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Resale value of Windows laptops

S

slicksilver

Golden Member
Greetings all

Which windows based laptop brand depreciates the least? I mean what brands have the best resale value. I fail to understand how people still buy a used apple macbook air for only $100 lesser than a new one on ebay even today. A new MC965LL/A costs about $1225 and when you search for used completed listings of the same you will see that people have paid upto $1100 or more for it! I hate the mac os but love the size and design of the macbook. With resale values like the above more and more I should just get one for the heck of it. I only browse, use office and some old legacy business apps(which need windows).

What are your thoughts on the above?
 
I think Macs have higher resale values just because new ones are so expensive. Even buying a two generation old 15" MacBook Pro for 75% of the cost of a brand new one is worth it - since the latest lower end model is $1800. Stepping up to the 17" model ($2500 new), even saving a few hundred there would be substantial. Windows laptop manufacturers seem to be constantly pumping out new models at lower prices, so buying older isn't as worthwhile.

If anything, I'd think high quality business notebooks, especially ThinkPads, would be worth more than consumer-level stuff.
 
Windows machines loses 20-25% from the lowest purchase price per year. A 2 year machine originally bought for $500 will be $250-300 at most. People can list it for more but it hardly sells unless they get lucky with a less savvy person.
 
I have an old rule I go by. ANything electronic, used, starts at 50% of MSRP and goes down from there. The nominal life of a laptop before it descends into obsolesence, is about 4 to 5 years. Essentially, their resale value is so poor it isn't really a factor in buying. It is, IOW, an expensive expendable.
 
slicksilver said:
Greetings all

Which windows based laptop brand depreciates the least? I mean what brands have the best resale value. I fail to understand how people still buy a used apple macbook air for only $100 lesser than a new one on ebay even today. A new MC965LL/A costs about $1225 and when you search for used completed listings of the same you will see that people have paid upto $1100 or more for it! I hate the mac os but love the size and design of the macbook. With resale values like the above more and more I should just get one for the heck of it. I only browse, use office and some old legacy business apps(which need windows).

What are your thoughts on the above?
Click to expand...

I HAVE modded and sold mac gear for years on ebay. It is the hands down depreciation king by far. Some pc gear holds value okay but macs are in a class of their own. Here is a link for apple store refurbished gear.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC965LL/A


same 1099 but full warranty direct from apple. use a discover card and get 5% off.
 
all the ifans are saying Mac's are like Lexus's but it's more like toyota/honda when they took over the auto market in the 1990's. to this day the resale values on honda's are insane
 
I'd think that higher end models from Lenovo and Sony would hold their resale better than the value models from Dell and HP, but not by much.
 
Resale value has much to do with end-user perception of quality; rightly or wrongly, Apple has the highest end-user perception of quality. The vast majority of other laptops have the perception of being crap (which, for the most part, they are correct). Only brands with a solid reputation are the ones with decent resale value: Thinkpads are really the only other ones that I know of that have a wide base of brand recognition value, pretty much the only thing that has any value on the resale market for laptops.
 
Bottom line is, the value of anything used is only what someone is willing to pay you for it.
 
I'm think some are missing the biggest variable in regards to resale.

New and updated computer hardware are constantly being developed and released. There are various PC manufacturers, and at any given point at least one or two of them is in the process of releasing new models that have the latest tech. In order to compete with each other, PC manufactures are constantly putting the latest and greatest out there. It's very easy to see why resale is affected. Even buying a laptop only a year old can potentially mean a huge difference in performance, and when you add wear and tear used laptops are less desirable, thus they don't hold their resale value.

On the other hand, Apple generally only updates their hardware annually, and even then they don't usually make extreme changes. If you buy a Macbook in February, there is a good chance Apple will be selling that exact same Macbook in November, likely for the same price. Resale prices are therefore very stable.

Getting a used Macbook for $100 less than retail is a good deal if it's in good shape if you're getting the exactly the same one sold in the store. It's not always that way though. Anytime Apple releases a major hardware update, the previous model resale plummets, so there is definitely no rule that Apple products always have a higher resale value but in general it is better than PC based machines.
 
intel only releases CPU's once or twice a year so all the other manufacturers other than apple can't release new models every month with the latest CPU

and last year apple had 2 releases and it looks like OS X is going to a yearly release cycle now so that argument is going to be gone
 
alent1234 said:
intel only releases CPU's once or twice a year so all the other manufacturers other than apple can't release new models every month with the latest CPU

and last year apple had 2 releases and it looks like OS X is going to a yearly release cycle now so that argument is going to be gone
Click to expand...

It's not just CPU updates though. GPUs, SSDs/HDDs, ram, USB3, screen tech, all get better in the meantime too.

Apple's primary residual value is in the brand: people want Macbooks because of the brand, therefore even old Macbooks retain value since the brand value doesn't depreciate over time (whereas the hardware does).
 
the almost lowest cost ones hold their value best. A $300 b950 can be sold for $200 a year from now.
 
I'm amazed at how bad the resale value is for the Macbook Air. I bought one in 2010, less than 2 years ago for $1400, its now only fetching $600 on eBay. I think its partly because people get confused with the base model which sold for $1000 and don't want to pay for double RAM, double SSD and faster CPU. They still perceive it as a cheap little laptop.

In comparison in 2009 I bought a Macbook Pro which I sold 14 months later for only $200 less than I paid for it.

So, as someone indicated above it varies with Apple products.
 
So, the only reason the OP stated to not go with a Mac is the OS. OP, you do know you can install Windows on a Mac right?
 
slicksilver said:
I only browse, use office and some old legacy business apps(which need windows).
Click to expand...

Get a cheap $$350 notebook with a dual core CPU (anything faster than Atom or AMD E-450). Even if it loses 50% value in the same time frame that a $1225 Mac loses 15% value, you lose less money ($175 versus $183.75). Just sayin'. :whiste:
 
I tried searching for a notebook/netbook to run a simple always-on app. All I wanted was under 20 watts idle, and the machine would be idle all the time. I could not find anything for under $60. I even looked for cracked screen notebooks. I ended up buying an old thinclient... Anyway, if notebooks truly depreciate so much, then why the hell was it so tough to find a notebook that met my meager needs?
 
sm625 said:
I tried searching for a notebook/netbook to run a simple always-on app. All I wanted was under 20 watts idle, and the machine would be idle all the time. I could not find anything for under $60. I even looked for cracked screen notebooks. I ended up buying an old thinclient... Anyway, if notebooks truly depreciate so much, then why the hell was it so tough to find a notebook that met my meager needs?
Click to expand...

Really? You'll find tons of used laptops for less than 60 on ebay, especially with cracked screens.
 
sm625 said:
I tried searching for a notebook/netbook to run a simple always-on app. All I wanted was under 20 watts idle, and the machine would be idle all the time. I could not find anything for under $60. I even looked for cracked screen notebooks. I ended up buying an old thinclient... Anyway, if notebooks truly depreciate so much, then why the hell was it so tough to find a notebook that met my meager needs?
Click to expand...

Say you have a laptop that's worth ~$100. By the time you ship it ($15-20), pay eBay and PayPal fees ($5-10), and consider the possible hassle of dealing with an idiot eBay buyer, you're far better off putting it on Craigslist for $100.
 
Resale value of electronics is, generally, not great. Unless it's something exclusive, made in limited numbers and hardly-sought after by enthusiasts/fans.

I'd just get the cheapest Sandy Bridge laptop and call it a day. If you want spice, just do a paint job. If you do it professionally enough, well... you might sell it for more 😉
 
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