what can I get for USD1000

[keiji11]

#1
I have the a 2015 12 MacBook but recently I have to use windows at work. I tried to install vm and its just too lagy plus my gf wants a new laptop so as and excuse I'm giving the 12' to her and get a MacBook pro for myself.

My budget is around USD1000. Looking around the second-hand market I found 2 machine that I'm interested it.

1. 13" macbook pro 2015 8G/256G 42battery cycles USD850 no warranty

2. 13" macbook pro 2016 8G/256G 20battery cycles USD900 no warranty

Personally I prefer the 2015 keyboard but since apple have the keyboard replacement program for the 2016 MacBook pros I can replace the battery and to 2nd G butterfly keyboard for free.

Which one do you guys think is worth or both not worth at all?
As I don't need it urgently should I wait till thanks giving for better deal?
Can USD1000 likely to get me a new/apple refurbish 2015/2016/2017 13 MacBook pro 8G/256G in thanks giving deals?

Thanks

 

[maflynn]

I would opt for the 2015 over the 2016 given the keyboard issues.

 

[lambertjohn]

I would opt for the 2015 over the 2016 given the keyboard issues.

Listen to maflynn; he's a wise man.

 

[maflynn]

Listen to maflynn; he's a wise man.

Don't talk to my wife then

 

[deeddawg]

recently I have to use windows at work. I tried to install vm and its just too lagy plus my gf wants a new laptop so as and excuse I'm giving the 12' to her and get a MacBook pro for myself.

My budget is around USD1000. Looking around the second-hand market I found 2 machine that I'm interested it.

1. 13" macbook pro 2015 8G/256G 42battery cycles USD850 no warranty
2. 13" macbook pro 2016 8G/256G 20battery cycles USD900 no warranty

What's your memory pressure (see Activity Monitor->Memory) on the 2015 rMB12 running the VM?

Reason I ask -- in my opinion 8GB RAM is a little tight for running VMs. Since the two systems you're considering are both 8GB RAM, I'd be concerned you won't improve matters.

My suggestion is first wait until mid-September to see if a new retina Macbook or Macbook Air is released. Meanwhile determine the real bottleneck with your current system. That then should help with determining what to choose going forward.

 

[keiji11]

thanks for your reply. Acutually it eats most of the ram memory but i thought a faster cpu will help.

What's your memory pressure (see Activity Monitor->Memory) on the 2015 rMB12 running the VM?

Reason I ask -- in my opinion 8GB RAM is a little tight for running VMs. Since the two systems you're considering are both 8GB RAM, I'd be concerned you won't improve matters.

My suggestion is first wait until mid-September to see if a new retina Macbook or Macbook Air is released. Meanwhile determine the real bottleneck with your current system. That then should help with determining what to choose going forward.

 

[deeddawg]

thanks for your reply. Acutually it eats most of the ram memory but i thought a faster cpu will help.

Activity Monitor can also give you a sense of how much the CPU is impacted. If it's maxing out with a VM running, then yes it be the bottleneck -- but in general, the CPU is not typically the bottleneck for virtual machines. Watch Activity Monitor as you try some stuff and see what it tells you.

 

[sosumi99]

thanks for your reply. Acutually it eats most of the ram memory but i thought a faster cpu will help.

The measure that you care about is the "Memory Pressure" -- if it's in the orange or red, then RAM is the issue, and the faster CPU will barely yield you much improvement, I'm afraid.

 

[keiji11]

Activity Monitor can also give you a sense of how much the CPU is impacted. If it's maxing out with a VM running, then yes it be the bottleneck -- but in general, the CPU is not typically the bottleneck for virtual machines. Watch Activity Monitor as you try some stuff and see what it tells you.

this is what the activity monitor looks like. As the cpu is over 100% I thought its the cpu issue

 

[826317]

#1
I have the a 2015 12 MacBook but recently I have to use windows at work. I tried to install vm and its just too lagy plus my gf wants a new laptop so as and excuse I'm giving the 12' to her and get a MacBook pro for myself.

My budget is around USD1000. Looking around the second-hand market I found 2 machine that I'm interested it.

1. 13" macbook pro 2015 8G/256G 42battery cycles USD850 no warranty

2. 13" macbook pro 2016 8G/256G 20battery cycles USD900 no warranty

Personally I prefer the 2015 keyboard but since apple have the keyboard replacement program for the 2016 MacBook pros I can replace the battery and to 2nd G butterfly keyboard for free.

Which one do you guys think is worth or both not worth at all?
As I don't need it urgently should I wait till thanks giving for better deal?
Can USD1000 likely to get me a new/apple refurbish 2015/2016/2017 13 MacBook pro 8G/256G in thanks giving deals?

Thanks

You say that you can get it replaced for free which is only true if it hasn't already been replaced once. At least that's what I would think. 40 / 20 battery cycles sound to me like they have already been replaced once.

 

[keiji11]

You say that you can get it replaced for free which is only true if it hasn't already been replaced once. At least that's what I would think. 40 / 20 battery cycles sound to me like they have already been replaced once.

I checked with the seller and they told me nothing is replaced. Do you think USD850 for a 2015 MacBook pro a good deal?

 

[Painter2002]

At the price point you are looking at, I would go with the 2015 13" MBP model. The 2016 seemed to have the larger number of keyboard issues than the later years, and the keyboard repair program will only cover you to 2020, after that it will cost you upwards of $600+ to repair the keyboard if you get keyboard issues.

The 2015 is plenty powerful, definitely should be able to run a VM without too much issue. Depending on how many VMs you plan on running at once, the 8GB RAM might be a slight bottleneck that will slow the system a bit, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. At your budget the 2015 should be a good deal.
[doublepost=1535553260][/doublepost]

I checked with the seller and they told me nothing is replaced. Do you think USD850 for a 2015 MacBook pro a good deal?

I don't know which processor is in the 2015 model, but it does sound just a tad high if it's a private or eBay sale. I think most base models of the 2015 13" are going for the $700s on the private market. But at the same time the battery cycle is low, which does make it slightly more valuable since it should last longer before needing a battery replacement.

 

[keiji11]

At the price point you are looking at, I would go with the 2015 13" MBP model. The 2016 seemed to have the larger number of keyboard issues than the later years, and the keyboard repair program will only cover you to 2020, after that it will cost you upwards of $600+ to repair the keyboard if you get keyboard issues.

The 2015 is plenty powerful, definitely should be able to run a VM without too much issue. Depending on how many VMs you plan on running at once, the 8GB RAM might be a slight bottleneck that will slow the system a bit, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. At your budget the 2015 should be a good deal.
[doublepost=1535553260][/doublepost]
I don't know which processor is in the 2015 model, but it does sound just a tad high if it's a private or eBay sale. I think most base models of the 2015 13" are going for the $700s on the private market. But at the same time the battery cycle is low, which does make it slightly more valuable since it should last longer before needing a battery replacement.

thanks for your reply. I think the base model is 128G so its a bit higher than $700s. Thanks anyway.

 

[Painter2002]

thanks for your reply. I think the base model is 128G so its a bit higher than $700s. Thanks anyway.

Correct, but honestly on resell values, the 256GB won't go for a whole lot more than 128GB. Still seems just a bit high IMO.

For example, if you go on eBay, you will see many are listed for $700s. Here is an example of one that sounds similar to what you are looking at with 256GB storage: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2015-Apple...443224&hash=item5b4bba3d7d:g:jJMAAOSwh6VbhaFz

All I am saying is just to look around and make sure you are getting a good price.

 

[826317]

I checked with the seller and they told me nothing is replaced. Do you think USD850 for a 2015 MacBook pro a good deal?

Is the 2016 model with Touch Bar? If it's with touch bar I would definitely go with that. Even if it's not with touch bar I would still go for it since it's the newer of both and there is only a $50 difference.

 

[keiji11]

Is the 2016 model with Touch Bar? If it's with touch bar I would definitely go with that. Even if it's not with touch bar I would still go for it since it's the newer of both and there is only a $50 difference.

no its the non touch bar version. But I won't go for the touch bar anyway.

 

[Nbd1790]

I think you should take a look on craigslist & ebay and scour for a deal. I did the same for about two weeks before I found what I was looking for at a reasonable price. I paid $900 for a mint 2015 13 inch retina with i7 16gb RAM and 500gb SSD AND still has Applecare until the middle of next year.

A lot of people ask absurd prices (and even noticed I can resell this thing on ebay for a small profit). But the prices you mentioned in your OP seem a little high. I probably would have hoped to get those models at least $150 lower on each.

I also had a colleague who purchased a used Macbook Air off of ebay for about $750 (i7 8gb RAM 512 SSD w/ Applecare)

Take a look around and find a decent seller and you'll get much more at that price point.

 

[keiji11]

I think you should take a look on craigslist & ebay and scour for a deal. I did the same for about two weeks before I found what I was looking for at a reasonable price. I paid $900 for a mint 2015 13 inch retina with i7 16gb RAM and 500gb SSD AND still has Applecare until the middle of next year.

A lot of people ask absurd prices (and even noticed I can resell this thing on ebay for a small profit). But the prices you mentioned in your OP seem a little high. I probably would have hoped to get those models at least $150 lower on each.

I also had a colleague who purchased a used Macbook Air off of ebay for about $750 (i7 8gb RAM 512 SSD w/ Applecare)

Take a look around and find a decent seller and you'll get much more at that price point.

thanks for your advice! I found another MacBook pro which I am interested in:

1. 13" macbook pro 2015 16G/256G 191battery cycles USD820 no warranty some scratches in the corner

Is this as good deal as its have 16G ram? Is 191battery cycle count very bad?

Thanks

 

[Painter2002]

thanks for your advice! I found another MacBook pro which I am interested in:

1. 13" macbook pro 2015 16G/256G 191battery cycles USD820 no warranty some scratches in the corner

Is this as good deal as its have 16G ram? Is 191battery cycle count very bad?

Thanks

So long as there is no other damage on the machine, that is a much better deal than the other machine you are looking at. The dent doesn't look too terrible, nothing at least that should have harmed any of the internals.

16GB of RAM is kind of the sweet spot of what you want right now and in the future, and it will definitely help you a lot when using VMs.

191 battery cycles is not bad at all considering its a 3 year old device, I would take that deal so long as everything else looks good.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

You could get a refurbished 2017 (a little over $1,000 + taxes).

It’s a solid machine, warrantied until 2021 (think free AppleCare).

 

[Painter2002]

You could get a refurbished 2017 (a little over $1,000 + taxes).

It’s a solid machine, warrantied until 2021 (think free AppleCare).

I agree with this, I have actually bought a couple Apple products (including my current 2017 MBP, and have never had any hardware issues with their refurbished products).

I only didn’t suggest this because OP said the budget is $1000, but i agree if OP could flex the budget just a little you can get a decent refurbished from Apple, and it’s a safer purchase all in all (no risks of buying someone else’s lemon)

 

[keiji11]

You could get a refurbished 2017 (a little over $1,000 + taxes).

It’s a solid machine, warrantied until 2021 (think free AppleCare).

thanks for your advice. But I'm looking at the refurbished macbook now and the 2017's is $1,099/128G. The 256G cost like $1,269 which way out of my budget.

 

[Garage Battle]

or you could wait a few weeks and let apple hopefully show us cool things that don't have touch bars.

 

[keiji11]

or you could wait a few weeks and let apple hopefully show us cool things that don't have touch bars.

you mean like macbook air with retina?I hope they do but i reli doubt it as the 12 macbook have already replace the mba line. There’s no point that apple will produce a cheaper product.

 

[keiji11]

i found another deal what do u guys think?

13 macbook pro 2017 non touch bar
8G/256G 40battery cycle warranty till jul2020

$1050