[Hidden-tech] MacBook Pro purchase

[Rob Laporte]

Hi All,

My girlfriend and I recently spent a few hours seeking MacBook deals on ebay
for her daughter. We ultimately bought her the new MacBook, but here¹s a few
things I learned:

* Deals are constantly coming and going, but there seems to be people with a
system that brings the bids to a certain floor for each mac right towards
the end of the bidding.
* $550 for the older (first generation?) dual core MacBooks (not pro).
* $750 for Macbook Pro, previous generation (2006-7?), though I bidded on
less of these so not sure.
* Of course damage or extras, like more memory, add or subtract from those
prices. 

Since time is money, especially for small business owners, if I had to do it
again, I would just put my maximum bid and see what happens, rather than bid
in the last 5 seconds.

As for the risks, I should say that while I love Apple products and have
been migrating my business to Macs over the last 4 years, about half of my
new purchases ended up with defects. I¹m sure it was just bad luck. Iphone
cracked screen. I didn¹t figure out that my MacBook Pro¹s DVD drive was
half-working until after warrantee ended (caused big hassles loading
software but I rarely did that and thought it was some other problem). One
most recent generation MacBook Pro had screen defect manifest 7 days before
end of warrantee, and would have cost $750 if it happened 7 days later. So
used has risks but so does new. Seems if a new Mac is not defective, they
endure very well, which means a good used Mac may keep serving well.

Best Regards,

Rob Laporte
President and CEO
DISC, Inc. - "Making Web Sites Make Money"
413-584-6500
Fax ­ 413-584-3330
Rob at 2disc.com
www.2disc.com 

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From: michaelbix <michaelbix at straight-arrow.cc>
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:51:56 -0500
To: Deborah Chandler <debchandler411 at gmail.com>
Cc: <hidden-discuss at mm01.tnrnet.com>
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] MacBook Pro purchase

   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
   ** If you did, we all thank you.



Hi Deb - I just recently had to replace a PowerBook Pro (on an insurance
claim) because of electrical system spike... fortunately I keep a rider on
my home insurance for such eventualities.

There are black-keyboard 15" MacBook Pro's on sale right now in the
$1600-1700 price range with 2.8 GHz clock speed, 500GB internal drive and
4GB of RAM, which are pre-August and hence from the tail-end of the model
year (and which don't have digital audio at the external monitor out).

Aside from that, there is no current MacBook with that high a clock speed,
and all nearly comparable new-range models are selling for much more at
$2100-2200.   So if you can find one of these slightly older models through
an authorised re-seller I'd say you can't do better.   These are new,
fully-warranteed machines.

I upgraded slightly to have a 7200rpm internal drive rather than the
standard 5400rpm (an option, especially if you edit video) but that didn't
add too much to the cost.

Michael Cerulli Billingsley
Straight Arrow Recordings, Brattleboro

p.s. Matrixed and discrete digital multi-channel audio are available via the
dual-function audio/optical out jack, when using a fibre-optic cable out.

= Straight Arrow Recordings =
Location Recording - Sound Design - FX/Sound Solutions
C104 The Cotton Mill, Brattleboro, Vermont
office 802-254-3975 ~ studio 802-254-3975



On  24 November 10, at 1:42 PM, Deborah Chandler wrote:

>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
> 
> 
> Hello Hidden-Techers,
> 
> Could someone with good awareness of the Mac retail market please tell me the
> likely trend in pricing in the coming months? Will the prices on MacBooks be
> lower before the holidays or after, and are there any deals to be had? I know
> some of you gobble up this kind of info and find it interesting to follow.
> 
> Also, does anyone know of anyone with a MacBook Pro still under warranty or
> under AppleCare who is selling it? Please be in touch. I know I can look on
> eBay or Craigslist or elsewhere, but I would rather first ask those I trust.
> 
> Thanks,
> Deb
> 
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