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Which MBA should I sell?

F

finsfanscott

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 20, 2013
23
2
Miami
Hello everyone,
I am planning on getting a new MacBook. I currently have a early 2015 8/256 MBA, and my wife has a mid 2013 MBA 8/256. Currently Gazelle is offering $440 (good condition, $485 for flawless) for the 2015, and $307 (good condition, $345 flawless) for the 2013. If I sold the 2013, I'd give my wife the 2015. If I sold the 2015, my wife would keep the 2013 (she doesn't really care or want a new computer). I suspect the spec/performance differences between the two computers are relatively small, wasn't sure if there was some other "improvement" that I wasn't aware of that would make a stronger case for keeping one over the other.

Welcome your thoughts!
 
Newer is usually better however the differences between the 2013 and 2015 MBA are pretty minor and are limited to a modest increase in CPU and GPU performance that most people wouldn't even notice in everyday usage. It's really just a matter of whether the extra $130-140 is worth it to you.
 
Would you consider selling it through a different channel? I sold my 2010 13" MBA (1.86GHz, 4GB, 128GB) for 200€ a month ago, so Gazelle's offerings seem fairly low, especially for the 2015 model. I think you should be able to get at least $600-700 for the 2015 model since it's the latest version at the moment.

As said above, the differences between 2013 and 2015 are minor, so I would sell the 2015 as it has better resale value. Selling through Craigslist or similar is quite easy - just make sure you sell it face-to-face in a public place and accept cash only.
 
I also have a 2013 MBA and am very happy with it, I don't think the 2015 offers enough to be worth upgrading. However, I believe they slightly increased the battery life on the newer machines. The SSD is also faster. Not certain, these changes might only apply to the 13" models though.

The other thing to consider is that the battery will need replacing 2 years sooner on the 2013 machine. So you could be looking at $150 for a new battery in the next few years which would pretty much account for the difference in sale prices.
 
bodonnell202 said:
Newer is usually better however the differences between the 2013 and 2015 MBA are pretty minor and are limited to a modest increase in CPU and GPU performance that most people wouldn't even notice in everyday usage. It's really just a matter of whether the extra $130-140 is worth it to you.
Click to expand...
Consider also the support and the battery cycle. The newer still the better.
 
Isamilis said:
Consider also the support and the battery cycle. The newer still the better.
Click to expand...
True. It depends how many cycles the battery has seen. Battery life on my 2013 MBA is still great but it wouldn't be the same for everyone. I forgot that the SSD in the 13" MBA (not sure which model we are talking about here) was upgraded as well, but both have very speedy PCI-e storage so I don't think that will make a huge difference. I also agree with the poster that suggests that you can get more money selling it (either model) using another method, it will be more work though...
 
I think the 13" SSD is significantly faster on the newer models, around 800 Mbytes/sec on the 2013 and almost 1Gbyte/sec on the new ones. In real world use, it probably doesn't make a big difference unless you are doing something that really pounds on the SSD.
 
IMO, sell the one that's the least hassle. Since both machines are built with the same technology and your wife is happy with the performance from hers. Sell the latter machine, you'll realize the most profit and least hassle.

And if there's anything I've learned about women during my 77 years on earth, it's don't give them something they don't want. They'll find some way to find fault with it. Trust me on this!

Lou
 
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