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Orangeman13

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 3, 2015
786
659
So if I trade in my 16 inch MacBook Pro M1 can I bring it in the store to get credit towards an M3 MacBook Pro?
 

jagolden

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2002
1,571
1,481
Yes.
Make sure the M1 has been totally backed-up, Find My turned off, and the device completely wiped.

That said, you’d get more money from selling it yourself. Depends on how much of a hassle it is for you.
 

magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,989
2,343
is the M3 that much better that I should upgrade from the M1?
only you can answer that if you truly need the performance. The M1 is still no slouch. The M1 macbooks have all taken big hits to value recently, so you're looking at only a $100-$200 price delta between trade in and paying the ebay extortion and shipping fees. You also run the risk of being scammed and being out of money and a laptop. You can also brave offerup/craigslist, but I hope you can defend yourself and get used to $500 lowball offers for your macbook.
 
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Orangeman13

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 3, 2015
786
659
only you can answer that if you truly need the performance. The M1 is still no slouch. The M1 macbooks have all taken big hits to value recently, so you're looking at only a $100-$200 price delta between trade in and paying the ebay extortion and shipping fees. You also run the risk of being scammed and being out of money and a laptop. You can also brave offerup/craigslist, but I hope you can defend yourself and get used to $500 lowball offers for your macbook.
wow - I can get a little over 1,000 from apple
 
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magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,989
2,343
wow - I can get a little over 1,000 from apple
Look at all the sold listings on ebay to see what the market value is for your M1 Macbook. Calculate seller and shipping fees and that's your net profit. For me, I was looking at roughly $200 difference. I'd rather just eat the $200 for piece of mind. We've got too many shady characters here in southern Cali to make it worth my time to sell it locally.
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
35,411
51,924
In the middle of several books.
If I don't hand down to family, I either do a trade-in with Apple or sell on the forum. I wouldn't mess with eBay or Swappa.

You can do the trade-in at the store and if you aren't ready to purchase, you can get gift cards for the trade-in to use any time you want. I have done that numerous times.
 
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Sheepish-Lord

macrumors 68020
Oct 13, 2021
2,488
5,067
You would have to complete the trade in and order in store.
Not necessarily true. Plenty of times I’ve bought online then did a trade in at the store so I don’t risk it getting damaged. They applied the trade in credit towards the online order.
 
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theorist9

macrumors 68040
May 28, 2015
3,821
3,008
only you can answer that if you truly need the performance. The M1 is still no slouch. The M1 macbooks have all taken big hits to value recently, so you're looking at only a $100-$200 price delta between trade in and paying the ebay extortion and shipping fees. You also run the risk of being scammed and being out of money and a laptop. You can also brave offerup/craigslist, but I hope you can defend yourself and get used to $500 lowball offers for your macbook.
Yeah, I just checked. Apple offers $1070 for a 16" M1 MBP w/ 16 GB/1TB, and the average sellling price on eBay is $1,350, which works out to $1,170 after their 13.5% fee (not including what you'll have to pay for shipping, plus the hassle).

OTOH, if the equation is entirely different for my 2019 iMac (partly because I've upgraded the SSD and RAM, and Apple's trade-in value doesn't include the upgrades I've done; indeed, I'd need to restore it to the original config before trading in to Apple, which would be a pain for the SSD). Selling price on eBay for my current config should be about $1,400 (and I could probably get more, b/c mine still has AC+), while Apple offers only $495.
 
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tstafford

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2022
989
905
Unless they've changed things, you should be able to take the old machine to the store and get an Apple gift card. Then you can purchase the new machine on line or whatever.

I had a bad experience mailing in an iPad on trade. Since then I only trade in at the store.
 

3SQ Machine

macrumors 6502
Dec 8, 2019
354
203
I found that Apple seems to consistently offer the highest trade-in of the "easy" options. Unfortunately--unless going refurb and the occasional ed discount--they consistently ask the highest prices. My base 16" M1 MBP fetches $1005 @ Apple and $850 at Best Buy. Closest competitor is macsales for trade-in at $974.

If looking to upgrade (by the way, in my opinion the most significant difference is GPU performance, otherwise no), try shopping price differences after trade-in. The sales at Best Buy actually made it cheaper for me to take their lower trade-in value and upgrade to an M3 Pro 16"--but that's only because I can find an base open box 16" MBP for sub $2100 at local stores. YMMV

By the way, I DIDN'T upgrade. Walked (actually ran) away from an 16" M3 Pro yesterday that was priced at $2041--it was OB in excellent condition. I almost walked out with it. But the performance differences for my work are marginal and the M1 Pro is just such a reliable machine for what I do. Although that SB color on the 16" is really quite spectacular, I knew it was just a "novelty" purchase for the new color, not for any logical reason...Dang Apple Marketing.
 
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magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,989
2,343
I found that Apple seems to consistently offer the highest trade-in of the "easy" options. Unfortunately--unless going refurb and the occasional ed discount--they consistently ask the highest prices. My base 16" M1 MBP fetches $1005 @ Apple and $850 at Best Buy. Closest competitor is macsales for trade-in at $974.

If looking to upgrade (by the way, in my opinion the most significant difference is GPU performance, otherwise no), try shopping price differences after trade-in. The sales at Best Buy actually made it cheaper for me to take their lower trade-in value and upgrade to an M3 Pro 16"--but that's only because I can find an base open box 16" MBP for sub $2100 at local stores. YMMV

By the way, I DIDN'T upgrade. Walked (actually ran) away from an 16" M3 Pro yesterday that was priced at $2041--it was OB in excellent condition. I almost walked out with it. But the performance differences for my work are marginal and the M1 Pro is just such a reliable machine for what I do. Although that SB color on the 16" is really quite spectacular, I knew it was just a "novelty" purchase for the new color, not for any logical reason...Dang Apple Marketing.
The thing is, if you want a BTO (I'm still baffled why the M3Max unbinned chip still comes with just a measly 1TB SSD), you're stuck with Apple mostly. I still like my M1Max MBP 16, but I traded it in as the 1TB SSD is just too limiting for video editing.

Unless they've changed things, you should be able to take the old machine to the store and get an Apple gift card. Then you can purchase the new machine on line or whatever.

I had a bad experience mailing in an iPad on trade. Since then I only trade in at the store.
Same here. The horrid 3rd party that Apple uses for trade in, will ALWAYS mark down your trade in. Taking it to the Apple store will usually give you the best value short of a huge dent/scratch or a cracked screen.
 

Orangeman13

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 3, 2015
786
659
So if I go into the Apple Store to buy the M3 MacBook Pro, do I have to bring my current MacBook that I'm going to be trading in with me or can I keep it to transfer all my data and then send it into Apple tomorrow or Tuesday?
 

magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,989
2,343
So if I go into the Apple Store to buy the M3 MacBook Pro, do I have to bring my current MacBook that I'm going to be trading in with me or can I keep it to transfer all my data and then send it into Apple tomorrow or Tuesday?
Buy the new MacBook. Take home to transfer data, come back to Apple Store and then apply towards your invoice for a partial refund. Whatever you do, don’t mail it in!
 

3SQ Machine

macrumors 6502
Dec 8, 2019
354
203
Buy the new MacBook. Take home to transfer data, come back to Apple Store and then apply towards your invoice for a partial refund. Whatever you do, don’t mail it in!
A couple years ago when I traded in my iMac they let me do the migration right there at the genius bar so I could get everything done in one shot. Granted, it was a slow(er) Saturday night--and a couple years ago. YMMV
 

magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,989
2,343
A couple years ago when I traded in my iMac they let me do the migration right there at the genius bar so I could get everything done in one shot. Granted, it was a slow(er) Saturday night--and a couple years ago. YMMV
I mean you could do that, but my local Apple store is so crazy busy and packed that I wouldn't recommend it. Plus the wifi is so congested it would take ages unless you plugged them together.
 

Orangeman13

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 3, 2015
786
659
anyone know if I have to return my MacBook Pro charger when I send it back in on a trade in?
 
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