newbie question. I'm getting ready to switch and it's such a foreign concept to me that I can own a computer than anyone will want to buy a year later for 60-70% of initial cost. Can anyone explain to me why people buy used Macs at such high prices?
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Why do Macs have high resale value?
- Thread starter shrhaider
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I'd say that there worth it!
The market supports the demand.
This should be pretty telling.
You are basically asking why choose a Mac.
It isn't just he OS, hardware, the aesthetics, or the cult thing.
If I may use a poor metaphor, their like Hondas.
Hondas have a high resale value, they keep running and are reliable.
People pay for a lot of things, but reliability that's a feature people will pay for.
Oh, and their is that whole Magic Elf that comes with every Mac, but ... well when you join The Cult, you'll understand.
The market supports the demand.
This should be pretty telling.
You are basically asking why choose a Mac.
It isn't just he OS, hardware, the aesthetics, or the cult thing.
If I may use a poor metaphor, their like Hondas.
Hondas have a high resale value, they keep running and are reliable.
People pay for a lot of things, but reliability that's a feature people will pay for.
Oh, and their is that whole Magic Elf that comes with every Mac, but ... well when you join The Cult, you'll understand.
It is a cult, most assuredly...but I guess not all mac users automatically get in, because, even after using mac for almost 10 years, I still don't understand why old ones sell for as much as they do.
Eniregnat said:
I agree with this. I got addicted to Macs because of the low maintenance and ease of use. You get what you pay for. I spend almost all my time on my computer working, not maintaining. And when I do have a problem, it's gets fixed pretty fast.
I mean, don't you just want a computer that works?
leekohler said:
It's simply because people who own macs are so emotional about the company and its products. The quality is not really there in some cases. I've owned a number of mac products that have had just as many propblems as my pcs. My crappy Dell has yet to have a problem whereas my ibook has crapped out twice in the time since I bought it. Macs are certainly more stylish and that's about all they have going for them ... oh yeah, and OSX. Now that they can play well with others I'm hoping to ditch the Dell. The hard part is that as ugly as the Dell is, it is the only one that hasn't failed me. The pc market can't seem to get it. Style counts for something. Mac can't seem to get it either. Style counts for something, just not everything.
Macs owners are diehards. Apple could charge much more and they would still buy the product as long as Steve pitched it at some self indulgent press conference. A hundred dollars for a leather case for an iPod or $350 for a set of speakers? That says it all. Ofcourse I'll be next in line for the next small form factor Macbook that is released in the near future but I'll keep my Dell on hand for any emergencies.
In the computer market Macs are rare and unique. Only Apple makes Macs, but there are dozens of PC makers (hundreds if you include small, local shops) all kicking out essentially the same product.
Lethal
Lethal
Because they're pretty. And when Apple kills a product's "look" for a newer one, they become even more rare.
As a generalisation, they (well, the towers anyway) tend to have a longer useful life so are priced accordingly.
A friend of mine (magazine designer) still uses his G4 450 at home for Photoshop & Quark... brings his Carrara Pro files into work for rendering on the dual G5 2.5s however.
My dual 1.42 came off pretty well in the Photoshop test thread that was around here a few months ago... pretty close to a dual 1.8 G5, I think. And that's a Mac that is 3 years old so it's still got another 2-4 years of working life in it yet, I reckon.
A friend of mine (magazine designer) still uses his G4 450 at home for Photoshop & Quark... brings his Carrara Pro files into work for rendering on the dual G5 2.5s however.
My dual 1.42 came off pretty well in the Photoshop test thread that was around here a few months ago... pretty close to a dual 1.8 G5, I think. And that's a Mac that is 3 years old so it's still got another 2-4 years of working life in it yet, I reckon.
Blue Velvet said:As a generalisation, they (well, the towers anyway) tend to have a longer useful life so are priced accordingly.
A friend of mine (magazine designer) still uses his G4 450 at home for Photoshop & Quark... brings his Carrara Pro files into work for rendering on the dual G5 2.5s however.
My dual 1.42 came off pretty well in the Photoshop test thread that was around here a few months ago... pretty close to a dual 1.8 G5, I think. And that's a Mac that is 3 years old so it's still got another 2-4 years of working life in it yet, I reckon.
that's pretty much what i was going to say. i'm just selling a PBG4, and it's still great. 1.25Ghz G4 but it flies through Adobe CS2, Final Cut Studio 5.1 (Motion is fantastic on it), and After Effects 7 Pro... everything works - and works well.
point me towards a 2 year old pc laptop that can handle AE7, CS2, and so on, as well as this and i'd be very surprised. because they don't exist.
Macs keep their value because they stay useful for many years longer than PC's. My uni newspaper have a varied editing suite which includes two ORIGINAL iMacs - and they're still there, working fine, helping produce the paper. And they work great, depsite their age, and the fact they both got wet (as in swimming with water inside) last year when some muppet left the window open..
In general Mac users are interested in quality, reliability and the productivity
gains they experience from working in Mac OSX.
Many used buyers could not afford the full retail price, but they still want a great machine, so used is their best alternative.
This is even more important to buyers overseas who pay a tremendous premium for Apple products.
Many previous users are trading up and they have an enormous investment in pro application software, especially now with PPC software, so a good used tower is highly desirable.
Many audio professionals are now looking to buy good used PCI and PCI-X
G5 dual towers because many of the high end audio cards they already own
will not work with the newer PCI-Express dual core towers.
iBooks and PowerBook are still fantastic machines, so many buyers are looking for good deals to take the sting out of the new purchase price.
My 8 year old 300MHz Beige G3 still runs perfectly and I still use it for a back-up unit.
The professional applications that were written to run efficiently on a 300 MHz machine, still work perfectly.
gains they experience from working in Mac OSX.
Many used buyers could not afford the full retail price, but they still want a great machine, so used is their best alternative.
This is even more important to buyers overseas who pay a tremendous premium for Apple products.
Many previous users are trading up and they have an enormous investment in pro application software, especially now with PPC software, so a good used tower is highly desirable.
Many audio professionals are now looking to buy good used PCI and PCI-X
G5 dual towers because many of the high end audio cards they already own
will not work with the newer PCI-Express dual core towers.
iBooks and PowerBook are still fantastic machines, so many buyers are looking for good deals to take the sting out of the new purchase price.
My 8 year old 300MHz Beige G3 still runs perfectly and I still use it for a back-up unit.
The professional applications that were written to run efficiently on a 300 MHz machine, still work perfectly.
I question if they are going to keep there high resale value any more now that they switch over to intel. They no longer are going to get the pricing protection they had gained from PPC.
I think part of it is how macs where not updated very quickly compared to the rest of the computer world and a much slower pace. Now they no longer have the cover of using a differnt CPU. Now people will be able to do a direct comparison spec wise to other manufactors causing their resale value to drop.
I think part of it is how macs where not updated very quickly compared to the rest of the computer world and a much slower pace. Now they no longer have the cover of using a differnt CPU. Now people will be able to do a direct comparison spec wise to other manufactors causing their resale value to drop.
Because they have a longer, more usable life-span then most Windows based machines.
In fact, all my Macs are over three years old, yet run better then most of my friends new PC's. I run PS, Illustrator, Final Cut, etc. on my G4, and older versions of similar software on my G3 and Ti.
In fact, all my Macs are over three years old, yet run better then most of my friends new PC's. I run PS, Illustrator, Final Cut, etc. on my G4, and older versions of similar software on my G3 and Ti.
Eh, that's not true. I have a Pentium 90 MHz machine that's still running fine.Plymouthbreezer said:
The reason that older Mac's have such a high resale value is simple. You don't have much of a choice when it comes to Mac's, you either buy a new one or buy a used one. You don't buy the parts from a retailer and put it together yourself, you don't buy a preassembled one on the cheap, you HAVE TO shell out a little bit of money regardless. It's not because they're high quality or anything, it's because you have no choice. With the new Intel Mac's I don't see them selling quite as high once they get older because you can put together a comparable, or better, machine for much cheaper at that point. The only clincher will be how badly they want to run OS X I guess.
Blue Velvet said:As a generalisation, they (well, the towers anyway) tend to have a longer useful life so are priced accordingly.
A friend of mine (magazine designer) still uses his G4 450 at home for Photoshop & Quark... brings his Carrara Pro files into work for rendering on the dual G5 2.5s however.
My dual 1.42 came off pretty well in the Photoshop test thread that was around here a few months ago... pretty close to a dual 1.8 G5, I think. And that's a Mac that is 3 years old so it's still got another 2-4 years of working life in it yet, I reckon.
Thursday night (4/13) i had a customer that's still a G3 iMac as his photoshop work machine
.....Then i sold him on a $3300.00 system is a Quad with a 23" apple lcd since that system will be able run @least 6 to 7 yrs after apple has finished intel switch ..
This chat with the customer lasted for @least 30 mins ...
but i won't get the credit for the sale
My current latest and greatest is a very recent purchase (February of this year, PowerBook G4 17"). But my two previous machines are both still in active use.
PowerBook G3 Series '98 (WallStreet) is mostly used for scanning (I have two MacOS 9-dependent scanners) but it boots Panther and works fine as a backup machine. If I need to put the G4 PB in the shop at some point, I'll be taking the old WallStreet to work with me. (It has a G4/500 in it and is otherwise souped up considerably from specs). I would not sell it unless you paid me enough to replace it with an absolutely identical model (souped-up elements included) and make a solid profit on it. Maybe not even then, but if you have a couple thousand you want to bid on a 7-year-old computer, you're welcome to make an offer.
One of the first PowerMacs, my 7100/80 stays at work for me to Timbuktu into from home, or occasionally even while I'm at work and need to do more things at once than the G4 PB is best suited for. (Among other things, OS X does file copies on networked AppleShare volumes only about as fast as OS 8.6 does on a computer 1/6th the speed). The 7100 was never a truly great computer, but it's been reliable. (It has a G3/300 in it nowadays and faster HDs). This one is 10 years old. I wouldn't run out and blow a lot of money for one just like it were it to die, but it is proof of the main point: this Mac absolutely had a decade of useful life in front of it at the time of purchase. Minimum (since it could remain in deployment for a few more years to come).
PowerBook G3 Series '98 (WallStreet) is mostly used for scanning (I have two MacOS 9-dependent scanners) but it boots Panther and works fine as a backup machine. If I need to put the G4 PB in the shop at some point, I'll be taking the old WallStreet to work with me. (It has a G4/500 in it and is otherwise souped up considerably from specs). I would not sell it unless you paid me enough to replace it with an absolutely identical model (souped-up elements included) and make a solid profit on it. Maybe not even then, but if you have a couple thousand you want to bid on a 7-year-old computer, you're welcome to make an offer.
One of the first PowerMacs, my 7100/80 stays at work for me to Timbuktu into from home, or occasionally even while I'm at work and need to do more things at once than the G4 PB is best suited for. (Among other things, OS X does file copies on networked AppleShare volumes only about as fast as OS 8.6 does on a computer 1/6th the speed). The 7100 was never a truly great computer, but it's been reliable. (It has a G3/300 in it nowadays and faster HDs). This one is 10 years old. I wouldn't run out and blow a lot of money for one just like it were it to die, but it is proof of the main point: this Mac absolutely had a decade of useful life in front of it at the time of purchase. Minimum (since it could remain in deployment for a few more years to come).
One of my friends is still actively recording bands in Protools on his beige G3 desktop model.
I keep asking him why he hasn't upgraded, because he could easiy afford a new system and he keeps telling me
" Why, because it still works"
He was also the first person I knew that could afford one of the original CD burners back when they were nearly $800.00
I keep asking him why he hasn't upgraded, because he could easiy afford a new system and he keeps telling me
" Why, because it still works"
He was also the first person I knew that could afford one of the original CD burners back when they were nearly $800.00
Another thing that helps macs with their resale value is the fact that Apple supports their products for a good deal of time. Apple merely revises their computers rather than replacing them with new models like most PC manufactures do. (I.E your computer keeps a certain degree of familiarity simply by name and looks). People therefore hold a certain degree of trust when they buy a mac.
In addition to this fact macs are simply made of better parts then your average computer (ati cards, Texas Instruments soundcards, ect...) Basically the overall quality of these units is pretty damn good. Also the materials that these units are made out of is simply amazing (Titanium, Aluminum, and high end plastics). Just by looking and touching a mac people can tell this is no ordinary computer. All these factors lead to higher re-salability.
In addition to this fact macs are simply made of better parts then your average computer (ati cards, Texas Instruments soundcards, ect...) Basically the overall quality of these units is pretty damn good. Also the materials that these units are made out of is simply amazing (Titanium, Aluminum, and high end plastics). Just by looking and touching a mac people can tell this is no ordinary computer. All these factors lead to higher re-salability.
I think macs have higher value because usually the owner likes and chooses mac and hence well kept and maintained. Also if the machine has applecare you don't have to worry about a thing for three years.
beside from what i see, they are well built and really feels solid. not the cheapy plastic feeling. and they rarely have any problems. I know all these apply for windows machines as well, but, in general, you will find good macs much more often than a trashed out one. you would hardly see any one talking about his/her beloved pc.
beside from what i see, they are well built and really feels solid. not the cheapy plastic feeling. and they rarely have any problems. I know all these apply for windows machines as well, but, in general, you will find good macs much more often than a trashed out one. you would hardly see any one talking about his/her beloved pc.