Hi Dave. I am looking for two gently used MacBook laptops for my teen daughters. Personal computers would greatly facilitate their studies as they enter their senior year in High School and beyond.
General preferred specifications:
1. 2008 model year or newer
2. 13.3″ screen
3. white, black or aluminum body
Please let me know if you or anyone you know has recently upgraded and might be looking to sell their old computer.
This is a common question that I get and I thought it’d be useful to answer it here on my blog too, to help out more people. It’s tricky to buy used gear from someone you don’t know (think Craigslist) because it can be damaged, have physical problems, or even be stolen.
Yes, stolen.
Turns out that online classified and online person-to-person sales sites (add eBay to Craigslist) are the best pawnshop ever invented, and there are many listings that even say things like “Six sealed in-box, excess inventory”. It might be true, but it’s more likely that this is a thief dumping their goods. Caveat emptor.
Fortunately there are other options for a savvy buyer who seeks a good deal on used gear.
One site I really like is the Apple Store, which offers deals on refurbished computers. Sometimes the deals are just okay, but other times you can get 25% or more off a pristine piece of hardware. That’s just smart. In this case, The Refurbished Mac Page lists this as its cheapest MacBook offer:
Still too expensive? One good rule of thumb is to pay attention to the page and check it frequently. There are many stories of people grabbing the best deals Apple makes available within hours, so the options shown at 8pm might be quite different from those at 7:30am.
There are also a number of other online Mac stores that have refurbs and customer returns and can be great deals. One I like is Otherworld Computing, which has its own Mac Deals Page. Right now, the best offer’s quite a good one:
And another site, an Apple authorized reseller: PowerMax.com. The site has an extensive used Mac listing, including this cherry:
Between these options, you should be able to find two decent used MacBook computers for your high school daughters. Pay close attention to RAM memory and disk space: some of these used deals can be pretty stripped down, which can cause problems later. But with a bit of fiddling, you should be able to find some great deals out there. Good luck!
I purchased a refurbished macbook pro from Powermax:
https://www.powermax.com/productcategory/used-macs-macbook-pro-13-inch
The reason I bought from them was because they offer a 4 month warranty on used hardware and the customer feedback is quite good.
Buying or Selling? For those who live in New York there is a great store in Manhattan Chelsea, New York called Tekserve. They specialize in everything MAC from A – Z +. They sell them, fix them, trade ins, lease them out during your repairs so you don’t go without. And even sell refurbished models. I’ve been a customer for many years and they have always been top notch.
Tekserve
119 W. 23rd St. New York, NY 10011
Mon-Fri 9am-8pm | Sat 11am-6pm
Can you recommend sites for Macbook Pros in Canada?
Thanks very much. I like your site.
There’s also my favorite. I bought a MacBook Pro here and was able to still place an AppleCare additional 2 year plan since the first year wasn’t up yet.
http://www.macofalltrades.com/Apple-Laptops-s/5.htm