How can I get a Macbook on the cheap?

[IHateMyJob2004]

Talking 2 GHz+ model. How can I get one cheaply?

Quite frankly, after looking at Macbooks, the prices are ridiculous. I can not comprehend how they are competing with PCs.

I noticed some refurbs, but I want a 15" screen and a cost under $750. That is the cost of the Dell equivalent to a MacBook in terms of hardware config (actually, I think that was 17").

 

[Parasitic]

Check the refurb store online at www.apple.com/store for deals. They come in periodically. That's the best place I can find aside from buying them second hand.

 

[aphex]

Mac's are priced high because people are willing to pay for the ease of use of OSX, general reliability and typically top notch build construction. People are willing to pay it, so Apple will continue charge for it.

If your looking at > 13" screen, your going to be looking at a Macbook Pro, which comes in 15.4" and 17" variants (Macbook's and Macbook Air's ONLY come in 13.3").

As Parasitic noted, your best bet is either a refurb (which from Apple is basically the same as new) or used. Another option would be to wait for a model revision and pick up the outgoing gen for a discount, but on a Macbook Pro that would still likely put you in around $1500. Refurbs are around that range as well, though if they get in some older models I've seen that push as low as $1000 for a MBP. Your best bet to check the refurb site is around 4-5am EST on a weekday, when the list the new offerings of the day. I think you could find a used MBP around your target price, but your going back a few generations, though it still could be a very fast/capable system.

If your willing to go down to a 13.3", your options open up greatly. You can easily find a Macbook for around $750-800 quite regularly, sometimes even brand new.

As I noted above though, Apple charges more than Dell because they can. Spec to Spec, Dell is typically always going to be cheaper as they do great sales nearly all year long, while Apple sales are nearly non-existent (though their Education Discount is pretty good year round)

 

[88MVP]

This post sounds like you're just trying to bait people into the never-ending "mac's are too expensive, so PC's are better!" debate, but if you're not then i suggest checking ebay or craigslist for a used 15" MBP or buying the Dell and installing Leopard on that. (google "Hackintosh")

 

[aphex]

Almost forgot to mention; two important sites;

http://dealmac.com/ (Deal site for all things Macintosh)
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ (Good resource to help plan when is the best time to buy)

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

The reality is that the aluminum MacBook and MBP are more or less unparalleled from a build-quality standpoint, and are very fairly priced IMO when you consider the quality of their hardware and their user experience. If price is a huge deal, you probably won't buy one, but don't delude yourself that a $750 PC laptop is of anywhere near the quality of a MBP.

 

[Injury]

If you want a newer mac you're going to be paying a bit of a premium for it. There are ways to get discounts as mentioned already, but that's just how it is.

 

[sjwaste]

I was a skeptical purchaser of the unibody macbook a month or so ago. I have to say, the build quality blows away my Dell and HP notebooks, and is probably worth the increase in price on that alone. The tradeoff was moving down to a 13" screen and lower res, 1280x800, when I'd been accustomed to a 15" at 1680x1050. The quality of the display is far better, and the overall build feels much more solid.

Basically, I was set on buying the first metal notebook I could find that felt solid. The old MBP body didn't cut it, but I took the plunge w/ a refurb unibody macbook since it felt solid. So far, zero disappointment.

I wouldn't necessarily call OSX better, nor would I really say it's worth a price premium. It's different, has some things I like, some things I don't. However, even if you determined you wanted to run Windows, the MB is probably still some of the best hardware to do that on.

 

[umrigar]

i've seen a few used MBPs here & there for under $1000, but often they are Core Duo, not Core 2 Duo.
persistence, craigshelper.com, and patience may help you in your quest.
ex: http://cnj.craigslist.org/sys/1029304186.html

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: 88MVP
This post sounds like you're just trying to bait people into the never-ending "mac's are too expensive, so PC's are better!" debate, but if you're not then i suggest checking ebay or craigslist for a used 15" MBP or buying the Dell and installing Leopard on that. (google "Hackintosh")

I actually, I am a software engineer and want to play around with developing stuff for iPhones and iTouches.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

As for all the talk on quality. I don't care. A 5 year old Dell laptop works just as well as a 5 year old MacBook.

I'm just pissed off because I can not develop for iTuches and iPhones without spending $1000+. And as a developer, I want the 17" screen. If Apple charged a reasonable price for "lesser quality" laptops, I'd buy one. And this would also eat into market share. It baffles m e as to why they don't make lower cost options.

In 5 years time, no one will need a fast laptop and if Dell is charging $200 for an entry level laptop at that time and Apple is charging $1,000 they will be in the same place they were 10 years ago.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
As for all the talk on quality. I don't care. A 5 year old Dell laptop works just as well as a 5 year old MacBook.

I'm just pissed off because I can not develop for iTuches and iPhones without spending $1000+. And as a developer, I want the 17" screen. If Apple charged a reasonable price for "lesser quality" laptops, I'd buy one. And this would also eat into market share. It baffles m e as to why they don't make lower cost options.

In 5 years time, no one will need a fast laptop and if Dell is charging $200 for an entry level laptop at that time and Apple is charging $1,000 they will be in the same place they were 10 years ago.

Then buy a cheap dell and hackintosh it.

Or buy a used mac on ebay.

As was discussed in the thread on the alleged new mac mini, Apple is doing just fine for themselves without needing to increase their number of products in order to increase their market share. Should other companies that charge a premium also sell a low price alternative just so someone can say they have a <insert brand name here>.

I am not implying that you are doing that here, as you seem to have a relatively reasonable reason for wanting to do this, and I think that it would be nice if Apple released the at least some semblance of the Touch SDK for Windows. But, asking for an Apple 17" laptop for less than $1000 is a little ridiculous.

I disagree however on your statement that a 5 year old dell will work just as well as a 5 year old Mac. I gave my sister a 5 year old 1GHz PowerBook G4. It is currently running Leopard, like a champ, and suits my sister's needs just fine. And aside from the battery being trashed, it runs just as well as the day it was purchased (actually a little better, I some more RAM into it).

So, a 5 year old laptop that is running the latest OS, still quite stably and seeing daily use. I can't think of very many laptops from 5 years ago that could be running Vista or Windows 7 as well as this PowerBook runs Leopard.

So, the build quality is solid, they last an incredibly long time, the fact that you can only get them from 1 place (you cannot buy an OS X running laptop from any other manufacturer but Apple) means that if you decide to put down the cash on the MacBook, whatever size it might be, and then in a few months decide that maybe you don't want to develop apps for the Touch OS, you can sell the machine off and make much of what you spent back. You cannot do that with an HP, or a Dell.

 

[VinylxScratches]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
As for all the talk on quality. I don't care. A 5 year old Dell laptop works just as well as a 5 year old MacBook.

I'm just pissed off because I can not develop for iTuches and iPhones without spending $1000+. And as a developer, I want the 17" screen. If Apple charged a reasonable price for "lesser quality" laptops, I'd buy one. And this would also eat into market share. It baffles m e as to why they don't make lower cost options.

In 5 years time, no one will need a fast laptop and if Dell is charging $200 for an entry level laptop at that time and Apple is charging $1,000 they will be in the same place they were 10 years ago.

Get a Macbook and a external monitor. Works just fine for me. Comparing a Dell to a Macbook is not very fair. There's a lot of things that are not traditional on a Macbook. Everything on it scream quality to me compared to a Dell.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: VinylxScratches

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
As for all the talk on quality. I don't care. A 5 year old Dell laptop works just as well as a 5 year old MacBook.

I'm just pissed off because I can not develop for iTuches and iPhones without spending $1000+. And as a developer, I want the 17" screen. If Apple charged a reasonable price for "lesser quality" laptops, I'd buy one. And this would also eat into market share. It baffles m e as to why they don't make lower cost options.

In 5 years time, no one will need a fast laptop and if Dell is charging $200 for an entry level laptop at that time and Apple is charging $1,000 they will be in the same place they were 10 years ago.

Get a Macbook and a external monitor. Works just fine for me. Comparing a Dell to a Macbook is not very fair. There's a lot of things that are not traditional on a Macbook. Everything on it scream quality to me compared to a Dell.

compared to some dells. My new dell is shit quality but i got a core 2 duo, wireless N, 320GB hd, 9 cell battery. For $450. Its a studio and is complete crap build but hey the equipment inside is nice. Oh yeah led screen. Which looks really nice.

Wish it was hackintosable but its not. And my old acer is, and the build quality is way way better on acer . But not as fast

O forgot why i posted lol, if apple started doing things like everyone else, they would not be apple. Despite what you think would improve their marketshare. BTW apple is a model for marketing.

but i would love to see them more competitively price their machines. But they have great marketing and a value price. Though that value is not enough for me right now.

Their new commercial is great example, their new battery last 3 x longer than others. That means your saving 3 x (cost of new bat about 100) = $300. Plus install and other bs.

Along with saving on virus scanners, blah blah blah.

Anyways apple is doing nice and i hope they play nice with hacks, and i will support them from the software side.

 

[little elvis]

Originally posted by: VinylxScratches

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
As for all the talk on quality. I don't care. A 5 year old Dell laptop works just as well as a 5 year old MacBook.

I'm just pissed off because I can not develop for iTuches and iPhones without spending $1000+. And as a developer, I want the 17" screen. If Apple charged a reasonable price for "lesser quality" laptops, I'd buy one. And this would also eat into market share. It baffles m e as to why they don't make lower cost options.

In 5 years time, no one will need a fast laptop and if Dell is charging $200 for an entry level laptop at that time and Apple is charging $1,000 they will be in the same place they were 10 years ago.

Get a Macbook and a external monitor. Works just fine for me. Comparing a Dell to a Macbook is not very fair. There's a lot of things that are not traditional on a Macbook. Everything on it scream quality to me compared to a Dell.

My experience may be atypical, but, our family has owned 4 dells, and not one single problem with them. I have had a MacBook Pro for a little longer than a month and Apple has had my MacBook longer than I've had it (been in for 2 repairs). And guess what, I'm taking it in for repair again for a 3rd time. I'm not overly impressed by Apple's reputation for "quality"

Being a first time Mac user, my overall experience has been horrible.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I really don't understand the quality thing.

If hte hardware works, how does having a nicer case improve things? I don't use the case, I use the keyboard and touchpad and screen. The rest is a black box that I don't complain about unless it is to slow.

I have had a couple hard drives fail in my day, but that can just as easily happen to a Mac

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
I really don't understand the quality thing.

If hte hardware works, how does having a nicer case improve things? I don't use the case, I use the keyboard and touchpad and screen. The rest is a black box that I don't complain about unless it is to slow.

I have had a couple hard drives fail in my day, but that can just as easily happen to a Mac

If the keyboard and trackpad and screen are encased in a cheap, poorly constructed body, then you may be complaining about the black box sooner than you think.

If the entire body flexes when you lay your hands on the keyboard and type, then you might notice that. If the whole thing creaks and squeaks when you pick it up, sounding as if a stiff breeze might cause it to crumble into so much dust, then again, you might begin to care.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
I really don't understand the quality thing.

If hte hardware works, how does having a nicer case improve things? I don't use the case, I use the keyboard and touchpad and screen. The rest is a black box that I don't complain about unless it is to slow.

I have had a couple hard drives fail in my day, but that can just as easily happen to a Mac

Have you really never killed a laptop? I've killed a couple (most recently a Dell 600m) through regular use over the period of a couple of years. Higher-quality machines (e.g., Macs or ThinkPads) will generally hold up better. I am admittedly a heavy user - I normally have a laptop in my lap when I'm just hanging around the house - so YMMV.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
As for all the talk on quality. I don't care. A 5 year old Dell laptop works just as well as a 5 year old MacBook.

I'm just pissed off because I can not develop for iTuches and iPhones without spending $1000+. And as a developer, I want the 17" screen. If Apple charged a reasonable price for "lesser quality" laptops, I'd buy one. And this would also eat into market share. It baffles m e as to why they don't make lower cost options.

In 5 years time, no one will need a fast laptop and if Dell is charging $200 for an entry level laptop at that time and Apple is charging $1,000 they will be in the same place they were 10 years ago.

So this thread really is a thinly disguised Mac bash thread...

Does the iPhone SDK require a Pro model computer to program? You don't need to buy a Macbook Pro or a Mac Pro to make iPhone programs. It's already said earlier in the thread that you can buy a refurb or used Mac for less than $1000.

And if you don't feel like buying a Mac just to program, try this: http://www.modmyi.com/forums/i...phone-sdk-windows.html

First google search with keyword "iphone sdk windows".

No one is putting a gun to your head saying that you must pay $1800 for a MBP. If you qualify for academic discount you can get a white Macbook for $949 and the closest thing to it is a Dell Studio XPS 13, Dell XPS M1330 with a Nvidia 8400M GS, or any of the following, which don't run really any cheaper really. If you get lucky you can score a X3100 2.1GHz Macbook for $849 off the refurb site. If you can't afford that you can buy a Mac Mini for maybe ~$600 new or less for used or even get a $300 MSI Wind for hackintosh.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

The requirement to program is the Mac OS.

It's not a bash thread. I actually want to do something with the iPhone/iTouch.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
The requirement to program is the Mac OS.

It's not a bash thread. I actually want to do something with the iPhone/iTouch.

Then you can buy any number of available Macs, such as the Mac Mini.

Or, you build a hackintosh, as so many others (myself included now) have done.