Where's the best place to find a lovely second hand Mac laptop?

[Goldstone Rapper]

I'm looking to buy a 2nd hand Mac laptop - preferably a MacBook Air or Pro in good nick to replace my ageing MacBook from 2006. Obviously, a new one would be best - however, I'm not willing or able to splash the full price for one at the moment. Cheapskate, I know!

The most high end thing i'd be doing on it would be running Adobe CS 5 and iMovie 11.

Besides Gumtree, does anyone know anywhere where I can get a good deal? I'm based in Brighton & Hove.

 

[clippedgull]

What sort of budget do you have?

I have the top spec current 13inch Macbook Air (6 months old) and i'm looking to upgrade to a Macbook Pro.

2.13ghz Core 2 Duo
4GB Ram
256GB Flash Storage

are the specs

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I have a budget of £500.

What figure were you thinking of putting on your MacBook Air?

 

[clippedgull]

I have a budget of £500.

What figure were you thinking of putting on your MacBook Air?

A lot more than that i'm afraid!

circa £1,000 (cost £1500!)

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Understandably!

 

[Bozza]

I'd knock out that Air ASAP if I were you as its about not to be 'current' with the Sandy Bridge/Thunderbolt revisions coming out imminently.

 

[Superphil]

Thats the trouble with Macs, you have them for 6 months, then they're obselete, or can you upgrade them?

 

[clippedgull]

I'd knock out that Air ASAP if I were you as its about not to be 'current' with the Sandy Bridge/Thunderbolt revisions coming out imminently.

Yes, I'm about to stick it on a few forums to see if I get any 'bites'. Although the new revisions are imminent I'm not expecting too big a hit on my valuation! It's a shame Apple don't do trade ins!

 

[Bozza]

Thats the trouble with Macs, you have them for 6 months, then they're obselete, or can you upgrade them?

5 or 6 year old Macs are far from obsolete - a 6 month old one won't be. This isn't a major revision - Apple are on annual release cycles for nearly all products now, but I'd expect it to impact resale values of what will become the older model.

 

[Superphil]

5 or 6 year old Macs are far from obsolete - a 6 month old one won't be. This isn't a major revision - Apple are on annual release cycles for nearly all products now, but I'd expect it to impact resale values of what will become the older model.

I'd knock out that Air ASAP if I were you.

Is that the same Bozza?

 

[Scampi]

Bloody hell you don't get a lot for your money with a mac.

 

[JetsetJimbo]

Have you thought about checking the refurb macs from Apple? The deals change day-to-day (as you'd expect, if you stop and think about it for a mo) but at the time of writing they've got a perfectly decent 2010 MBP for 800 quid, which I'd be eyeing up myself if I hadn't just ordered a 2011 model yesterday! Plus you get the benefit of Apple's (normally) superb customer service if anything goes wrong. Take a look at Refurbished Mac - Apple Store (UK)

 

[Bozza]

Is that the same Bozza?

No.

If you are already looking to sell a current generation Macbook Air then you should do it now as a product revision is expected any day and, as such, the resale value will probably take a small hit.

If you are not looking to sell such a machine or you want to buy such a machine, you'll be in possession of a wonderful piece of kit that will last for many years.

 

[Rowdey]

No.

If you are already looking to sell a current generation Macbook Air then you should do it now as a product revision is expected any day and, as such, the resale value will probably take a small hit.

If you are not looking to sell such a machine or you want to buy such a machine, you'll be in possession of a wonderful piece of kit that will last for many years.

Agree with sentence in the main, but can't agree in regards to robustness - Having been through 2 G3 ibooks, a mac book and, and my current MBP needing two top cases, 2 new superdrives, and a video thingy (under warranty) they aren't made that well (Internet forums confirm poor soldering, and europe wide (excl UK) recalls...
Still would't got back to PC tho

 

[JetsetJimbo]

What on earth have you been doing with your Macs, Rowdey? I've been using the same Powerbook G4 for nearly ten years now, I'm only replacing it because it struggles with modern software now, and I know that hard disks don't last forever: not because anything has gone wrong with it. I've had two kernel panics in those ten years, other than that it's been rock-solid and totally stable. You're not supposed to take them swimming, you know!

 

[Bozza]

My MBP has been dropped a number of times, generally off the arm of the sofa onto the wooden floor. It has dents and scratches to back this up but still runs perfectly.

 

[Laptop Ell]

I'm looking to buy a 2nd hand Mac laptop - preferably a MacBook Air or Pro in good nick to replace my ageing MacBook from 2006. Obviously, a new one would be best - however, I'm not willing or able to splash the full price for one at the moment. Cheapskate, I know!

The most high end thing i'd be doing on it would be running Adobe CS 5 and iMovie 11.

Besides Gumtree, does anyone know anywhere where I can get a good deal? I'm based in Brighton & Hove.

Did you find a 2nd hand Mac laptop within your budget?

I've got a 12 month old Macbook Pro with fast Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, dual-booting Windows 7 Ultimate & Snow Leopard (which will be upgraded to Lion in the next week when it's released) in perfect condition.

I'm planning to put it on ebay as they seem to be going for approx £600-£700 for this spec, but if you or anyone else is interested, let me know.

 

[eastlondonseagull]

I bought my brand new MacBook Pro off eBay for £1300, £600 cheaper than the list price in John Lewis. Worth having a nose on there for new and old.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Did you find a 2nd hand Mac laptop within your budget?

I've got a 12 month old Macbook Pro with fast Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, dual-booting Windows 7 Ultimate & Snow Leopard (which will be upgraded to Lion in the next week when it's released) in perfect condition.

I'm planning to put it on ebay as they seem to be going for approx £600-£700 for this spec, but if you or anyone else is interested, let me know.

Yes, I eventually found a MacBook Pro 15" from 2008 with 4gb ram and Snow Leopard for £385. It was such a bargain and just about met the specs for Final Cut Pro X. Good luck with selling your MacBook Pro though.

 

[gazingdown]

Thats the trouble with Macs, you have them for 6 months, then they're obselete, or can you upgrade them?

As opposed to a Windows laptop that is obsolete a week after you buy one. It very quick that another one is on the market that is higher spec for the money etc.

You can upgrade Macs, although what you can do is limited and it can be very fiddly/awkward if you don't have the right tools. RAM is usually easy to upgrade though. It's not the 90's anymore though so what do you really need to upgrade soon anyway? RAM will be plentiful (but upgradeable), HDDs have loads of space and everything else is decent spec anyway.