Just bought a used MBP, is this weird?

[EastHillWill]

Hello! I just received this machine off Swappa, a mint 2018 MBP. (Wanted an Intel machine with at least 256 for boot camping Windows.)

It came from an established seller whose business moves a lot of these. When I opened the lid I saw the password post it (the one time I’ll show a pic of my password, ha) and up popped the login screen of an ‘admin’ account.

Does this seem like an odd decision to anyone else, particularly from a seller who presumably does this a lot? I messaged him and asked why he does it this why, but wanted to see what folks here thought while I wait to hear back. I’ve bought and sold quite a few computers, new and used, and just found this interesting.

 

[MBAir2010]

my used MacBook Pro had Sierra and the password my ebuy account name.
I though that was cleaver!

 

[Apple_Robert]

That is not odd, especially from volume sellers. A lot of them do that to make sure the install is working as it should.

 

[glenthompson]

I’ve done this when selling devices so I can take pictures of the various info screens. Also if selling in person it gives the buyer a chance to really try out the device. I always use the password “changeme” to remind them to change it.

 

[casperes1996]

I’ve done this when selling devices so I can take pictures of the various info screens. Also if selling in person it gives the buyer a chance to really try out the device. I always use the password “changeme” to remind them to change it.

Yeah, when I sold my first MBP, I just wiped it completely and had it sitting on the Snow Leopard first boot screen. One guy came to look at it, didn't speak much English or Danish so communication was a bit rough but English was decent enough to where we could talk it just wasn't fluent. And even though I tried to explain it was because I had wiped it, he opened it and saw boxes asking for username and password and thought I was running some kind of weird phishing scam or something and didn't want to buy it because of that. If he had wanted to test it and had made a user there and then I would also have had to re-wipe it again before showing it to the next potential customer.

So doing it this way to allow people to poke around the machine a bit to see it works before deciding to buy makes some sense in that respect, yeah

 

[EastHillWill]

Yeah, when I sold my first MBP, I just wiped it completely and had it sitting on the Snow Leopard first boot screen. One guy came to look at it, didn't speak much English or Danish so communication was a bit rough but English was decent enough to where we could talk it just wasn't fluent. And even though I tried to explain it was because I had wiped it, he opened it and saw boxes asking for username and password and thought I was running some kind of weird phishing scam or something and didn't want to buy it because of that. If he had wanted to test it and had made a user there and then I would also have had to re-wipe it again before showing it to the next potential customer.

So doing it this way to allow people to poke around the machine a bit to see it works before deciding to buy makes some sense in that respect, yeah

Good points. And can’t blame anyone for assuming the worst/being overly cautious, especially nowadays!

 

[MacGizmo]

I've done the same thing - though I always have a note to tell them to create a new account and delete the one I had pre-set-up. It just allows them to log-in and play around enough to see that everything is working as it should.

 

[EastHillWill]

Appreciate everyone's thoughts! He got back to me and said pretty much the same as others here--it's a testing and validation strategy, although it's primarily for him as a seller rather than me as a buyer. He also does it 'to install free Microsoft Office 2020' which is indeed on there. Since it's free I view it as bloatware--especially with all of the annoying update and support crap MS includes--but as he said, it's easy enough to delete. I am going to reset it for my own OCD/piece of mind, however. Needed an update to Ventura anyways.

 

[Energybutton]

Appreciate everyone's thoughts! He got back to me and said pretty much the same as others here--it's a testing and validation strategy, although it's primarily for him as a seller rather than me as a buyer. He also does it 'to install free Microsoft Office 2020' which is indeed on there. Since it's free I view it as bloatware--especially with all of the annoying update and support crap MS includes--but as he said, it's easy enough to delete. I am going to reset it for my own OCD/piece of mind, however. Needed an update to Ventura anyways.

That's a good idea.

I recently purchased a MBP with a fresh user profile only to discover that still had MDM on it from the previous company when I did a fresh install, a quick message to the seller had it removed.

For that reason I'd advise anyone who buys a MacBook used to always do a fresh install, saves any potential issues in the future.