what hasn't the macbook pro 13 decreased in price in 2 years?

TigerUK · 22 Mar 2011 at 21:03

I wanted to get a macbook pro 13 two years ago when the retail price was £900.

I figured Id waiting and get it used, for £600-£700. I'm surprised to find out that even the used macbooks sell for close to the retail price, and the retail price has actually increased, at moment the low end macbook pro 13 command a price of more than £900 to this day.

What's up with that?

ps3ud0 · 22 Mar 2011 at 21:05

Because the retail version gets regular spec updates to maintain that price point/access, while the build quality/brand value keeps second hand prices higher than equivalently specced windows laptops

ps3ud0 :cool:

Al Vallario · 22 Mar 2011 at 21:19

High levels of customer satisfaction mean owners are less willing to part with their laptops (fewer laptops on the second hand market mean higher prices), and if they are willing, they are only prepared to do so for a high price.

That and high levels of build quality means second hand items tend to be in relatively good shape (it's more difficult to damage aluminium than plastic!), so they command higher prices than comparable laptops that have sustained a few knocks in their time.

Residual value is something people don't tend to factor into their purchasing decisions; most seem to think dumping £700 on a laptop that will only command £350 in 2 years time is preferable to purchasing a MacBook for £900 that they'll be able to sell on for £650/700 in 2 years.

TigerUK · 23 Mar 2011 at 16:12

Yeah it's really annoying how WIndows laptops take such a big hit in price within a year, and how macs hold their resell price very well.

I was looking through the refurb route, and even the refurbs are expensive. But they can be bought from the US for $1000, which is a sexy £660 or around that price tag, american refurb that is.

fez · 23 Mar 2011 at 16:41

TigerUK said:
Yeah it's really annoying how WIndows laptops take such a big hit in price within a year, and how macs hold their resell price very well.

I was looking through the refurb route, and even the refurbs are expensive. But they can be bought from the US for $1000, which is a sexy £660 or around that price tag, american refurb that is.

If you are wanting anything from the US, just bear duty in mind. To be honest, the best windows laptops will be worth a decent amount second hand as well, the issue is that most windows laptops are poorly put together, will be running vista if they are a few years old and windows doesn't run nearly as well after being installed for years as OS X.

OzyOly · 23 Mar 2011 at 21:07

fez said:
If you are wanting anything from the US, just bear duty in mind. To be honest, the best windows laptops will be worth a decent amount second hand as well, the issue is that most windows laptops are poorly put together, will be running vista if they are a few years old and windows doesn't run nearly as well after being installed for years as OS X.

Yeah, if you get a Vista laptop, install windows 7 on it asap to keep it running fast.

FreeStream · 24 Mar 2011 at 13:14

TigerUK said:
Yeah it's really annoying how WIndows laptops take such a big hit in price within a year, and how macs hold their resell price very well.

I was looking through the refurb route, and even the refurbs are expensive. But they can be bought from the US for which is a sexy £660 or around that price tag, american refurb that is.

My 2007 15" MBP over three years lost £200/year.

Just as a level of depreciation..

TigerUK · 26 Mar 2011 at 20:07

Concorde Rules said:
My 2007 15" MBP over three years lost £200/year.

Just as a level of depreciation..

Yeah the MBP13 seem to be lower specced but still command a higher price.

I tink its down to the fact that MBP13 haven't been upgraded.

I know that MBP 15 and 17 have had newer CPUs added, but MBP still use the older CPUs. Which is why they still go for a higher price, maybe I should ditch my appetite from smaller screens.,

kirkster · 28 Mar 2011 at 08:06

.....first law of economics, supply and demand.

In Mac-land, lots of demand (aka marketing, peer pressure, damned good devices) and limited used market maintaining values (limited because people don't want to sell - i.e. they are generally happy). That's why 3 year old Macbooks routinely fetch over £500. Imagine that with a PC? !!

sbi5ar · 28 Mar 2011 at 09:16

The price doesn't go down as the specs of a 2 year old MBP vary considerably to that of the brand new MBP

Edit... As for the resell value of MBP and Windows based laptops... Supply and demand, there will be more second hand windows laptops than MBPs

arfur · 3 Apr 2011 at 00:00

I have 2 13" macbooks that I'm shifting, they cost me £500 each late last year so hopefully I'll get at least £350-£400 now