In this episode we talk about tips and tricks when buying and selling Macs. Whether you’re a switcher buying your very first Mac, or a seasoned Mac user looking to sell an old machine, we’ve got your covered. We’ll help you figure out what accessories you need to complete your new Mac purchase, and where to get the most bang for your buck. We also talk about the trials and tribulations of buying a used machine and how to get the best value without getting scammed. We also cover how to get top dollar when selling your old machine.
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Hi — just finished listening to this episode. Nice job as always!
One quick point that links your discussion about “where to buy your Mac” with the leasing comment:
Last year, I bought a unibody Macbook at Best Buy the day before Thanksgiving. Not only was it $100 off, but by using a Best Buy credit card (opened on the spot), I got 18-month interest-free financing. Even though I had the money in the bank for the new machine, it was reassuring to be able to pay it off over time, in terms of cashflow. Almost done now at the one-year mark.
YMMV, of course — I believe you need a good credit rating and steady income in order to get approved for these cards. But it’s a reasonable alternative to leasing: as long as you don’t miss any payments and pay it off on time, you don’t incur any costs for paying the machine off over time.
Also, a comment on one of your comments. I’ve been using The Hit Lists for several months, having switched from Things. It’s actually easily as sophisticated as Things — it also has tagging, contexts, areas of responsibility, projects, a quick-entry dialog, strong Applescript support, and many other power user features.
What it does not have right now is:
a) an iPhone app — which may lead me to switching fairly soon, as I am strongly considering getting one in the near future. One is under development, but behind schedule.
b) a robust support organization — this is a lone developer who I think may be overwhelmed by what he’s bitten off. I remember about a year ago when Things users were frustrated at the lack of updates to the app, persistent bugs that were going unfixed, and silence from the company. Things seems to have matured past those growing pains. The Hit List is still in the midst of them — no real feature releases in a long time, and a few rare but painful bugs that haven’t yet been nailed down.
My guess is that the app is a victim of its own success — The Hit Lists was part of the Macheist bundle last year, so Andy Kim, the developer, got a huge bump in user base and support load all at once. My sense is that he used the payment from Macheist to bankroll Phone app development — now it’s a race to see whether he can ship it without $ or user patience running out.
All that being said, I’d be sad to see THL go away — I like it, it’s way faster than Things on long task lists last time I checked, and I find it less ‘dogmatic’ about how to organize your tasks than either Things or Omnifocus.
I’m trying to decide on my next computer (which must run Windows 7). I want another Mac because they are so quiet! But they just discontinued the iMac 24. Good thing I listened to your show!
I am seriously considering buying from the Apple refurbished store – and using VMWare or Parallels. I’m glad to hear you both give a thumbs up to the refurb portion of the Apple store. I don’t think I’d buy from someone else in a private deal. But the Apple deal sounds pretty good and they have a few of the 24′s in stock.
All in all a great show with lots of valuable info even though I’m primarily concerned with the buying portion right now.
Hi guys! Just want to clarify that the analogy between Scrivener and Twyla Tharp’s “box” in the Creative Habit came NOT from me, but from the Creativityist website! When I sent you my thoughts, I gave you the attribution and provided a link to the website where I had seen the analogy: http://www.creativityist.com/2009/09/22/the-box-the-creative-habit/
Can you please give that proper attribution on your next show? I almost lost my breath listening that part of the Scrivener podcast.
Thanks, and other than your portrayal of me as having come up with that analogy, another great show.
I understand what your saying and your right, for the majority the best thing would to be to buy a mac for what your using it for. However When I buy a computer I want to buy so if in the future I want to do something that might require more resources, Ill be able to do so. I might want to do something in the future that Im not doing right now, thats why I always try to buy ahead. Also, when I shop I have a bad habit of having to buy the biggest and best of whatever it is, not just computers but with anything. I always want the top of the line, cream of the crop. And its worse with macs, when it comes to shopping for something TVs or bluray players, stereos, w/e it is, once Ive made my purchase, thats it, Im done. With macs whenever the new updated version comes out I feel I have to have it lol, it doesn’t end with the previous purchase.
I just listened to this episode, great tips and insights
I’m looking forward to buying my first Mac ever soon, after years of being a PC user, the “hype” got to me somehow
Is there (or will there be) for us switchers? Perhaps a Workflows episode with someone with experience on that?
P.S.
Crucial Memory link seems wrongly pointing to the site above it
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Hi I just listen to your show. Great as usual!
I wanted to ask a question regarding selling a Mac. I have a 15″ MacBook Pro (2008) that I haven’t used very often (second machine)I use my iMac most of the time.
Ever since I purchased the iPad I have not use the laptop at all. How do you price out your Mac? You mention that you always get top dollar. What is a fair price for both parties?
Also I am going to factory reset it had Leopard on it should you upgrade to the current OS for them?