
 
Check eBay now for a used MBA like you want only last years model. By looking at completed auctions you can get an idea what yours might be worth next year.
 
jenlevin said:
lower ends typically hold value better / sell better than higher end.

buy refurbished or used to begin with and you shouldn't lose too much money.
Click to expand...


paulrbeers said:
This... I am now only buying base models for Macs I plan to not hold on to for very long. Joe Average does not care about specs, he just cares what year the Mac is from and that it is a Mac. If you buy a high end version (like my MBP), expect to lose all of the value of the "bells and whistles" when you go to sell it. Joe Average will compare a 2011 11" base to a 2011 11" Ultimate and inevitably choose the base because "it is cheaper" and "the same thing".... Even if the additional cost is justified.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I didn't consider the lower end 11" or buying refurbished. It's actually cheaper than the education discount and I'm sure I won't lose as much value. I'll use the Cloud for lack of storage space :cool:
 
Hi,

I have heard that taking $50 off the original value per month is a good resell value. But perhaps that is already too much since a computer is usually not gone or dead after the first year. $50 per month during a year pays the full value of almost any 11" MBA.

Kind regards,

igmolinav : ) !!!
 
igmolinav said:
Hi,

I have heard that taking $50 off the original value per month is a good resell value. But perhaps that is already too much since a computer is usually not gone or dead after the first year. $50 per month during a year pays the full value of almost any 11" MBA.

Kind regards,

igmolinav : ) !!!
Click to expand...


That might be true for PC's, but for Mac's that is wayy too much. You are basically saying $600 a year off? That means that my 2009 13" MBP (which I gave to my Father-in-law), would be worth nothing now. That is far from the truth. That number MIGHT be true for the high end models, but using that as a blanket statement is far from accurate.
 
VaioGrave said:
Hello, I'm a student and need a laptop very soon. I decided on the Macbook Air, but am a little OCD about not getting it during the back to school sale or having enough finances yet for a high end MBP. I was wondering, if I bought the MBA now how much would I expect to be able to sell the higher end 11" for by the time of a BTS/Refresh?
Click to expand...

70 to 80% of purchase price would be a fair guide.

this would depend on a couple of factors - such as how well you treat it, length of time to the refresh and how much of a spec jump the next model is.
another factor would be the pricing of the next range, but in truth, I can't seem them being too much cheaper than the current line-up
 
Apple regularly has base model 2010 11" MBAs for $699 on their refurb store. A used model of the same specs would have to be less, otherwise why not buy from Apple?

Haven't seen any 2011 11" MBAs on the refurb store though. :(

Edit, they are on the store! :D
 
halledise said:
70 to 80% of purchase price would be a fair guide.

this would depend on a couple of factors - such as how well you treat it, length of time to the refresh and how much of a spec jump the next model is.
another factor would be the pricing of the next range, but in truth, I can't seem them being too much cheaper than the current line-up
Click to expand...

When would be the ideal time to sell it? Weeks before a refresh? I'm doubting if the next refresh will be as earthshaking, the MBA is still pretty new.

PBG4 Dude said:
Apple regularly has base model 2010 11" MBAs for $699 on their refurb store. A used model of the same specs would have to be less, otherwise why not buy from Apple?

Haven't seen any 2011 11" MBAs on the refurb store though. :(

Edit, they are on the store! :D
Click to expand...

I'm getting the 2011 one at $850 :)

Was highly considering the 2010, but they don't seem to have the budget version which still rocks a 320m and I'm not sure about resale value.
 
I still see the 2010 11" base model. It's $799 vs. $849 for the 2011 11" base model.
 
I have a 13 inch Air 128GB SSD with Applecare that I got at the end of Nov. I figure when the time comes to upgrade that I'll ask for $1,000 for this system and might haggle to as low as $900. This computer has both the samsung screen & SSD, it's also wearing a wrapsol skin and won't have a scratch on it. No reason to not recover a good bit of my purchase price while still giving a new owner a great value.
 
Hi,

That might be true for PC's, but for Mac's that is wayy too much. You are basically saying $600 a year off? That means that my 2009 13" MBP (which I gave to my Father-in-law), would be worth nothing now. That is far from the truth. That number MIGHT be true for the high end models, but using that as a blanket statement is far from accurate.
Click to expand...

It is true. However, I don't think value is lineal. If you want to attract a customer who will see the new models when they come out, the first year may have a slightly bigger value taken off the 11" MBA. Perhaps some good $25 to $35, even $40 a month. At the end of the second year or third year, one can keep the product or give it to a relative. A 25-33% off the total price is not so unreal. Sure, these are great machines. My ibook lasted six and half years. I wonder if your market, where you will sell, retains more or less than the above mentioned percentage in order to sell it within, say, a month, when the time comes.

Kind regards,

igmolinav : ) !!!
 
From my experience, resale value drops around $100 per 6 months, and then plus $50 for every new hardware feature or enhancement introduced. So by now, the 2010 11" should be at $700 from its original $1000 price, which is about right. (12 months = $200, faster processors in the 2011 model, and backlit keyboard, each $50, so a total of $300 drop in value).

As more people purchase and trade Mac, the drop is only going to increase.
 
bill-p said:
From my experience, resale value drops around $100 per 6 months, and then plus $50 for every new hardware feature or enhancement introduced. So by now, the 2010 11" should be at $700 from its original $1000 price, which is about right. (12 months = $200, faster processors in the 2011 model, and backlit keyboard, each $50, so a total of $300 drop in value).

As more people purchase and trade Mac, the drop is only going to increase.
Click to expand...

It varies. Sometimes I think the reality distortion field applies to used pricing. Models that aren't in demand can depreciate way more (i3 imacs aren't that popular). Early adoption features like SSDs will drop off later as a 256GB SSD won't be very expensive. Even today, who really wants a 64GB drive? Your formula overall though seems like a good one.
 
igmolinav said:
Hi,

I have heard that taking $50 off the original value per month is a good resell value. But perhaps that is already too much since a computer is usually not gone or dead after the first year. $50 per month during a year pays the full value of almost any 11" MBA.

Kind regards,

igmolinav : ) !!!
Click to expand...

I think this number is just about right. It was my experience buying a 2010 11" and keeping in for 9 months. I think $50/month is pretty reasonable if you want to own on short cycle and upgrade every year. You certainly won't get that low of a depreciation cost with a Windows machine, plus Macs sell fast.
 
The resale is quite strong imho. i bought a used 41/2 yr old Macbook for 370.00, kept it 2 months sold it for 20.00 less than i paid for it, bought the 13 MBA and love it. Will probably keep for 3 yrs sell it take that money and apply it to a new one.
 
sostoobad said:
The resale is quite strong imho. i bought a used 41/2 yr old Macbook for 370.00, kept it 2 months sold it for 20.00 less than i paid for it, bought the 13 MBA and love it. Will probably keep for 3 yrs sell it take that money and apply it to a new one.
Click to expand...

Where did you buy/sell from/on? and which of the refurbished 11" airs in the store would you pick for holding value?

The 2010 base costs $700 while the 2011 base costs $850 (assuming base macs hold value the best)
 
VaioGrave said:
Where did you buy/sell from/on? and which of the refurbished 11" airs in the store would you pick for holding value?

The 2010 base costs $700 while the 2011 base costs $850 (assuming base macs hold value the best)
Click to expand...

More than likely Craigslist.. I did side work just buying/selling stuff off there for awhile and made a killer!
 
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