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Should I buy this Macbook Air? *urgent*

Q

QxxQ

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 15, 2013
2
0
Hi everyone

Looking for a bit of advice really...

A gentleman local to me is selling a Mac Air 11" mid-2011 Model with 64GB SSD and i5 processor (2GB RAM). Model: MC968LL/A

It was bought in Feb 2012 and thus the warranty has expired and AppleCare can't be purchased any more. Pictures indicate it is in as-new condition and the reason for sale is due to upgrading to the 2013 model. He has receipts for both the one he is selling and the 2013 one.

We agreed a deal of my iPad 2 16GB WiFi and £200 cash, providing we were both satisfied with the devices when we meet. The iPad I am trading is in excellent condition bar a few hairline scratches on the rear. The screen is prefect.

He says that the Apple system profile shows everything okay and that he will happily do the hardwear test in front of me.

Everything and the guy seems legitimate, but I am still a little apprehensive seeing as there is no warranty remaining.

So, my question is - do you think this is a fair deal and do you think this 15 month old Mac Air will be fine and last me? Upon talking to Apple, they said that Airs normally develop faults (pretty uncommon given Apple's reliability), between 1 and 3 years age.


Thanks for reading this and please help me out if you can :)

J
 
Last edited:
We currently have 3 13" Airs. A 2010, 2011, & a new 2013. Of the three I've had one software issue, 2011, and the new 2013 wouldn't charge. The 2011 was taken in to the genius bar and was resolved quickly. The 2013 was immediately returned and exchanged for the same model, without fuss, and has been flawless. The 2011 issue didn't affect performance except I couldn't change the desktop picture.

I'm not sure of the cost benefit/loss for you in this trade but I would feel confident in the trade if all systems work during inspection. I would be MUCH happier with an 11" Air instead of an iPad 2. iPads are great if they fit your personally niche. I prefer the Airs.
 
QxxQ said:
Pictures indicate it is is as-new condition and the reason for sale is due to upgrading to the 2013 model. He has receipts for both the one he is selling and the 2013 one.
Click to expand...

This is my first thought: Excellent pictures and flawless finish do not justify for a broken logic board, faulty SSD, damaged ports, noisy speakers, etc, etc.

The receipt of the old MBA doesn't help much since the MBA has no AppleCare.

My take, would be for you to test the machine to the best of your ability. Test things such as, SSD, ventilation, speakers, camera, ports, battery life, battery capacity and if you can throw in a CPU stress test which in turn can also tell you about how is the temperature on the machine.

If the seller agrees for you to test the machine throughly, and passes all the tests to your liking, then I would say you are good to go.

If the seller refuses the testing, then he may only be selling it as "it is", and he may be hiding something. (Unless he has no time, but can always schedule a different time).

This is how I would do it. You can never be too careful when strangers and money are in the same equation.

Edit: I am just giving you advice on the condition of the machine. At no instance, I have said anything about the amount of money or devices in exchange, that is up to you, since you are the one doing the business.
 
Could you meet up at an Pple store? Perhaps someone at the Genius Bar would be kind enough to inspect it?

I would be leary, personally...too many problems could fly under the radar if you don't know what to look for. Just IMHO. Good luck!
 
'My take, would be for you to test the machine to the best of your ability. Test things such as, SSD, ventilation, speakers, camera, ports, battery life, battery capacity and if you can throw in a CPU stress test which in turn can also tell you about how is the temperature on the machine.'

Hi there.

How would I go about testing all these things and how long would it take?


Thanks.
 
Actually, passing the hardware test is not a sure sign that there is nothing wrong with the laptop.

I had my 2012 air shutdown randomly on me like maybe once or twice a day. Hardware test was unable to detect anything wrong with it. Brought it down to my local apple service centre. Got it back in 3 working days, they swapped out the logic board, seems it was faulty. No problem since.
 
I gotta say, £200 is about $300 USD which is a really, really, really good price for a 2011 Air. They still sell for about $600 used online. You know what they say, if it's too good to be true...

At that price, it should be gone by now. Something smells really fishy.
 
Code.Red said:
I gotta say, £200 is about $300 USD which is a really, really, really good price for a 2011 Air. They still sell for about $600 used online. You know what they say, if it's too good to be true...

At that price, it should be gone by now. Something smells really fishy.
Click to expand...

he is giving him an iPad2 also.

its a pretty fair trade, slight advantage to you, imo.
 
MacLappy said:
Actually, passing the hardware test is not a sure sign that there is nothing wrong with the laptop.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is important to understand. Most of the hardware tests just test for the presence of certain components, and does not test every single functionality of said components.

Some of the very time consuming hardware tests do thoroughly test the RAM, but this takes upwards of an hour usually, and even then might not expose every potential issue with the RAM.

For example, my 1.5 year old 2011 MBA had a dieing SSD. It passed every hardware test perfectly, including the in-store one at the Genius bar. Ultimately, they had to swap out the SSD and Logic Board to fix it; though I still suspect swapping the Logic Board was not necessary.
 
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