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Hey_Apple

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 19, 2021
9
9
Hi, I am wanting to sell my base model 14” MBP. After using it for awhile I have realized it is too much machine for my needs and will move to a MBA. What is the best way and place to do this?
Any advice?

Thank you!
 

Six0Four

macrumors 65816
Mar 27, 2020
1,065
1,371
Privately somewhere like Craigslist. Meet somewhere safe like in an Apple store, bank, or Police station.
 

MBAir2010

macrumors 604
May 30, 2018
6,975
6,354
there
Hi, I am wanting to sell my base model 14” MBP. After using it for awhile I have realized it is too much machine for my needs and will move to a MBA. What is the best way and place to do this?
Any advice?

Thank you!
You could exchange that for a new MacBook Air through apple
just add your serial number in this forum for buying a MBA.
 

MuGeN PoWeR

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2011
3,245
1,294
you can create a thread in Marketplace on the forum! or try Facebook Marketplace and local sites.
 

spiderman0616

Suspended
Aug 1, 2010
5,670
7,499
I just did the reverse--had the base M1 Air and wanted the base 14" MBP. I took my Air to the Apple Store (this can be done via FedEx as well) and they gave me $550 + tax for the Air. That's roughly what I would have gotten on Swappa after all their BS seller fees, so I considered it a victory.
 

barkomatic

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2008
4,560
2,916
Manhattan
I'm not sure about this plan because I don't think you'll recover much money from this idea. If you had purchased the MBA initially that might have been the best way to go. However, since you went with the MBP you might as well keep it and not go to the trouble. It's got a bigger and better screen, more ports and all this will be useful as your usage grows.
 

Hey_Apple

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 19, 2021
9
9
I just did the reverse--had the base M1 Air and wanted the base 14" MBP. I took my Air to the Apple Store (this can be done via FedEx as well) and they gave me $550 + tax for the Air. That's roughly what I would have gotten on Swappa after all their BS seller fees, so I considered it a victory.
After switching from the Air to Pro, which do you prefer? and have you noticed any difference in functionality of standard everyday use?
Back story…I went for the pro as a future proof device, however, my wife has the air, and to me the air feels more portable than my pro, and it does what I currently throw at it… so this is why I am considering changing to the air… either for the current M1 version, or if they release a new M2 at WWDC (depending on the style changes)
 
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Nbd1790

macrumors 6502
Jan 2, 2017
352
278
New York
As others mentioned, I would certainly stick with what you have. The MBP is a superior machine and will likely have a longer lifespan than the Air. Not to mention a slightly larger screen and more connectivity. Depending on what specs you want on an Air, you'll likely wind up taking a loss or hardly breaking even to essentially downgrade in just about every way except portability.

I use a 14 inch MBP now and I travel with it every week with a backpack (public transportation plane etc) and it's no problem at all. Especially coming for a 2015 15 inch MBP.
 

tobefirst ⚽️

macrumors 601
Jan 24, 2005
4,612
2,335
St. Louis, MO
Hope/look for someone who is wanting to do the opposite of you and swap machines (with money coming your way). That would be the best way to get the most value for yours.
 

spiderman0616

Suspended
Aug 1, 2010
5,670
7,499
After switching from the Air to Pro, which do you prefer? and have you noticed any difference in functionality of standard everyday use?
Back story…I went for the pro as a future proof device, however, my wife has the air, and to me the air feels more portable than my pro, and it does what I currently throw at it… so this is why I am considering changing to the air… either for the current M1 version, or if they release a new M2 at WWDC (depending on the style changes)
I prefer the Pro. I got the M1 Air a couple of months after it came out and was blown away by its speed and efficiency, but was too impressed by the new screen, audio, and design of the Pros to pass them up. I mostly do not need the extra power at the moment, but I do have projects sometimes that can take advantage of it in some ways. But there's no rule saying you can't buy a laptop with more power than you need. These things are built like tanks and very pleasant to carry around, which I can't say for the last gen.

In real world use, I have noticed differences in performance. System updates, for one, seem to take far less time on the M1 Pro than the standard M1. (I actually updated them side by side on the last one and this was definitely the case.) I can also have endless Safari tabs and apps open and nothing ever seems to crash or reload. Office and Affinity apps also seem a bit snappier, but I'm not sure if that's just because I doubled my RAM or because the CPU is working faster.

Either way, I traded the Air in for the Pro just for a nicer overall experience. It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that. I can see this computer lasting me several years before I ever need to upgrade again.
 

Sheepish-Lord

macrumors 68030
Oct 13, 2021
2,531
5,149
I just did the reverse--had the base M1 Air and wanted the base 14" MBP. I took my Air to the Apple Store (this can be done via FedEx as well) and they gave me $550 + tax for the Air. That's roughly what I would have gotten on Swappa after all their BS seller fees, so I considered it a victory.
I was wondering why I aways got more for my trade in than quoted. I didn’t know they added tax on top of the trade in…
 
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spiderman0616

Suspended
Aug 1, 2010
5,670
7,499
I was wondering why I aways got more for my trade in than quoted. I didn’t know they added tax on top of the trade in…
I was wondering the same. I'm not sure why they did that. That's not even the store where I got the M1 Air--I think I actually ordered it online from Best Buy!
 

yabeweb

macrumors 6502a
Jun 25, 2021
824
1,742
Consider this.
Air M1 base + 512 ssd and 16 gb ram 8‑core CPU, 7‑core GPUe = 1.399

Base 14 pro 8-Core CPU 14-Core GPU is 1.999

There's a 500 difference in screen size / quality, better sound, sdcard reader and faster CPU / GPU.

Reselling yours and buying an Air will probably burn into that 500 as you won't get as much as you paid to begin with, so say you lose 200 $ (selling for 1.799 IF you are luky)

For 300$ saving you are losing a lot, might not seems a lot now, but in a couple years that CPU / GPU will help.

300 $ savings is a lot i understand, but I don't think it is worth in this case.

If you ever need to read sd card you need to buy an adapter, if you use more than one port you need an adapter and those cost money and will eat your savings.... oh and Magsafe.... that is a great thing to have in a laptop.
 

spiderman0616

Suspended
Aug 1, 2010
5,670
7,499
Consider this.
Air M1 base + 512 ssd and 16 gb ram 8‑core CPU, 7‑core GPUe = 1.399

Base 14 pro 8-Core CPU 14-Core GPU is 1.999

There's a 500 difference in screen size / quality, better sound, sdcard reader and faster CPU / GPU.

Reselling yours and buying an Air will probably burn into that 500 as you won't get as much as you paid to begin with, so say you lose 200 $ (selling for 1.799 IF you are luky)

For 300$ saving you are losing a lot, might not seems a lot now, but in a couple years that CPU / GPU will help.

300 $ savings is a lot i understand, but I don't think it is worth in this case.

If you ever need to read sd card you need to buy an adapter, if you use more than one port you need an adapter and those cost money and will eat your savings.... oh and Magsafe.... that is a great thing to have in a laptop.
Pretty much this. There's so much more to it than whether or not you need the raw horsepower. For several years now, the MacBook Pro has been so chained to Intel's roadmap that all Apple could do was polish how the outside of the machine looked and functioned. So in those days, Pro just meant "nicer" or maybe "nicest" (looking), but Intel dictated chassis shape, thermals, etc. and created so many constraints.

Now that Apple has kicked Intel out of their notebooks, hence removing their dependency on Intel, the MacBook Pro is once again the nicest general experience for the user AND powerful enough where people who need the power definitely have it available in spades.

Again, I say keep the 14" MBP. It's a beast and will last a good long time.
 

Misheemee

macrumors 6502
Feb 28, 2020
374
333
I prefer the Pro. I got the M1 Air a couple of months after it came out and was blown away by its speed and efficiency, but was too impressed by the new screen, audio, and design of the Pros to pass them up. I mostly do not need the extra power at the moment, but I do have projects sometimes that can take advantage of it in some ways. But there's no rule saying you can't buy a laptop with more power than you need. These things are built like tanks and very pleasant to carry around, which I can't say for the last gen.

In real world use, I have noticed differences in performance. System updates, for one, seem to take far less time on the M1 Pro than the standard M1. (I actually updated them side by side on the last one and this was definitely the case.) I can also have endless Safari tabs and apps open and nothing ever seems to crash or reload. Office and Affinity apps also seem a bit snappier, but I'm not sure if that's just because I doubled my RAM or because the CPU is working faster.

Either way, I traded the Air in for the Pro just for a nicer overall experience. It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that. I can see this computer lasting me several years before I ever need to upgrade again.
I did this too - I really just enjoy using the Pro with all of its benefits
 
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Christopher Kim

macrumors 6502a
Nov 18, 2016
768
741
Great thoughts from @yabeweb and @spiderman0616 above. The 2021 MBP is really a great machine.

The 14" M1 Pro I got is admittedly overkill power-wise for me too, but as it was replacing a 5-yr old 2016 13" MBP, it was worth it for me to pay "more than I had to" to get a really nice machine that I'll have for hopefully another 5+ years.

And I even paid the harsh Apple tax and upgraded +$300 for non-binned 10-core/16-core chips, +$200 for the 512GB>1TB SSD, and the (ouch!) +$400 for the 16>32gb memory upgrades.

If we're talking the base model $1999, you're really getting a pretty decent value too. You could argue that's 95% the user experience as mine, for ~$900 less / two-thirds the price of mine!

I think you should keep it. It'd be one thing if you were deciding fresh between a M1 MBA and the same base 14" machine today. But having already bought it, you'd now even be out the friction cost / loss in value in having to sell it used. Makes even less sense.

Keep it. Enjoy it. Unless you really need the money, it should hopefully last you a long time.
 
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