11 ms·

The Mac price crash of 2021

cammikebrown 6y ago
I’ve been wanting to get a 2015 MacBook Pro before they switched to the worse keyboards, but now I should maybe just look for an even newer one...?
- sokoloff 6y ago
  I held onto my old one until the 2019s came out. I’m happy with my decision to wait and also with the 2019 MBPro. Post-pandemic, I’m almost exclusively typing on a Kinesis, but pre-pandemic, I found the laptop keyboard to be okay. If I’d known we’d have a pandemic, wouldn’t be traveling in 2020, and that M1s were coming out, I’d have waited longer, but I’d probably have made other, more impactful decisions than which laptop to buy.
- kiddico 6y ago
  Still using my 2015 MBP 15" with no issues minus some loss of battery life. If you can find one with light usage for cheap it might not be a terrible idea. I don't use mine for CPU intensive tasks though, so YMMV.
  - droidist2 6y ago
    I have a 2015 MBP 15" also, and it's still a really good machine. Even if you find one with a shot battery you can get Apple to replace the battery for $200.
    - sokoloff 6y ago
      Be cautious with that. Apple has a policy to stop supplying parts for older hardware after 5 or 7 years. (I'm not sure exactly when different parts of service fall off.) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 Wife's Macbook Air needed a new battery end of last year and I thought "eh, $129 is worth it" only to find out that the battery wasn't actually available at any price from Apple. Ended up replacing it with an aftermarket $30 one and it's been great for 3 months, but that's also not a glued-in battery, so it was an easy 10 minute job, certainly not the case on the 2015 MBP. If your computer is coming up on one of those timelines, the battery is slightly weak, and you want to keep it, might be worth getting the service while it's available. I was not happy to have to go aftermarket, given some of the shadiness in that market.
      - droidist2 6y ago
        Oh, thanks for the info. I guess it's good I got the battery replaced in 2019, but if I need it replaced again in 2024 or whatever I guess I'll probably be out of luck.
- nicoburns 6y ago
  Rumour has it that they're planning to bring back all the ports in the next version, and that they'll be an 12-core version. Personally I'm waiting for that (but then I already have a 2015 model, so I'm in a good position).
  - bonestamp2 6y ago
    > they're planning to bring back all the ports in the next version I'd be surprised if they brought back ALL of the ports. I'm guessing they'll bring back the HDMI and the sd card slot (although probably microSD this time).
    - nicoburns 6y ago
      Yeah, probably not all of them. I'd certainly be surprised to see usb-A. The rumours I heard said the magsafe port would be back too though.
      - bonestamp2 6y ago
        I loved magsafe at the time, but I can't decide if I want magsafe now. It's pretty nice being able to charge most devices in my bag with the same USB-C cord. If they had a magnetic breakaway connection in the middle of a USB-C cord, that would be the best of both worlds.
    - Teever 6y ago
      Only microSD would be useless. People with fancy cameras need a full size SD port.
      - bonestamp2 6y ago
        I think what you mean is that it would be useless for people who need a full SD ports. A MicroSD slot is not useless for MicroSD cards.
        Teever 6y ago
- PascLeRasc 6y ago
  Mine is by far the best computer that I’ve ever owned. All the ports are there, the screen is great, it’s incredibly fast, and I love the trackpad/keyboard. I’ve had it for about a year and a half and it still makes me really happy every time I use it. Highly recommend.
- pridkett 6y ago
  As long as you get one with 16GB RAM you’ll be okay. The SSD in 2015 MBPs can also be upgraded - MacSales sells complete DIY kits. I knew I was going this route and managed to find a 16GB RAM/128GB SSD and just upgraded to the 2TB drive[0]. It screams. [0]: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/S3DAPT4MB20K/ https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/S3DAPT4MB20K/
- PebblesHD 6y ago
  I’m still running a late 2012 15” MBP which was upgraded at purchase with the 2.6GHz i7 and 16GB of ram. It remains one of the most reliable laptops I’ve ever owned, and so far I’ve only needed to replace the battery when it stopped lasting all day which I regularly need. I suspect once it can’t run the latest MacOS that will probably kill it, for now it runs Big Sur fine with some small patches and Windows 10 in bootcamp for the two or so pieces if software I just can’t avoid. If you can find a much newer one, the more recent 16” macbooks have a much improved typing experience over the first attempt at the butterfly keys, otherwise a 2015 one with upgrades to at least the RAM will still run quite well.
- mFixman 6y ago
  Why even get a Mac? Most other high-end laptops have better keyboards and more repairable hardware.
ThePadawan 6y ago
So overall, a good time to buy an Intel-based MBP to install Logic Pro and Photoshop on, then completely disconnect them from the Internet?
- H1Supreme 6y ago
  Doesn't Photoshop require an internet connection?
  - ThePadawan 6y ago
    I'm blissfully unaware of the current state of Photoshop. I've heard nothing but complaints about their licensing, but IIRC some older versions (CS6?) still work after only one-time activation.
dawnerd 6y ago
Oddly M1 macs have also been having pretty deep price cuts lately. I get the feeling sales have greatly slowed down past the initial burst.
- dangus 6y ago
  I think there are two dynamics at play: the weak economy for much of the middle class and the jobless rate being higher than normal, along with work from home and pandemic aspects of life increasing demand for home electronics. People want computers perhaps more than normal, but do they have the money to spend? I think this is why Apple was advertising Education pricing on the M1 Macs the day they came out. They don’t care that you qualify, it’s basically a “buy from Apple directly instead of a third party retailer” discount. This is all just my amateur theory - I think Apple wants to keep volumes up and sell something to meet demand.
  - Firehawke 6y ago
    Yeah, I think it's more that people can't justify what I'd call luxury pricing for hardware right now. I'm not aware of any significant failures in the M1 design to suggest that Apple screwed up hard at least. When things turn around, I'd expect Apple to pick back up pretty well. I'm not an Apple owner nor a fan, but I definitely have an interest in watching the evolution of these since they're the first real rival to x86 in a long time. There's a real possibility I'll end up going to a future Apple, Microsoft (since they're looking into doing their own ARM chips now as well), or some other ARM architecture in the next 10 years if Intel and AMD can't keep x86 ahead. It looks like Intel already lost with almost no hope of getting back into a competitive position, so AMD's what I'm watching closest on that side. Also, look, before anyone downvotes me for being Anti-Intel(tm), I just want to say that I'm going to remain skeptical until Intel can do 2-3 generations of good chips in succession without dropping the ball hard. Zen has two or three generations of good improvement showing up, and Intel might have ONE generation with the newest chips coming out but that doesn't mean they'll keep it up. If Intel does that, I'll keep them in consideration. Until that point.. well, I'm just going to remain skeptical and cautious.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
rienko 6y ago
At our company we have a bunch of Macbook pro 13" with butterfly keyboards that nobody wants to use internally, that in combo with the new M1s really made the resale value drop, it did leave us with a bad taste in the mouth.
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  Yes, I like to buy my machines 2nd hand but I'm not going to touch anything with that keyboard.
blobbers 6y ago
This guy claims swapping is efficient, yet I see other posts saying they're going to blow out in under 2 years due to write load on the 8GB versions of the M1 laptops
cjohansson 6y ago
The lack of control over hardware and software on contemporary Macs is a show-stopper for me. Once they get back to Snow Leopard ideology I'll return, until then it's Linux or Windows for me
- jonplackett 6y ago
  What exactly is it you don’t like?
  - fmajid 6y ago
    Fears were that they would be locked down like iPhones are, but there is Asahi Linux running on M1 already, and OpenBSD soon.
  - bloqs 6y ago
    The reported SSD swap file wear and tear potentially writing off a whole laptop due to soldered drives is concerning to say the least
    - jonplackett 6y ago
      Important points, but not what they were talking about I don't think.
- dangus 6y ago
  This is a weird attitude I’ve seen where Snow Leopard is worshipped as “the greatest macOS version there ever was.” Apple’s design philosophy isn’t particularly different from that time. Snow Leopard was something of a feature freeze to make up for deficiencies with Leopard. Apple was never some pariah of hardware and software flexibility. If you had a PowerPC Mac or older you dealt with all kinds of incompatibilities from different peripherals, floppy disk formats, and physical connectors. The interoperability of Macs is the best it’s ever been, especially since Apple no longer deals with a <5% market share like the 1990s.
  - TheCoelacanth 6y ago
jonplackett 6y ago
Resale value of the older laptops is still decent. 2013 MacBook Pro’s still going for £750 on eBay - For a machine 8 years old? I think it only cost £2000 back then anyway. So that Mac has only cost £13 a month to own.
- lostmsu 6y ago
  In U.S. you can get it for $370 (~GBP 265): https://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-3-RETINA-2-4GHz-Core-i5-8GB-RAM-256GB-SSD/313431490257?epid=174472295&hash=item48f9f8fed1:g:tpEAAOSwoP1gNsLe https://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-3-RETINA-...
  - jonplackett 6y ago
    This is only 13 inch and 8gb ram, small SSD. I'm at least talking about decent versions. Saying that, I still own a MacBook Pro 2013 and a newer 2016 for from work, and the performance is indistinguishable - so maybe £750 is a good deal. That is all part of the reason prices stayed high - until there was a genuine update.
- burnthrow 6y ago
  Nobody's paying that much for a 2013 MBP. The will have to lower the price considerably before it's "going."
  - jonplackett 6y ago
    No they’re actually selling. Just saw one go for £850 a few weeks back. And one with only 256gb SSD for £650. It’s crazy!
    - burnthrow 6y ago
      I stand corrected, that is crazy!
    - debbiedowner 6y ago
      Don't they need to sell with a "warranty" to get the higher prices? In the US market there are some power sellers who say 2 year warranty and get big prices. Meanwhile while I was selling 1 as a non-prof seller I got tons of questions of "can I return it" and "what is the warranty" and two times my item was bid up to the stratosphere by non paying biders. Finally I listed it buy it now only and eventually a no fuss buyer bought it for half the price of the prof-sellers. My point is, ebay prices don't always tell the whole story.
supernova87a 6y ago
I wish articles would be more specific about the loads and use cases under which the new Macs shine versus are not much better than the old Intel macs. I thought the main strengths distinguishing the performance of the M1 were the idle power chips that saved a lot of energy, and the shared CPU/GPU memory. For loads running flat out all the time and emphasizing GPU, the difference is not as great, I thought? Apple is still selling Macbooks with Intel inside. That cannot be just stupidity, right?
- floatingatoll 6y ago
  The article author seems to assume that Apple will steadily increase the performance of part or all of their entire product line in 2021 with Apple Silicon. Since Apple has been doing that with the iPhone for ten years, it’s quite reasonable to assume this will affect their laptop and desktop lines too. The first Apple Silicon release is better than nearly everything available from Intel. That same first release will likely be obsolete by the end of 2021, as Apple advances with M1X or M2. That annual obsolescence may well continue for the next ten years, too. So the used Apple laptop market is going to look a lot more like the used iPhone market - and in the used iPhone market, you get 15% of what you paid, not 85%, because there’s an endless supply of new phones forcing the used market down.
- kleinsch 6y ago
  The only reason they’re selling MacBooks with Intel is bc they haven’t updated the whole line yet. They did the entry level models for MacBook, Air, and mini. They’ll do the rest when they roll out the M1X (higher end first party chip) later this year to the rest of the line. Look up the performance stats, for loads running flat out or using GPU, M1 is insanely faster. People are replacing their two year old $5K top of the line MacBooks with an entry level M1 and seeing massive real world performance gains. That’s the point of this article - why would anyone pay $2-3K for a used 15” MacBook Pro that retailed for $5K in 2018 when they can buy an M1 that blows it out of the water brand new for half the price? There are still limiting factors (if you need ports, more RAM, etc) since these are entry level models, but the rumors about the next gen MBPs coming in H2 of this year sound like they’ll tackle those easily.
heax 6y ago
It does not matter what you think how good the M1 is, what the author states is the opinion of the potential buyer of a mac out there. I do not see it as so much superior as he does, but the prices will crater because most think it is.
- ravi-delia 6y ago
  Even if the M1 isn't a complete upending of the Apple line, the next generation is expected to be yet another leap from the M1. They probably won't get another jump like that again, but 2 is more than enough.
rubicon33 6y ago
Slightly off topic but - Does anyone here have an opinion on whether or not it's a good idea to update to an M1 macbook? I'm usually weary of GEN1 products, but it's been hard for me to hold off on picking up one of these. The performance boosts seem to be quite impactful in a daily workflow especially if you're compiling a lot of code regularly. I'd be upgrading from a late 2015, 15" non-dedicated GPU macbook pro. It works fine and I don't really have any complains other than of course I'd love if it were faster. Since I'm on my computer all the time, removing sources of friction are important.
- kayodelycaon 6y ago
  For myself, I run dual 4K displays and the M1-based laptops don’t support that.
  - jurmous 6y ago
    They do support it with display link. https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/24/m1-macs-able-to-run-six-external-displays/ https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/24/m1-macs-able-to-run-six...
    - kayodelycaon 6y ago
      My monitors are Thunderbolt 3 and daisy-chained. :)
- RyanShook 6y ago
  I would go ahead and upgrade. For the cost of a MacBook Air your experience will improve a ton.
- smoldesu 6y ago
  I've got an M1 MBA that work sent me for debugging, it spends most of it's time collecting dust. Granted, I'm not a big fan of MacOS, but this computer isn't doing much to change that.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
fmajid 6y ago
Conversely, I expect used Intel MacBook and Mac Mini prices to go up when the last models are discontinued in 1–2 years' time, as that will be the only way to run x86 virtualization for Windows et al. It's called a dead-cat bounce.
- 67868018 6y ago
  Dead cat bounce is exclusively a stock trading term. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_bounce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_bounce
  - naewonawonga 6y ago
    Metaphors and language are dynamic flexible things.
crossroadsguy 6y ago
I truly grasped what's all the hullabaloo about repairability and felt the pain when I first had to go look for SSD replacement for my mid 2012 MacBook Air. Other than burning a crater in my pocket (by getting the Apple supplied part) I really couldn't find an option. It's just lying there. The "adapter + some SSD" trials failed as well and at least in my country there's no replacement with those "particular pin sets" I am going to think real long and hard when I buy my next laptop.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  What year did you attempt the repair? 8 years is a long life. Can you boot from external drive?
  - crossroadsguy 6y ago
    I bought it in late 2012 or early 2013 I believe. I tried repair first in early 2017 (moisture killed the SSD they all said). Then late last year I tried again. In the meantime I have essentially used my work Mac as the only laptop. Previous company required me to leave work laptop in office that's why I bought one. Of late this company has been pressuring to install surveillance apps so my new-found interest in reviving my old laptop personal usage - browsing, mail etc - I don't anything else from my personal laptop. So essentially it has not been used since 2017 (I keep it safe in an airtight bag). It boots up and shows the [?] as in no disk found.
- vondur 6y ago
  You can replace the SSD yourself. It does use an Apple connector, but you can find a 240GB model here: https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/OWC-Aura-Pro-6G-SSD-for-MacBook-Air-11-Inch-and-13-Inch-Mid-2012/IF188-122?o=1 https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/OWC-Aura-Pro-6G-SSD-for-Mac...
  - crossroadsguy 6y ago

I’ve been wanting to get a 2015 MacBook Pro before they switched to the worse keyboards, but now I should maybe just look for an even newer one...?

sokoloff 6y ago
I held onto my old one until the 2019s came out. I’m happy with my decision to wait and also with the 2019 MBPro. Post-pandemic, I’m almost exclusively typing on a Kinesis, but pre-pandemic, I found the laptop keyboard to be okay. If I’d known we’d have a pandemic, wouldn’t be traveling in 2020, and that M1s were coming out, I’d have waited longer, but I’d probably have made other, more impactful decisions than which laptop to buy.
kiddico 6y ago
Still using my 2015 MBP 15" with no issues minus some loss of battery life. If you can find one with light usage for cheap it might not be a terrible idea. I don't use mine for CPU intensive tasks though, so YMMV.
- droidist2 6y ago
  I have a 2015 MBP 15" also, and it's still a really good machine. Even if you find one with a shot battery you can get Apple to replace the battery for $200.
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    Be cautious with that. Apple has a policy to stop supplying parts for older hardware after 5 or 7 years. (I'm not sure exactly when different parts of service fall off.) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 Wife's Macbook Air needed a new battery end of last year and I thought "eh, $129 is worth it" only to find out that the battery wasn't actually available at any price from Apple. Ended up replacing it with an aftermarket $30 one and it's been great for 3 months, but that's also not a glued-in battery, so it was an easy 10 minute job, certainly not the case on the 2015 MBP. If your computer is coming up on one of those timelines, the battery is slightly weak, and you want to keep it, might be worth getting the service while it's available. I was not happy to have to go aftermarket, given some of the shadiness in that market.
    - droidist2 6y ago
      Oh, thanks for the info. I guess it's good I got the battery replaced in 2019, but if I need it replaced again in 2024 or whatever I guess I'll probably be out of luck.
nicoburns 6y ago
Rumour has it that they're planning to bring back all the ports in the next version, and that they'll be an 12-core version. Personally I'm waiting for that (but then I already have a 2015 model, so I'm in a good position).
- bonestamp2 6y ago
  > they're planning to bring back all the ports in the next version I'd be surprised if they brought back ALL of the ports. I'm guessing they'll bring back the HDMI and the sd card slot (although probably microSD this time).
  - nicoburns 6y ago
    Yeah, probably not all of them. I'd certainly be surprised to see usb-A. The rumours I heard said the magsafe port would be back too though.
    - bonestamp2 6y ago
      I loved magsafe at the time, but I can't decide if I want magsafe now. It's pretty nice being able to charge most devices in my bag with the same USB-C cord. If they had a magnetic breakaway connection in the middle of a USB-C cord, that would be the best of both worlds.
  - Teever 6y ago
    Only microSD would be useless. People with fancy cameras need a full size SD port.
    - bonestamp2 6y ago
      I think what you mean is that it would be useless for people who need a full SD ports. A MicroSD slot is not useless for MicroSD cards.
      - Teever 6y ago
PascLeRasc 6y ago
Mine is by far the best computer that I’ve ever owned. All the ports are there, the screen is great, it’s incredibly fast, and I love the trackpad/keyboard. I’ve had it for about a year and a half and it still makes me really happy every time I use it. Highly recommend.
pridkett 6y ago
As long as you get one with 16GB RAM you’ll be okay. The SSD in 2015 MBPs can also be upgraded - MacSales sells complete DIY kits. I knew I was going this route and managed to find a 16GB RAM/128GB SSD and just upgraded to the 2TB drive[0]. It screams. [0]: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/S3DAPT4MB20K/ https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/S3DAPT4MB20K/
PebblesHD 6y ago
I’m still running a late 2012 15” MBP which was upgraded at purchase with the 2.6GHz i7 and 16GB of ram. It remains one of the most reliable laptops I’ve ever owned, and so far I’ve only needed to replace the battery when it stopped lasting all day which I regularly need. I suspect once it can’t run the latest MacOS that will probably kill it, for now it runs Big Sur fine with some small patches and Windows 10 in bootcamp for the two or so pieces if software I just can’t avoid. If you can find a much newer one, the more recent 16” macbooks have a much improved typing experience over the first attempt at the butterfly keys, otherwise a 2015 one with upgrades to at least the RAM will still run quite well.
mFixman 6y ago
Why even get a Mac? Most other high-end laptops have better keyboards and more repairable hardware.

ThePadawan 6y ago

So overall, a good time to buy an Intel-based MBP to install Logic Pro and Photoshop on, then completely disconnect them from the Internet?

H1Supreme 6y ago
Doesn't Photoshop require an internet connection?
- ThePadawan 6y ago
  I'm blissfully unaware of the current state of Photoshop. I've heard nothing but complaints about their licensing, but IIRC some older versions (CS6?) still work after only one-time activation.

dawnerd 6y ago

Oddly M1 macs have also been having pretty deep price cuts lately. I get the feeling sales have greatly slowed down past the initial burst.

dangus 6y ago
I think there are two dynamics at play: the weak economy for much of the middle class and the jobless rate being higher than normal, along with work from home and pandemic aspects of life increasing demand for home electronics. People want computers perhaps more than normal, but do they have the money to spend? I think this is why Apple was advertising Education pricing on the M1 Macs the day they came out. They don’t care that you qualify, it’s basically a “buy from Apple directly instead of a third party retailer” discount. This is all just my amateur theory - I think Apple wants to keep volumes up and sell something to meet demand.
- Firehawke 6y ago
  Yeah, I think it's more that people can't justify what I'd call luxury pricing for hardware right now. I'm not aware of any significant failures in the M1 design to suggest that Apple screwed up hard at least. When things turn around, I'd expect Apple to pick back up pretty well. I'm not an Apple owner nor a fan, but I definitely have an interest in watching the evolution of these since they're the first real rival to x86 in a long time. There's a real possibility I'll end up going to a future Apple, Microsoft (since they're looking into doing their own ARM chips now as well), or some other ARM architecture in the next 10 years if Intel and AMD can't keep x86 ahead. It looks like Intel already lost with almost no hope of getting back into a competitive position, so AMD's what I'm watching closest on that side. Also, look, before anyone downvotes me for being Anti-Intel(tm), I just want to say that I'm going to remain skeptical until Intel can do 2-3 generations of good chips in succession without dropping the ball hard. Zen has two or three generations of good improvement showing up, and Intel might have ONE generation with the newest chips coming out but that doesn't mean they'll keep it up. If Intel does that, I'll keep them in consideration. Until that point.. well, I'm just going to remain skeptical and cautious.
- chrisseaton 6y ago

rienko 6y ago

At our company we have a bunch of Macbook pro 13" with butterfly keyboards that nobody wants to use internally, that in combo with the new M1s really made the resale value drop, it did leave us with a bad taste in the mouth.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
Yes, I like to buy my machines 2nd hand but I'm not going to touch anything with that keyboard.

blobbers 6y ago

This guy claims swapping is efficient, yet I see other posts saying they're going to blow out in under 2 years due to write load on the 8GB versions of the M1 laptops

cjohansson 6y ago

The lack of control over hardware and software on contemporary Macs is a show-stopper for me. Once they get back to Snow Leopard ideology I'll return, until then it's Linux or Windows for me

jonplackett 6y ago
What exactly is it you don’t like?
- fmajid 6y ago
  Fears were that they would be locked down like iPhones are, but there is Asahi Linux running on M1 already, and OpenBSD soon.
- bloqs 6y ago
  The reported SSD swap file wear and tear potentially writing off a whole laptop due to soldered drives is concerning to say the least
  - jonplackett 6y ago
    Important points, but not what they were talking about I don't think.
dangus 6y ago
This is a weird attitude I’ve seen where Snow Leopard is worshipped as “the greatest macOS version there ever was.” Apple’s design philosophy isn’t particularly different from that time. Snow Leopard was something of a feature freeze to make up for deficiencies with Leopard. Apple was never some pariah of hardware and software flexibility. If you had a PowerPC Mac or older you dealt with all kinds of incompatibilities from different peripherals, floppy disk formats, and physical connectors. The interoperability of Macs is the best it’s ever been, especially since Apple no longer deals with a <5% market share like the 1990s.
- TheCoelacanth 6y ago

jonplackett 6y ago

Resale value of the older laptops is still decent. 2013 MacBook Pro’s still going for £750 on eBay - For a machine 8 years old? I think it only cost £2000 back then anyway. So that Mac has only cost £13 a month to own.

lostmsu 6y ago
In U.S. you can get it for $370 (~GBP 265): https://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-3-RETINA-2-4GHz-Core-i5-8GB-RAM-256GB-SSD/313431490257?epid=174472295&hash=item48f9f8fed1:g:tpEAAOSwoP1gNsLe https://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-3-RETINA-...
- jonplackett 6y ago
  This is only 13 inch and 8gb ram, small SSD. I'm at least talking about decent versions. Saying that, I still own a MacBook Pro 2013 and a newer 2016 for from work, and the performance is indistinguishable - so maybe £750 is a good deal. That is all part of the reason prices stayed high - until there was a genuine update.
burnthrow 6y ago
Nobody's paying that much for a 2013 MBP. The will have to lower the price considerably before it's "going."
- jonplackett 6y ago
  No they’re actually selling. Just saw one go for £850 a few weeks back. And one with only 256gb SSD for £650. It’s crazy!
  - burnthrow 6y ago
    I stand corrected, that is crazy!
  - debbiedowner 6y ago
    Don't they need to sell with a "warranty" to get the higher prices? In the US market there are some power sellers who say 2 year warranty and get big prices. Meanwhile while I was selling 1 as a non-prof seller I got tons of questions of "can I return it" and "what is the warranty" and two times my item was bid up to the stratosphere by non paying biders. Finally I listed it buy it now only and eventually a no fuss buyer bought it for half the price of the prof-sellers. My point is, ebay prices don't always tell the whole story.

supernova87a 6y ago

I wish articles would be more specific about the loads and use cases under which the new Macs shine versus are not much better than the old Intel macs. I thought the main strengths distinguishing the performance of the M1 were the idle power chips that saved a lot of energy, and the shared CPU/GPU memory. For loads running flat out all the time and emphasizing GPU, the difference is not as great, I thought? Apple is still selling Macbooks with Intel inside. That cannot be just stupidity, right?

floatingatoll 6y ago
The article author seems to assume that Apple will steadily increase the performance of part or all of their entire product line in 2021 with Apple Silicon. Since Apple has been doing that with the iPhone for ten years, it’s quite reasonable to assume this will affect their laptop and desktop lines too. The first Apple Silicon release is better than nearly everything available from Intel. That same first release will likely be obsolete by the end of 2021, as Apple advances with M1X or M2. That annual obsolescence may well continue for the next ten years, too. So the used Apple laptop market is going to look a lot more like the used iPhone market - and in the used iPhone market, you get 15% of what you paid, not 85%, because there’s an endless supply of new phones forcing the used market down.
kleinsch 6y ago
The only reason they’re selling MacBooks with Intel is bc they haven’t updated the whole line yet. They did the entry level models for MacBook, Air, and mini. They’ll do the rest when they roll out the M1X (higher end first party chip) later this year to the rest of the line. Look up the performance stats, for loads running flat out or using GPU, M1 is insanely faster. People are replacing their two year old $5K top of the line MacBooks with an entry level M1 and seeing massive real world performance gains. That’s the point of this article - why would anyone pay $2-3K for a used 15” MacBook Pro that retailed for $5K in 2018 when they can buy an M1 that blows it out of the water brand new for half the price? There are still limiting factors (if you need ports, more RAM, etc) since these are entry level models, but the rumors about the next gen MBPs coming in H2 of this year sound like they’ll tackle those easily.

heax 6y ago

It does not matter what you think how good the M1 is, what the author states is the opinion of the potential buyer of a mac out there. I do not see it as so much superior as he does, but the prices will crater because most think it is.

ravi-delia 6y ago
Even if the M1 isn't a complete upending of the Apple line, the next generation is expected to be yet another leap from the M1. They probably won't get another jump like that again, but 2 is more than enough.

rubicon33 6y ago

Slightly off topic but - Does anyone here have an opinion on whether or not it's a good idea to update to an M1 macbook? I'm usually weary of GEN1 products, but it's been hard for me to hold off on picking up one of these. The performance boosts seem to be quite impactful in a daily workflow especially if you're compiling a lot of code regularly. I'd be upgrading from a late 2015, 15" non-dedicated GPU macbook pro. It works fine and I don't really have any complains other than of course I'd love if it were faster. Since I'm on my computer all the time, removing sources of friction are important.

kayodelycaon 6y ago
For myself, I run dual 4K displays and the M1-based laptops don’t support that.
- jurmous 6y ago
  They do support it with display link. https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/24/m1-macs-able-to-run-six-external-displays/ https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/24/m1-macs-able-to-run-six...
  - kayodelycaon 6y ago
    My monitors are Thunderbolt 3 and daisy-chained. :)
RyanShook 6y ago
I would go ahead and upgrade. For the cost of a MacBook Air your experience will improve a ton.
smoldesu 6y ago
I've got an M1 MBA that work sent me for debugging, it spends most of it's time collecting dust. Granted, I'm not a big fan of MacOS, but this computer isn't doing much to change that.
chrisseaton 6y ago

fmajid 6y ago

Conversely, I expect used Intel MacBook and Mac Mini prices to go up when the last models are discontinued in 1–2 years' time, as that will be the only way to run x86 virtualization for Windows et al. It's called a dead-cat bounce.

67868018 6y ago
Dead cat bounce is exclusively a stock trading term. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_bounce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_bounce
- naewonawonga 6y ago
  Metaphors and language are dynamic flexible things.

crossroadsguy 6y ago

I truly grasped what's all the hullabaloo about repairability and felt the pain when I first had to go look for SSD replacement for my mid 2012 MacBook Air. Other than burning a crater in my pocket (by getting the Apple supplied part) I really couldn't find an option. It's just lying there. The "adapter + some SSD" trials failed as well and at least in my country there's no replacement with those "particular pin sets" I am going to think real long and hard when I buy my next laptop.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
alisonkisk 6y ago
What year did you attempt the repair? 8 years is a long life. Can you boot from external drive?
- crossroadsguy 6y ago
  I bought it in late 2012 or early 2013 I believe. I tried repair first in early 2017 (moisture killed the SSD they all said). Then late last year I tried again. In the meantime I have essentially used my work Mac as the only laptop. Previous company required me to leave work laptop in office that's why I bought one. Of late this company has been pressuring to install surveillance apps so my new-found interest in reviving my old laptop personal usage - browsing, mail etc - I don't anything else from my personal laptop. So essentially it has not been used since 2017 (I keep it safe in an airtight bag). It boots up and shows the [?] as in no disk found.
vondur 6y ago
You can replace the SSD yourself. It does use an Apple connector, but you can find a 240GB model here: https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/OWC-Aura-Pro-6G-SSD-for-MacBook-Air-11-Inch-and-13-Inch-Mid-2012/IF188-122?o=1 https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/OWC-Aura-Pro-6G-SSD-for-Mac...
- crossroadsguy 6y ago