As many of you know, I’ve decided to sell my MacBook Pro [BLOG LINK], [EBAY LINK]. There have been quite a few inquiries as to why I’m selling my nearly new MacBook Pro. Great question!
The MacBook Pro 17″ w/ 3.06Ghz Processor was released the 2nd week of June at WWDC. I bought it on the 25th so it is only 4.5 months old. Apple will, most likely, be updating the MacBook Pro once the christmas shopping season is over and after Macworld Expo in February (which Apple won’t be attending) which puts me around March. Now, at the 5 month mark, the resale value goes from a slow down-tick to a fast plummet and when new models come out, it’s even worse.
I’ve experienced heartache with the wait and see approach before like my last 15″ MacBook Pro at 2.93Ghz got about 20% less than I thought it would because Apple added SD slot and a built-in battery about 2 months after I purchased it and bumped the clock speed up a bit. This change greatly affected the resale value.
Given that the next MacBook Pro is nearly certain to have Core i5 mobile chips (like the iMac does today), this means the resale value will be even lower because not only will they be updated but they’ll have a brand new processor generation (like the jump from CoreDuo to Core2Duo) and after 18 months with the same graphics subsystem, this will see a bump as well.
The iMacs, as you all know already have the Core i7 with a faster front-side bus and glorious beautiful 27″ monitor. The new iMacs will retain their current value at a 2-3% resale value drop each month until around May of 2010. At that point, Apple would have already released a brand new MacBook Pro w/ new processors and yours truly can sell the iMac and switch back to MacBook Pro.
It sounds to you like Adam is wasting a ton of money. No I’m not actually because with extras like AppleCare, a case, some vintage Apple Stickers and some other goodies that will boost the resale price. Without giving away actual numbers, after eBay collects its seller fees and after shipping I always come out even on what I paid for the machine. That’s right. EVEN. Every 6 months I get a new machine and I never invest any money into it except for the rare times when I went from MacBook to MacBook Pro or MacBook Pro 15 to 17 and so on.
Is it worth the trouble? It is for me but in the past 5 years I’ve owned about 13 Apple computers by doing this so yeah it takes work to follow trends but it’s nice having the latest machine especially when I’m not losing a lot of money in the resale transactions.
This makes a lot of sense Adam. I do the same with the iPhone 3GS every year. I plan on doing the same after I make the investment from my current Mid-2007 MacBook to a current generation Macbook Pro.
This makes a lot of sense Adam. I do the same with the iPhone 3GS every year. I plan on doing the same after I make the investment from my current Mid-2007 MacBook to a current generation Macbook Pro.
This makes a lot of sense Adam. I do the same with the iPhone 3GS every year. I plan on doing the same after I make the investment from my current Mid-2007 MacBook to a current generation Macbook Pro.
Cool man! Yeah, I frankly got tired of replying to everyone and trying to say within 140 characters why I'm selling it. It's not that I'm such rich asshole who can buy all of this stuff, I just have gotten the timing down pat and now exploit it.
Having a new machine is pretty sweet!
Cool man! Yeah, I frankly got tired of replying to everyone and trying to say within 140 characters why I’m selling it. It’s not that I’m such rich asshole who can buy all of this stuff, I just have gotten the timing down pat and now exploit it.nnHaving a new machine is pretty sweet!
Cool man! Yeah, I frankly got tired of replying to everyone and trying to say within 140 characters why I’m selling it. It’s not that I’m such rich asshole who can buy all of this stuff, I just have gotten the timing down pat and now exploit it.nnHaving a new machine is pretty sweet!