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sweet macbook Pro deal

gallagb

gallagb

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 28, 2004
461
0
IN
so my plan was to wait for REV B + Leopard... but this deal really would be hard to pass up-

on CL- near my house- a guy is selling
"15.4" MacBook Pro Intel Core Duo 2.16GHz Notebook
100GB Serial ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth
iWork '06 preinstalled
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
2GB 667 DDR2 - 2x1GB SO-DIMMs
MacBook Pro 15-inch Widescreen Display
SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)

AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook Pro

OfficeMac 2004, iWork '06, Adobe CS2, and more.
asking 1900 - it was purchased for 3400"

when i inquired within...
office disks incld
iwork was a pre-install
and the adobe would be illegal (so i'd have it deleted)

but- then when i pressed him on the price
i told him i could get the same deal off apple brand new for about $3000-3200 depending on where i got the software - edit: with edu discount- i'm a teacher @ a k-12 school
and since he was trying to sell it for 'half price' - that would come to around 1550 or so
he offered the machine to me @ 1650

it's a meet & test deal
so i'm most likely not going to get screwed

wow- getting a 3200 machine/software for 1650- holy cow!


is there anything else i should be asking this guy before the sale?
(i did also see pictures of the machine- and it looks to be in excellent condition)

thanks for any ideas!
 
It all sounds good to me...

gallagb said:
so my plan was to wait for REV B + Leopard... but this deal really would be hard to pass up-

on CL- near my house- a guy is selling
"15.4" MacBook Pro Intel Core Duo 2.16GHz Notebook
100GB Serial ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth
iWork '06 preinstalled
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
2GB 667 DDR2 - 2x1GB SO-DIMMs
MacBook Pro 15-inch Widescreen Display
SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)

AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook Pro

OfficeMac 2004, iWork '06, Adobe CS2, and more.
asking 1900 - it was purchased for 3400"

when i inquired within...
office disks incld
iwork was a pre-install
and the adobe would be illegal (so i'd have it deleted)

but- then when i pressed him on the price
i told him i could get the same deal off apple brand new for about $3000-3200 depending on where i got the software - edit: with edu discount- i'm a teacher @ a k-12 school
and since he was trying to sell it for 'half price' - that would come to around 1550 or so
he offered the machine to me @ 1650

it's a meet & test deal
so i'm most likely not going to get screwed

wow- getting a 3200 machine/software for 1650- holy cow!


is there anything else i should be asking this guy before the sale?
(i did also see pictures of the machine- and it looks to be in excellent condition)

thanks for any ideas!
Click to expand...

This all sounds very good to me... but my piece of advice would be to take someone with you. Preferably a big, strong man. Its never a good idea to do this sort of thing on your own anyway.

Other than that, I hope its all good (as it seems it is), and that you enjoy your new MBP!

David
 
yeah, enjoy the machine! You may want to buy applecare for it before the warranty runs out.

if you are the type to damage the machine yourself. then you may want to look into http://www.safeware.com/ it is laptop insurance. to protect against theft, damage and more.

no it won't replace applecare.
 
Wow, that sounds too good to be true. I mean, if he wanted to sell it on eBay or anywhere else, he'd get more money.

If you go test the machine, check everything ---- every part of the machine.
 
i agree.. sounds shady

at first

but i asked him about what he's up to...etc

he said he runs his own business- but it is going under
has to liquidate- and mentioned some bankruptcy stuff

rural western MA is a pretty odd place to find folks who are trying to rip you off

further- he's offering to drive about 70 min to meet me
i'm offering to drive about 40 min to meet him

so i'm acctually having faith in this one

further- i'm meeting him in a coffee shop
a pretty public place
i'm not too worried about being 'beaten up' etc

i'm being careful- but also taking advantage of this situation

what kinds of things should i test?
the coffee shop has wifi
so i'm planning on:
1) checking system profilier- to check the RAM, GHZ version...etc
2) checking the box to see that the proper disks are incld.
3) looking for external damage on the machine
4) running 'disk dr' to see if there are any major issues
5) checking all the documentation about the applecare he says he has (through may of 2009)
6) obviously checking the wifi- + safari or something
what else?
how could i check if it was stolen?
 
It's probably fine, but being a teacher, you should know how slimy people can be when they're not being watched.

Spend the extra dough, get your 10% from edu discount from Apple on a NEW computer and then you will save yourself the worry & grief if
1. stolen computer
2. something goes wrong with it (tech can go wrong really quick)
3. the seller lied about something
4. it becomes a dangerous situation

Once again, it's probably fine... but look at it this way:

with edu discount, the current MBP that is configured that way is
$2250
add extra ram: $140 from OWC

$2390 + tax

for a NEW computer direct from the manufacturer. buy your own software. Office in education discount is ~$70, iWork is ~$80

$2,540 + tax

for NEW computer & YOUR copy of the software

2540*1.0825-1650=
$1,100 for peace of mind

you do the math & make your decision. what would you tell your students if they asked you what to do in this situation?

Why is he selling it for half price? This computer is almost certainly only a few months old? Do you live in a really rich neighborhood?

If not, then how did he get it & why is he selling it so cheap? What is missing in this equation? Let us know how it goes.

It's probably fine, but I personally do not buy used cars, computers, or anything else of importance. I get new & really good, then maintenance well. That plan works for reliability & pays off in the long term.

Will this computer pay off in the long term?

is the ram good ram, or the crap they sell on MacMall & such?

Why is he willing to drive 70 minutes to make this sale? Would you drive that far? I wouldn't. I'd have the buyer come to me (I do).

Assuming he has all the documentation for it, he would have bought it in May. It's less than 5 months old. Ask him if he would let you write down his DL#. Although it could be fake, if he's for real, it shouldn't matter.

Pop the battery off the back of the computer (after flipping it over), there should be two gray bars, Ethernet ID on the left, Serial # on the right with a description of the processor & (1x1GB)

make sure it matches the serial number on the software under "about this mac" "more info"

still could be stolen, but you takes your chances.

the only way to know for sure (If it isn't stolen, not for hardware reliability), is to meet him at an apple store & have him make an appointment for Applecare through the Concierge. When he tells you what day & when, meet him there. If the "Genius" is taking his computer and looking at it/attempting to fix it, then it's probably good.

Good luck, let us know what happens. I vote for spending more & getting peace of mind.
 
It's probably fine, but being a teacher, you should know how slimy people can be when they're not being watched.

Spend the extra dough, get your 10% from edu discount from Apple on a NEW computer and then you will save yourself the worry & grief if
1. stolen computer
2. something goes wrong with it (tech can go wrong really quick)
3. the seller lied about something
4. it becomes a dangerous situation

Once again, it's probably fine... but look at it this way:

with edu discount, the current MBP that is configured that way is
$2250
add extra ram: $140 from OWC

$2390 + tax

for a NEW computer direct from the manufacturer. buy your own software. Office in education discount is ~$70, iWork is ~$80

$2,540 + tax

for NEW computer & YOUR copy of the software

2540*1.0825-1650=
$1,100 for peace of mind

you do the math & make your decision. what would you tell your students if they asked you what to do in this situation?

Why is he selling it for half price? This computer is almost certainly only a few months old? Do you live in a really rich neighborhood?

If not, then how did he get it & why is he selling it so cheap? What is missing in this equation? Let us know how it goes.

It's probably fine, but I personally do not buy used cars, computers, or anything else of importance. I get new & really good, then maintenance well. That plan works for reliability & pays off in the long term.

Will this computer pay off in the long term?

If you get the low end MBP, you can slim the difference down to ~$600. add a 1GB stick for 1.5 & you're set. Unless you plan to run a lot of pro apps often, that would be a great setup. get Office, & iWorks if you really need it. if the computer turns out to be stolen, will you return it and lose all your money or feel guilty for years? I sincerely hope this is legit if you decide to go that route.
 
Why would a seller be selling a MBP well under market value, and then driving 70 minutes to just "try" to make a sale? He's doing you a favour by selling it way undervalued, and then he goes so far as to drive 70 minutes to meet you instead of letting you drive 110 minutes to his place? :confused:


Sounds dodgier than before.
 
checked the serial #
it lines up w/ apple on the date he says he bought it
and when the applecare is up...etc

so....
looks valid enough for me to meet him tomorrow
might be a great deal!

we'll see
i'll let ya'll know
 
Yes, it sounds a bit dodgy, but... people who are in financial trouble will often sell things below value just to get money quickly, which could be the case. Or the guy doesn't really know how much it has depreciated.

If he has the original box, I'd argue that it's much less likely it's stolen.
 
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