Want to buy a Mac....need help?

[griswold]

You can also add RAM yourself...I bought 4 GB for $70 to upgrade to 8 total on my macbook pro. Another option is buying used...you can get a significant discount and if it still has Applecare than you're fully covered. I got about a 40% discount and mine is covered until 7/13.

Where did you buy it used at, DMT?

And thank you to all of those who have provided guidance.

[DMT]

Where did you buy it used at, DMT?

And thank you to all of those who have provided guidance.

I found mine on Craigslist. I also was looking on Ebay but those prices tended to be higher since people selling on CL are usually more desperate for a quick sale. I only considered ones that had the extended Applecare and I'd recommend you do the same. You can verify the warranty by serial number on the Apple web site so it is pretty straightforward to make sure the seller is legit.

I know some people are sketched out by CL and I have ran into some flakes, but just take basic precautions and you should be fine. I met the seller at my bank so I wasn't carrying around cash and we met in a conference room where he showed me the serial number on the Apple website. It took about a month to find the right one but I only paid $1300 for a 15'' Macbook Pro with 3 years of Applecare (retail would have been around $2200 at the time) so for me it was well worth the effort.

[griswold]

Thanks DMT!

I'll need to start looking soon in order to find a decent deal.

[griswold]

Here's a Craiglist post from a local resident....he wants $850 (and will included the Office 2010 and the Adobe Suite)....thoughts anyone?

I have a 2010 Macbook Pro 13 in 2.4 Core 2 Duo, 4 gb ram, 320 gb hard drive, with a good Nvidia Graphics card that can handle gaming.

The screen is in perfect condition with no scratches or dead pixels.

It will come with a fresh version of Lion installed.
Depending on your offer I can include legal copies of Adobe Web Premium cs 5.5 (includes photoshop, dreamweaver, flash, etc), Microsoft office 2010.

Comes with the original box, charger, and software, including reinstallation cd's for Lion.

The battery is in great condition and easily lasts 7+ hours on a single charge.

[DMT]

That seems like a pretty good deal, does it have Applecare?

[griswold]

That seems like a pretty good deal, does it have Applecare?

Not sure...it wasn't stated in the ad. How could I check?

[DMT]

Not sure...it wasn't stated in the ad. How could I check?

Reply to the add and ask the seller. They can't lie about it b/c you can check before you buy here; you just need the serial number:

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

[griswold]

Reply to the add and ask the seller. They can't lie about it b/c you can check before you buy here; you just need the serial number:

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

Cool, thanks...I'll check it out.