Macs hold their value better than any other laptops ... imagine if that was an 11" Acer you were hoping to sell ... down 60% at best.
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Somebody told me a Mac keeps its value...
- Thread starter Mikegs
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Macs hold their value better than any other laptops ... imagine if that was an 11" Acer you were hoping to sell ... down 60% at best.
My experience is that Macs hold do hold their value quite well. I sold my 5 yr old blackbook for $500 ($1400 new). No previous Windows PC's I had even lasted 5 yrs, much less being re-sellable.
My 5 month old 13" Air sold for $1,000 a few days ago, giving me enough to justify the new base 13," which I love and will keep for two years minimum.
My 5 month old 13" Air sold for $1,000 a few days ago, giving me enough to justify the new base 13," which I love and will keep for two years minimum.
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I wouldn't recommend selling short term. Keep your Mac for a few years and then sell it.
At least they sell though - I didn't even know people bought second handed PCs.
At least they sell though - I didn't even know people bought second handed PCs.
The MacBook Air line has historically lost its value more quickly than any other in the lineup, because each generation has brought significant changes. As with any technology, buy it because you want it, and not for resale value. All tech loses value quickly. It's just a matter of how quickly.
Mac's do retain their value better but as you noted (and a friend of mine who upgraded his Air) this was a bit of a special case where there were drastic improvements model-to-model. If the new MBA was still C2D and slightly faster you'd have gotten more more money. Owners who are buying now will see that when the next update is released unless SSD prices decline and 256gb becomes standard.
Overall I think they do seem to hold value. However, they hold value well in the 2nd year on, not the first year. Here's an analogy that I think illustrates how to view this: Say you go to a Porsche dealer and buy a brand new 911 for $140,000. The dealer will say "these cars hold their value very well" but what could you sell that Porsche for after you drive it home? 140k, no. 130k, no. you'd probably have to sell it around 115k. If you try to sell that Porsche 4 years later and get 80-85k you've lost +/-40% or so of its value, or about 10% per year. As it ages the loss doesn't decline as rapidly - the curve smooths out. Laptops have a shorter lifespan so they depreciate badly the first year and the curve smooths out over years 2-4 but you'd better sell it around year 4 or it will start to rapidly depreciate again. Once they get over 5 years it seems they are are worth less than 15% of their original value.
This depreciation is worse with PC laptops.
This depreciation is worse with PC laptops.
have to 110% disagree. as i mentioned above i waited 6 months for the Air to be out for a bit and bought it used on Craigs for $800 and then sold it for $850 5 months or so later. bought another 2.5GHz 4GB ram 13" Pro over a year ago again on Craigs for $750 and sold it about a year later for $900.
only time i have not gotten my money back or made money is when i buy them new and when i buy new ones i sell them after about a year and generally loose about $200-$250 dollars. have been doing this for a very long time with a lot of macs and it has always been the same.
you can be a smart buyer and also a smart seller. sometimes not both
I think you are both a smart buy and a smart seller, but this also takes a lot of time both migrating files and then going and meeting with strangers, with the risk that they might be criminals. You also have to take into account the value of your time in doing this. If you spend 10 hours doing these transactions and your wage is $20 an hour, your opportunity cost is substantial... For me, its just not worth the trouble, but you might find the process more fun
I look at it this way: After a few years, you can barely give away a PC laptop. While a Macbook still can be sold for a decent percent.
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what people get for them and what they think they are worth are sometimes differant. People around here try to sell 2009 macbook pros for $1000 when you can get a refurb for 1049 plus tax on a 2011 model. I base what its worth by what it goes for on the refurb store. List it at that price so people save the tax and go up to $50-100 lower if you need to
what people get for them and what they think they are worth are sometimes differant. People around here try to sell 2009 macbook pros for $1000 when you can get a refurb for 1049 plus tax on a 2011 model. I base what its worth by what it goes for on the refurb store. List it at that price so people save the tax and go up to $50-100 lower if you need to
A MAC still retains value quite well. I had a discussion with a reseller a few weeks ago when the new MBA was introduced. I have a 13" MBA Ultimate or whatever people call it, and it lost 30% also. The guy said that the market was immediately swamped with second hand 2010 MBA's that the price was going down rapidly. He said this happens almost always when a major upgrade is introduced. Usually the price even goes a up bit again after a while.
I decided to keep my 13" and forget about the faster processor speed and thunderbolt. I bought an 27" LCD display in stead with mini-displayport. Great buy.
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It really depends on what the upgrade is. In the case of the current MacBook Air, getting 4GB ram will not hurt resale value, in fact it will most likely help as having 2GB of non upgradable RAM will be even less desirable in the future. On the other hand, if you plan on spending the extra money to get a core i7 over an i5, don't expect to get that difference back when reselling, you will not get much more, if anything at all, for an i7 over an i5 in a year's time. As for the SSD, because the 256GB drive is so overpriced, I'd say in the long run, you'd lose out there reselling as well.
If you want to minimize loss when reselling, the best combo would be the base 13' or the 128GB 11' with nothing else upgraded.
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have to 110% disagree. as i mentioned above i waited 6 months for the Air to be out for a bit and bought it used on Craigs for $800 and then sold it for $850 5 months or so later. bought another 2.5GHz 4GB ram 13" Pro over a year ago again on Craigs for $750 and sold it about a year later for $900.
only time i have not gotten my money back or made money is when i buy them new and when i buy new ones i sell them after about a year and generally loose about $200-$250 dollars. have been doing this for a very long time with a lot of macs and it has always been the same.
you can be a smart buyer and also a smart seller. sometimes not both
This is a "life" rule of thumb that works across the board for any purchases. in the Apple world, the only thing I have seen that might be the exception are iphones going to new model from the most recent model. Of course, factor in accessories that no longer fit the new model...and I lost.
I'll wait for the next Macbook Air next year, as I bet it will be even better.
just traded in my 4 years old black macbook at Bestbuy today. It was 1499 at the time i bought it. 2.2C2D/2G ram/160g HD. I got $502 STORE credit for it. IMO not so bad for a 4 years old laptop. Bought the 11 inch MBA 4g ram/128ssd for like 700 more. Not so bad I guess. But just like lots of people on here, the wifi on the mine keep dropping. Only on the "N" connection. "G" is fine. weird.
And of course there's nothing wrong with a 2010 Ultimate 13" Air that should really make you want to sell it after only a year... In day to day browsing, emailing, typing, you'll barely notice the difference between it and the 2011; if you're doing something that's processor-intensive you probably shouldn't have bought a C2D anyway...
@OP,
Looking at Craigslist or the current auction prices on eBay will NOT give you a sense of the actual values of used Macs.
You need to look at Macs' prices that completed sales.
Go to eBay and make sure that under the "Advanced" search, you check the "Completed Listings Only" option.
This will show the actual final sale prices which will give you a great way to judge the recent market prices.
The last gen MBA owners probably did take a greater than usual depreciation hit, but look at the prices for the MBPs on the used market. Compared to HP, Dell, Acer, Apple laptops hold their value very well.
Looking at Craigslist or the current auction prices on eBay will NOT give you a sense of the actual values of used Macs.
You need to look at Macs' prices that completed sales.
Go to eBay and make sure that under the "Advanced" search, you check the "Completed Listings Only" option.
This will show the actual final sale prices which will give you a great way to judge the recent market prices.
The last gen MBA owners probably did take a greater than usual depreciation hit, but look at the prices for the MBPs on the used market. Compared to HP, Dell, Acer, Apple laptops hold their value very well.
What he is saying is that if you know you are going to upgrade every year or two, buy the cheapest model that will last that long. "Ultimate" models lose their value more quickly than base models. Remember, the cost to Apple is about $60 for every extra $100 they charge. That margin is the first to go.
2 years from now, as far as resale, it won't matter much whether your 2011 MacBook Air has a 1.6GHz i5 or a 1.8GHz i7. The i7 might get $50 more (maybe) compared to the extra $150 it cost today. Even 1 year from now it won't make that much difference. Buy "ultimates" or "upgrades" if you need the space or you intend to keep it for a while, though even then, arguably you may be better off financially with a mid-range model that "does the job."
Consider that in November 2008, I purchased an "Ultimate" MacBook Air of its day for $2400 (1.8GHz C2D, 128GB SSD). The "base" was about $1400. I sold it 2 years later for about $800, which was a decline in value of $1600, greater than the purchase price of the base. Purely from a financial perspective, the base would have been a better purchase since I could have given it away and have had more money. I went for the Ultimate because I wanted the SSD, and not because I thought it would hold its value. That's the same with the 11" Ultimate I purchased last month.
My old, very slow PowerBook G4 sold on Gumtree (an Australian version of Craigslist) for around $200 and I was quite happy with that price after searching eBay to find them all around that price point.
On eBay some Acer Extensa notebooks are going for $300 and compared to the PowerBook make it look like a super computer, so yes I guess Macs retain their value a bit better than most PCs.
On eBay some Acer Extensa notebooks are going for $300 and compared to the PowerBook make it look like a super computer, so yes I guess Macs retain their value a bit better than most PCs.
Macs do retain their value. However, you have to look at the market for any particular item.
A laptop losing only 30% of its value in a year is actually quite amazing. You won't find that in any other laptops. Try buying anything and see what it sells for a year later. You won't get $700 for a $1000 laptop, I guarantee you. If you buy a $1000 laptop today (any Windows-based laptop), you'll get $500 for it in a year if it was a good buy in the first place. That's no fault of the Windows-based laptops... it's just that when it comes to Macs, the market is easier to resell in.
The reason why your Macbook Air lost 30% of its value in a year is because of the major leap the Macbook Airs took recently. They jumped from old C2D processors to up-to-date Quad-Core i5/i7 Sandy Bridge solutions. Had the processors jumped from i3/i5 processors (previous gen) to Sandy Bridge, you probably would've only seen a 20% drop or something minor.
So you really do have to look at the situation. Part of the reason why I bought into the Macbook Air this year is because next year's release likely won't be considered as large a jump. I'm only expecting a resale value of something like 75% though (not including taxes)... so I think I'll get $850-$900 on the resale of my Air. I might get less though. Who knows.
Think of it this way though:
If you resell for 70% of what you paid every year and get a new Macbook Air every year, then you get a total of 4 Macbook Airs for the cost of having bought two. In the end you get to keep one. So 2011 you get one, 2012 you get another, 2013 you get your third, 2014 you get your last one in that three year cycle. Total cost is the cost of two Macbook Airs. What do you get out of it? Four years of warranty (that's better than 3-year Applecare), and you get to keep up on all the new stuff. Four years is about how long I keep any given laptop anyways, so why not just resell every year right?
