Secondhand Macbook

[PJPro]

I'm considering buying a secondhand macbook. I'd like the black variant, about a year old, with an HDD of at least 120Gb.

What should I expect to pay and what should I look out for, in terms of things that might go wrong with it or optional extras that I really do need?

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

PJ, long time no see!!! I saw this thread earlier on but no-one seems to have responded so here are my thoughts. We have a few of the last Macbooks at work and they seem to be holding up really well give the abuse they get with being carted around the country / handled by sweaty handed geeks. The last Macbook I owned was the version before the one of which you speak. The screen died just after the first year and I didn't take out Applecare, however at the time there were alot of stories around about screens failing. The newer (last) version seemed very good, I don't think I ever read a bad report about them.

One thing to watch out for is buying an Apple where the buyer bought RAM from Apple. RAM is much cheaper elsewhere as you know, but most people won't understand that.

 

[Anonymous]

Only a small thing you probably know and this may not apply if you are only looking around a year old but i would say ive found that now there have been a lot of fixes leopard to be a better operating system than tiger and if this matters to you a nicer looking gui. Also found it useful as i run bootcamp with xp pro unfortunately have to which has made life easier.

 

[Anonymous]

flairdj:i run bootcamp

Not sure if you've tried it but Parallels on OSX allows you to run Windows without rebooting or partitioning. Useful for if you aren't an architect or graphic designer or something.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi i started using parallels but had a few problems to be honest crashed a few times so opted for the bootcamp route my use of windows is fairly small mainly the software im using whilst studying my ccna and found that the time to boot up my mbp in to windows was minimal but i may experiment with it again in the future and be a little more patient!

 

[Anonymous]

If you want to run XP, vmware's worth a try.

 

[John Duncan]

PJPro:I'm considering buying a secondhand macbook

Why? For audio only or other reasons?

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:PJPro:I'm considering buying a secondhand macbook

Why? For audio only or other reasons?

I'm hi-jacking PJ's post but as he's not online.....and I'm considering buying the same....if his answer was to store lossless audio files and use as the centre of a wireless music network (with say Squeezebox) and general computer use - what would your recommendation be?

 

[Anonymous]

I will say that i think they hold their value reasonably well even buying one 18months old from what ive seen in the past looking around 4-600 depending on spec condition etc then depending on how much music you have the cost of an external hard drive. Its not going to be as cheap as some laptops/pcs so depends if you really wanted a mac for how good they look etc.

 

[PJPro]

JohnDuncan:PJPro:I'm considering buying a secondhand macbook

Why? For audio only or other reasons?
Yep. Mainly audio....but also a bit of web browsing and maybe producing the odd tune too.

Clearly, I've had a bit of a look on ebay and even placed the odd bid. But it seems that most of the time silly people get carried away with the competitive element of bidding and pay prices that I feel are too high.

I also rang my local Apple Store to see if there were any deals to be had eg price reductions, 0% finance, etc. He said that Apple didn't do deals.

So, I'm stuck. Hence my original question.

 

[PJPro]

Octopo:
PJ, long time no see!!!....[snip]

Alright Octopo. I have been around, browsing the threads mainly, just not as much as usual. I've been told I spend too much time on line!

I've also been playing with Acid Studio, Propellerhead Reason and such like. I used make my own music in the dim and distant past and fancied having another go.

 

[John Duncan]

PJPro:maybe producing the odd tune too

OK, a Mac is a no brainer then.

PJPro:He said that Apple didn't do deals.

Do you know any students?

 

[PJPro]

JohnDuncan:Do you know any students? No.

So, any ideas what I should be looking to spend?

 

[John Duncan]

PJPro:JohnDuncan:Do you know any students? No.

So, any ideas what I should be looking to spend?

OK, ignore me on that other thread then. About 600 quid seems to be the going rate (ouch).

 

[Anonymous]

I used cubase and reason on my old macbook ran fine with 2gb of ram, screen size was not a big issue but found i hooked it up to an external monitor whenever possible also bought a faster external firewire hard drive. Only thing id say to look out for incase you werent aware is small cracks in the cases my friends went near the keyboard and think theres been a few similar cases.

 

[PJPro]

JohnDuncan:PJPro:JohnDuncan:Do you know any students? No.

So, any ideas what I should be looking to spend?

OK, ignore me on that other thread then. About 600 quid seems to be the going rate (ouch).

Had a look at some new ones today in PCWorld. Having trouble getting my head round the cost. Sales assistant said there may be a sale during easter. Hhhmmm. I'll wait.

 

[Anonymous]

I really think apple laptops are so over priced. when i bought my ibook about 2 or 3 years back i couldn't get a significantly better laptop for the same money.

My new laptop cost £200 less than the ibook, and has far far better spec than the current entry level ibooks (can't remember what they are called these days - think the names changed)

which reminds me, must ebay the ibook and finance new tt.

 

[Anonymous]

Octopo:One thing to watch out for is buying an Apple where the buyer bought RAM from Apple. RAM is much cheaper elsewhere as you know, but most people won't understand that.

I think this must be related, but this place in glasgow are well respected up here and said that they no longer even try to fit apple's with ram as they will only run on the specified type, none of this pc like faster ram running slower.

even using the sites suggested on here by other users for cheap ram i had to pay £50 for 1gb (g/f paid £20 for her older pc laptop). the thing to watch out for is that apple wont touch a mac once its left the store - i called and asked about getting ram added and they told me this. At least if the seller tells you it has apple fitted (not just apple branded) ram then you know its always been like that.

if the mac book is anything like the ibook its really easy to fit though.

 

[JoelSim]

Buying a second hand computer is madness. I wouldn't buy a second hand one for £5

ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

JoelSim:
Buying a second hand computer is madness. I wouldn't buy a second hand one for £5

ÿ
pretty much agree, i swapped boxes (swapped out hdd's cd writers etc) with a good friend and have had one hdd die and now the whole things sparks at the computer end of the mains and is dying.

this was from a trusted source... no idea what i would have ended up with if it had been of ebay.