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What is your resale and upgrade strategy?

hiddenpower

hiddenpower

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 6, 2024
32
3
I generally buy refurbished macbooks from apple. I tend to hold onto them for years, like 8+. But I was considering another option of holding it for 3-4 years and then flipping it and getting a newer model. What's the optimal route for doing this? Can you sell it back to apple or does it have to be done alongside a new purchase? Can you do it with a refurb purchase? Etc
 
hiddenpower said:
But I was considering another option of holding it for 3-4 years and then flipping it and getting a newer model. What's the optimal route for doing this?
Click to expand...
This is what I have been doing. I use the Apple trade-in process at the time I purchase the new Mac. It is easy and hassle free. You can likely get more money selling it yourself on eBay or whatever, but I don't want to mess with that.
 
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hiddenpower said:
But I was considering another option of holding it for 3-4 years and then flipping it and getting a newer model.
Click to expand...
This is basically what I do. A three-year depreciation cycle, with all devices replaced in no more than three (sometimes four, e.g. my Mac Studio) years.

Apple isn't the source of the very best potential trade in prices, but it is admittedly hard to beat the convenience.
 
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PhoenixDown said:
@Weaselboy & @pianophile - what % are you generally seeing off the cost of a newer model, like 20%?
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I paid $1,999 for my 14" MBP in Oct. 2021.

If I go the store now and select the new model 14" MBP still at $1,999, the site shows they will give me $750 trade-in credit for my 2021 model... so a bit over 37% off.
 
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Run it until it no longer supports the latest version of macOS. That has always been the way it has gone for my previous Macs. I then gift them to someone who really needs it. Not sure how  silicon life cycles will be in terms of OS support, and since I am laptop only now, adding a new one before my M2 no longer supports the latest macOS would be a possibility, but not likely. iPhones I used to upgrade every 2 years and broke pattern with my iPhone X, keeping it for 5. FOMO doesn’t hit me the way it used to. I buy the specs I need for the projected life of OS support now and leave it at that. Either it’s Tim’s Apple ways of stretching lifecycles of hardware and features for profit, or I have grown out of upgradeitis, or both. The longer I can hold out while still fulfilling my needs, the more massive the upgrade feels, and the more value I got for my money IMHO.
 
Last two Airs I bought at their refurb site - several years apart. Got rid of first Air at a Best Buy for a gift card - they were offering more for it than local Apple Store.
Decided to go with a desktop for next Mac and picked up an M2 Mini at Apple Store. Considered using second Air as a trade-in, but its value offered as such was so low for a device that still worked well enough, I decided to hold into it as my travel / work computer. Still using it as this.
Now granted, it was the 2017/18 Air (the last year with useful built-in ports), topped out with Monterey - but 'only' five years old at the time.
 
Is there a way to trade in and then pick up a refurb product? that would be the best of both worlds.
 
hiddenpower said:
Is there a way to trade in and then pick up a refurb product? that would be the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

not from apple... the trade in option is provided at purchase. nothing to stop you from doing what you want by selling it yourself first, and you are likely to get a few bucks more. I go both routes, I see what the apple return is..then price it higher by a decent margin and then advertise locally. If I sell it that way, fine, if not, I have a fall back bottom line.
 
hiddenpower said:
Is there a way to trade in and then pick up a refurb product? that would be the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

No, but you can trade it in first, get the gift card, and use that towards a purchase. With next day delivery you are only out 1 day of use, just be sure to have a couple of good backups.
 
Weaselboy said:
This is what I have been doing. I use the Apple trade-in process at the time I purchase the new Mac. It is easy and hassle free. You can likely get more money selling it yourself on eBay or whatever, but I don't want to mess with that.
Click to expand...
I've sold (and bought) a number of Macs on eBay over the years and have gotten pretty lucky. But yeah, it's a bit of a crapshoot and can go south.

Tried to sell a pair of AirPods Pro I was gifted by my employer and the winning bidder was SO weird and scammy (no feedback, super weird address) that I just cancelled the auction and did not relist.
 
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hiddenpower said:
Is there a way to trade in and then pick up a refurb product? that would be the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

G5isAlive said:
not from apple... the trade in option is provided at purchase. nothing to stop you from doing what you want by selling it yourself first, and you are likely to get a few bucks more. I go both routes, I see what the apple return is..then price it higher by a decent margin and then advertise locally. If I sell it that way, fine, if not, I have a fall back bottom line.
Click to expand...
Yes, you can trade in, get a gift card of The trade in value after they received/inspected and then can use that towards any Apple purchase
 
Buy new/or close as possible, like refurb. Keep the original box. Sell on eBay in 4-5 years. Shipping is easy with the original box. Rinse. Repeat.
 
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since you asked.....OP:

i use my 2010 macbook air mt_lion more than my Macbook Air M1 2020 90% more this summer.
as of now, i am upgrading the New version of Monterey on the MBA2020, while working on a website
on the 2010 version. The man reason is CS4 works better for me than Affinity Design
or any other creative or web design program.
also i am staying away from  dependency which can be overwhelming every upgrade.

as for advice, i would keep our macs in case older software is needed, if they work why not?

as why im keeping everything  is simply yes, I can get some $$$ for the M1 Mini this year i wont use,
but that is worth more than any asking price.
 
I buy a new and latest Max and keep it for 6-7 years. May be a battery replacement if needed. I had 7 Plus and I upgraded to 13 PM. Will probably upgrade to iPhone 20/19. I could have used 7 plus but I was spending too much time maintaining it.
For MBP, I use professionally for 5 years, another 3-4 years as home server. I max out on RaM and processor, always latest model at time of purchase.
 
I think making sure you don't get hosed on the purchase is probably the most important decision--this can save you hundreds of $$$.

Sure, there are two sides to the transaction -- the "trade-in" (if you do) + the "purchase." I sold my iMac to Experimax locally and they gave me a great price, if you're lucky enough to be near one. Usually Apple & BestBuy are about the same, but BestBuy will hose you if you don't include the power brick while Apple doesn't care. However, sometimes BestBuy will run "apple trade-in" promotions where they give you an extra 10% on top (if you're buying another one, of course).

Either way, found it best to go to big box retailers when they are running sales, especially MicroCenter, but can get good deals at BestBuy especially if price-matching. BestBuy gave me about $70 less for my M1 Pro than Apple would have on trade-in -- BUT they gave me over 28% off my base 14" M3 Max. That was a good deal.

MicroCenter also sells APPLE certified refurbished Macbooks (just look for factory refurbished in the title). They don't always have them, but when they do they are also much, much less than the Apple Refurb store.
 
I’m firmly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem with a wide range of products, and use them to the point where they’re nearly obsolete, Then there’s always a family member that would appreciate having the item, be it a phone, tablet, watch, or whatever.
 
I think that the procedure depends on desktop and notebook differences.
For desktop, as there is no battery, the depreciation and upgrade really depend on your needs. If the desktop with the OS (doesn't need to be the latest) and applications work and function well, there is no need to upgrade in few years. For example, I still have Mini M1 512GB from 2020/2021. It work excellent and there is no need to upgrade given the current business software workflow cause I work in business.

Of course if you are professional who earns money by working on Macs, it makes sense to have a fast machine but again it depends on workflow and software requirements and frequent upgrades are not a must.

For notebooks, the battery and wear/tear considerations start to kick in. Generally battery will degrade in 5-6 years considerably so you may want to upgrade your notebook before that. So this gives us 4-5 year cycle of upgrade for notebooks, which however, is not a necessity as well. You may choose just to exchange the battery and continue to use the machine if everything else works.

Conclusion: everyone upgrades as she/he views necessary
 
I usually sell my old Mac to SellYourMac (occasionally have used FB Marketplace too) and buy new, though I've purchased a handful of refurbs from Apple over the years and they've been excellent. Usually 3 or 4 years between computers/tablets, 2 to 3 years for phones.
 
Macbookey said:
Run it until it no longer supports the latest version of macOS. That has always been the way it has gone for my previous Macs. I then gift them to someone who really needs it. Not sure how  silicon life cycles will be in terms of OS support, and since I am laptop only now, adding a new one before my M2 no longer supports the latest macOS would be a possibility, but not likely. iPhones I used to upgrade every 2 years and broke pattern with my iPhone X, keeping it for 5. FOMO doesn’t hit me the way it used to. I buy the specs I need for the projected life of OS support now and leave it at that. Either it’s Tim’s Apple ways of stretching lifecycles of hardware and features for profit, or I have grown out of upgradeitis, or both. The longer I can hold out while still fulfilling my needs, the more massive the upgrade feels, and the more value I got for my money IMHO.
Click to expand...
I’ve been the same as you.

In the early days I would sell my mac for market value to my parents and in-laws so I could upgrade and I would do this every couple of years.

But as you get older I haven’t felt the need. I only upgraded from my 2014 iMac to a Mac Studio set up and while it’s nice having the latest kit the 2014 iMac still wasn’t A slouch. I find the Mac OS upgrades havent been very exciting either so I never felt like I was missing out.

I also replaced my 2015 MacBook Pro with a 14 inch pro that i got on 3 year interest free finance at £51 a month which is dirt cheap. I think when on interest free cycles its easier to contemplate upgrading but i still plan to keep these for 10 years if possible.

phones i do upgrade every couple of years but thats mainly due to carrier deals but then also the phones take more of a beating in the cosmetic department so if its battered or if it gets dropped when I’m out of contract ill usually consider upgrading over repair.
 
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