you bought all of them bruh

most of the cheap ones are just "for parts/repair" now... but isnt it because of your influence why it's harder to find cheap mac treasures on ebay? I've gotten the courage to purchase and upgrade some old macbooks because of you!

Similar to when Apple transitioned from PowerPC to Intel. No one wanted a recent PowerPC Mac for everyday use after Intel Macs showed up. And that transition was fast. Tiger started transition with separate PowerPC and Intel releases, Leopard was “universal,” and Snow Leopard was Intel-only. Granted, those older MacOS X major releases were not annual, but Apple switched to Intel quickly, across the lineup. After this transition to Apple Silicon, things on eBay will probably stabilize once the M1 generation of Macs are a few years older.

People are in denial about the low value of these older machines, and are holding out for ~$100 more than the things are actually worth. Especially true of refurb dealers with dozens of machines in inventory, that are worth less than what they paid for them. Reality will sink in eventually.

Thanks for the advice and warnings, Luke. Your videos like these keep me from making costly mistakes and I don't have to learn everything about MacBooks and components to protect myself.

A few things are coming together to make the used Mac market tight. 1. users can lock down systems to make their refurbishment by an independent vendor more difficult and/or impossible. 2. there is a thriving second hand market in developing countries that suck up a lot of our left overs and happily take a mixture of broken and working units as their labor costs are low enough to justify patching the units to working condition. 3. the economic cycle might be in a place where users will keep their systems until they are dead-dead-dead, rather than upgrading to ever more expensive locked-down replacements ($360 for adding 1TB of storage?) with marginal performance improvements (except for peak loads that most users don't experience).

I bought a used MacBook Pro because I know what I’m looking for, It arrived in nearly brand new condition. I’ve been using it for over a year now without a single issue. One time I was sitting in my friends car and he had a MacBook Air with a small dent on the corner sitting on the floorboard. I asked him why it was dented and he told me it stopped working after he dropped it once and that I can just have it because he already bought a new one. Well turned out all I had to replace was the ssd and that Mac has been going strong now for over 10 years now since that point.

It's not only MacBooks Pro. I noticed that selling iPads is also very difficult these days and I imagine it must be the same for iPhones as well. I used to change my iPads all the time, and the old ones were selling in a day or two. Not anymore unless you are willing to lose a lot of money.

I recently bought a MacBook Pro late 2019 (i7, 512 SSD, 16GB DDR4) for $400. Got the top cover replaced under butterfly keyboard replacement policy/warranty from Apple that gave me new top keyboard, half of the body and brand new battery. I think it’s a nice deal for that price as I use the laptop for day to day light use.

I love my intel mac from 2020. Last of its kind. I use boot camp almost daily. Feels great

Someone recently gave me a mid-2014 MacBook Pro 2.5GHz i7 with a 512 gig SSD and 16 gigs of RAM. The retina display had that same problem you showed, but I was able to clean it up rather nicely. I put the Open Core Legacy Patcher on it with Ventura, and it runs FANTASTIC. Not too bad for free! ;)

I blame Luke. 😂 It's been expensive anywhere outside of the USA for decades...here in Mexico try finding a good condition mb 2015 for under 300 USD...almost impossible...i did passed on a 650 USD M1 deal because the screen had water damage and case was also damaged 😂

Amazing video!

Love ur content Luke. Seriously post more often cuz ur the 🐐

Love these kind of videos !

here to give advice with the anti reflection coating on the retina display coming of. i tried all the tricks to remove it completely, but what ultimately worked nicely was baking powder (german composition)

Love your ebay/used mac videos!

I just sold my base model (8gb RAM, 128gb SSD) 2015 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro for £140. It was in great condition - apart from a horrible case of the anti reflective layer in the screen issue. Still with a four hour battery life too. I was happy with that price given how old it is.

LOVE how your sponsor is a pool cleaning robot... LOL Definitely what people looking for cheaper Macs to fix up are needing in their life...

Good tips on scammy stuff to watch for. Thanks! And yeah, the market for used Macs has tanked a fair amount. It'll only get worse given that Apple is aging out hardware with new OS system requirements faster than ever, too.

I wouldn't trust the Amazon sellers much more than the eBay ones these days. Unless the buy box details show Sold by Amazon then who knows who you're actually buying from, Claims of warranty from a small seller or vendor mean nothing, and if the device breaks or is not as advertised good luck with support

Yes, for sure it was useful!. I was about to spend 500€ on an Intel Macbook Pro (a 2019 unit) and you have got me out of that "deal". Thanks!

I bought a 2011 Macbook Air yesterday here in Mexico for 2500 pesos, about 150 USD. I bought it after seeing your videos and a couple of other channels talking about how cool it is to have these machines. It's still nice and light. Not much is built to last these days so it's interesting to see something this old that still works, and well. The battery has more cycles than I expected, about 570. That was something I forgot to check before purchase. It looks like the battery will hold up for a while yet though In any case it will be cool to mess around with it, install different versions of Linux and experiment

Honestly, Luke would absolutely IMPLODE if he ever searched the Brazilian market for Macbooks.... I mean, people here think they are gold plated or something. Buying a MacBook here from retail is REALLY EXPENSIVE and when people resell they want the same amount of profit as they have been taken for many years ago. Something like $1000+ 15" 2015 i7 MacBook Pros (5000 Reais+) and the prices only go up as the launch year goes up too.

I have a mid-2014 similar to the one Luke searches for at the beginning of the video. I had the same issue with the screen seen at 3:33. This isn't a wear issue, but the matte finish delamination issue. It's a defect from the factory. I was able to scrub the matte finish off with baby wipes and it looks like a brand new screen - it's just glossy now. Something to think about if you do see that screen issue and the mac is otherwise what you're looking for

I am sick of paying the outrageous Apple tax.

Here in the UK you're able to get a used M1 Air in good condition with warranty for around £595-620 depending on colour from the large second hand retailer CeX

another reason you don't see good deals on eBay is because of the high seller fee. eBay takes 12.5% of whatever earnings you make per sale. a lot of sellers are realizing its better to just sell things locally now

great video

At some point I want to upgrade my work laptop, which was handed down to me from a co-worker. It is a 2014 MacBook Pro. It operates fine, but does need a battery replacement (system recommends it) and the display has that weird layer peeling off issue, which was apparently a known issue for that model, but my co-worker never bothered to bring it while under warranty. All trade-in sites say its value is "recycle". I know it is going on 10-years old at this point, but I'd hate the thing to just be scraped when it still functions... just doesn't last very long when not plugged in. Maybe 2-3 hours at most.

picked up Mid 2011 Imac for 40$. Came with an SSD, and It flies. Sure, it's stuck on High Sierra but it has no issues and I love it has a DVD drive.

I think with the best deals it's bring in the right place at the right time. Even amazon has some crazy price drops from time to time.

I wouldn’t buy any used Mac without Apple Silicon in it.

Good timing for me to stumble on this video. I got a few Macbooks that were 2013 and 2015 that I have not use for a few years and was thinking of getting rid of them through eBay or Mercari. Excellent condition and working. Now I am just going to keep them around for myself since they are actually really good. Got a bunch of "Windows" laptop for $1 each when a local PC repair shop close down. Even when you see Macbooks as parts they will never be $1. Macs keeps their value.

There appear to be very good deals on 27" 5k iMacs for 2015, 2017 and 2019 models, so would be interested in a video trading off on these models for home/light office work and for more processor intense efforts - and maybe include a trade vs. a M2 Mac Mini with a 4k monitor.

Thanks, Luke

a tip for those scuffed up screens on the older MBPs. That is the antiglare coating coming off. It's better to remove it completely. can be easily done by using clorox wipes, it completely dissolves that top coat and comes right off.

I am still using 16in i9 and I really should not complain. I tested three machines for my work: M1 Mac Mini, 16in i9, M1 Pro 16in and for video processing I do, 4k => hevc, 4k => 720p, 1080 editing, all vary between +-2 minutes. And 16in i9 now affordable - around $800. But you get bigger screen + great sound + 1TB + 16GB Ram than MBA with M1 for the same money.

this is true. There's just so much trouble with buying 2nd hand macs nowadays especially with older models that it would be cheaper to actually buy an original one. the m1 definitely changed the game for macs. the base model is priced reasonable for the performance.

Good points. I got one of the newer used Intel's, probably paid too much for it, but, I wanted to be able to dual boot into windows native. If you're using your computer for audio recording, it should be running on a native hardware platform. Latency is best handled on native hardware, and if I need to run windows audio recording software, I want native hardware. When I compared the performance against an M1, it was very close. And I got 16 gigs of ram, more USB type C ports, and I am a happy camper...

Lol, I pointed out to an eBayer last week that their Macbook Air has a display issue. Got asked if I was interested in buying, they got mad and said I wasted their time. I never once said I was interested. 🙄

I always pay for the Ebay provided electronics warranty because I have bought stuff that was DOA and the seller refused a refund back in the old days before Ebay will now give you a refund.

I recently have bought MBP 13 2015 in a great condition (new battery, perfect screen and other hardware, no dents, only some scratches) for $475. I needed a not expensive laptop for traveling because I don't feel comfortable taking my main work laptop anywhere but the office. It works great as a secondary laptop, and has enough horsepower (I've got 16/512 version) for all of my tasks - some office work with doc/xls files, ux/ui design and beatmaking. I've considered M1 Air as an alternative, but the cheapest one that I found was $750, and that falls out of «not expensive» range. Also I actually don't need all that power in secondary laptop, so there's no actual reason to pay 1.5x more. The only real advantage in my case is greater battery life on the M1, but I've about 4 hours on the 2015 MBP with turned off hyper threading, and it's more than enough to get from one power source to another. $250 difference in price is very significant in some places, so there is still a big market for old Macbooks. I've seen a lot of good offers on my local classified ads website, starting from 2010 models in a great condition for $100 (and for $150 with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD).

Oh come on.... Now we need to be subjected to pool cleaning robot ads!?!? It was one thing when the ads were somewhat related to the channel content, but now it's just selling out to the highest bidder.

something i am considering in the market is a older mac mini, for use with windows 10 / 11 (as apple have no modern os support) with dual monitor support, could you compare this to a windows / lenovo mini pc and see what the cost savings / benefits if any look like.

I agree with everything you say here. I’m always looking for that super great buy that could be a decent flip. They don’t exist anymore and Apple silicon changed everything. My Wife’s M1 Air is so much better than the 1 yr older Intel Air I’m now using. No reason to go Intel Mac anymore.

Recently, I got MBP 13" Mid 2012 i5 with 120GB SSD + 500GB HDD, 12GB RAM, and the issue only on the screen has only 1 white spot. I got it for just $145. That's a steal deal for me, since normally it would cost me about $270 or more.

I just bought a 2017 MBP w/o touchbar. I spent $399.08. I did it because I wanted to switch to a Mac from being a life long windows user. And this got me into the Mac environment for the same price of a used/refurbished windows laptop specced out how I wanted.

I got a 2014 Mac mini for £80 ($102). It has 8gb ram, a 2.6 ghz i5 and a 256gb SSD. It might not be as powerful as an Apple silicon Mac but I get a machine more than capable for simple editing and browsing for around $100 🤷‍♂️ It supports Monterey natively and can run Ventura fine with OCLP.

The thing is that if there was no demand for old MacBook Pro and Air, prices should reflect that. Now we have absurdly high asking prices for good samples of five to eight year old products with Intel cpus whereas you can go for a used M1 which makes more sense long term. As soon as sellers realize that they will adjust priciing according to make a sale.

I did a hand audit of E-Bay on "location locked" M1's. It was over 40%(not disclosed). I notified them and they made some changes.

I got lucky. Just bought an 8 gig, 256 gb hard drive, 1.8 dual core 2017 MacBook Air for $139.10 after being refunded $20 for them shipping the wrong power supply. No scratches at all when flipped open, screen looks brand new, and the outside is pretty good too. Battery only had 82 charges with 87% capacity. I know I'm only upgrade to Monterey, but I just wanted it to tinker with. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I think I got pretty lucky though.

I'm FINALLY getting that New M1 MacBook Air from either Amazon or Best Buy . Thanks for thus video as for me it justifies me waiting for this as I already have an M1 Mac Mini and this new MacBook will pair well with it.

3:50 this one also has a new cheap battery that is swollen already. You can tell because the topcase is bowed upwards.

TIP FOR MBP SCREEM COAT My MBP screen was spotting really bad I saw videos on how to remove the coating with various wipes but nothing worked that great that the videos recommended or If it did I had to rub the screen pretty hard! What I found that did work were these citrus wipes I bought at the dollar store for polishing wood furniture I didn’t have to rub the screen as hard and now my screen looks wayyy better you will notice that your screen colors may look weird when powering it back on but it goes away in a matter of minutes just make sure not to apply too much pressure

And here I am still using my 2013 11 inch MBA as my personal machine. i5 with 4gb of RAM! It's still adequate for my needs, although I have replaced the battery, thermal paste and keyboard.

Use listerine and a fibre cloth. Takes about 1 hr and your screen is good as new. Takes of that coating easily.

I was repairing electronics for minimal $ bonus and mostly for fun. Something happened in last year - prices for broken devices got so close to these in working condition - I would need to pay for repair myself. I think people selling broken laptops and consoles think that lowering price of working one by 10% makes reasonable deal.

I bought one a few months ago to replace my old laptop. It works great! It’s the 2013 MacBook Air.

Just picked up a $65 2012 Mac Mini on eBay already upgraded with 16GB RAM (maxed out) and a 480GB SSD that has a bad HDMI port. I was already planning on running it headless as a home media/Time Machine server, bonus that the Thunderbolt port still works if I did want to hookup a monitor. Updated to Ventura with OCLP and it runs like a champ. Photoanalysisd has been running for a week, but hey, that's life.

My impression is this issue is not just the MacBooks, but lots of things on this site are going the same way- new or near new prices for stuff that is years old or no longer manufactured and not that special. This has been my impression for a few years now.

Have had as my everyday driver a late 2012 i7, 16gb retina macbook. still looks brand new, no issues at all, is still quick and snappy, does what i need it to do 95% of use cases, running adobe illustrator and after effects, ableton live, figma, architectural drafting programs, etc. Would upgrade if i needed to 3d render or do heavy video editing.

There is people trying to sell late 2012 mac mini for $300, crazy!

The scam on eBay is eBay with their fees. I’ve had listings I sold where I end up with 50% of the sale go to their fees.

I got my 2015 in 2018 because of u🤞🏽… Best investment ever!

I could use some advice. I currently have a 2017 macbook Pro Base spec whose logic board just died. Should I try repairing (probably around 150-200) or should I just get another year model. I do not want to spend more than 300

I only bought devices on eBay twice (both times Android tablets, a Galaxy Tab A8 and a Xiaomi Pad 5, both from a seller with seemingly 100% positive feedback)....and both times I had to return the device due to issues -- the first tablet had a malfunctioning wi-fi card (it wasn't my home internet), the second one had multiple problems. That has pushed any thought of ever purchasing on eBay again far away forever.

another problem is that really old macbooks you could buy missing some parts or broken and with moderate knowledge could fix it yourself, either by buying the replacement parts, or swapping between multiple broken devices. Newer old macbooks there's no reason to buy missing parts/slightly damaged/broken because of the risk of it being icloud locked, or requiring some special software calibration in order to swap parts between multiple broken machines.

Facebook marketplace is where it's at. I bough a 14 inch MacBook Pro last month for $700 and couldn't be happier with it. It is a beast of a machine.

Based on your reviews I recently bought a 2015 15" Dual GPU off BackMarket for $375. It was classified as "Excellent" and arrived without so much as a mark on it. The screen has zero lamination problems. If it arrived in Apple packaging As New, I would not have know the difference. Battery Cycle is in the low 200's. I'm VERY happy because I use this as my night time laptop for streaming content to my 50" 4K and it works perfectly. I even bought a beautiful case to preserve its condition even though it will probably never see the outdoors. Paying over a $1000 for Apple Silicon seems over kill to me for what I'm using it for. Also, the 13" air M1 is too small. But thank you for clueing me into the fact that this is one of the best Laptops Apple ever made. (I had a clue because this is replacing a 2012 13" unibody that I bought new and it still runs flawlessly 10 year later)

I recently bought a MacBook Pro 13 inch Late 2016 touch bar model (8GB of RAM with 256GB SSD) with a broken screen for 120€. I fixed it with a 100€ used screen assembly from eBay and slapped Ventura on it with OCLP. Works great and is pretty snappy. Oh, the battery is brand new in it because the previous owner replaced it at some point. Yeah I know it isn't the best MacBook Pro, but is definitely an upgrade from my 13 inch Mid-2010 Core 2 Duo.

I brought a 2015 15 inch MacBook Pro last year for $800 but was included the 27 inch thunderbolt display. Was this a good deal

I know this may be an exception to a trend and I in no way am saying you're wrong. You clearly know a ton more about it than I do but I recently got a mid 2012 macbook pro 13 for about 180cad all in (131 freedom dollars). I bought 16gb of ram and put in a 500gb ssd. The battery is in really good condition. I'm running linux and for day to day use it's awesome. Plus it has a dvd drive and has better built quality than any you could buy new for 4x the price.

I bought my wife a mid-2018 i7 MacBook Pro. The screen has no scratches. It has a 1 TB SSD and 16 gb ram. She’s very happy with it. It’s an eBay purchase

I bought MacBook pro 13" 2015 just last week, running on Monterey now and i can't be more happier, it was replacing two years older (but more powerful) i7 Win -laptop and i can't be more happier. Much better battery life (even tought i have renoved battery to Lenove).

I was thinking the same last week.

This week I got a 2014 Mac Mini i7 16Gb from OfferUp for $170 in great conditions. I think it was a good deal for that price for music creation.

I bought a Mac off Ebay last month. I paid $300 and got free shipping and a 30 day money back warranty. It's a 2018 MacBook Air in near-perfect condition, only thing wrong on the whole machine is a small nick on the outside edge, very hard to see. It is only the i5 with 8gb RAM and a 128gb SSD. But powerwise, no MacBook holds a candle to my heckin beefy Dell Laptop anyway, so I'm cool with it. 2018 has the excellent force touch trackpad but still with an Intel cpu so I can run Windows.

Recently I needed an apple machine only to compile mobile applications to iOS and bacause I would not use the machine to anything else, I tried to buy a used one. I honestly thought people were crazy. Very old machines with prices not cheaper than a new one. Although I only use the computer few hours per month, I still decided to buy a new one.

I had just bought a 2019 MacBook Pro 16 inch with the i7, 16gb ram, radeon pro 5300m and 512gb ssd for $740 with tax($635 before tax).It has a couple scratches on the outer shell and barely any wear on the keyboard and the screen is immaculate. I bought it from Backmarket listed in fair condition. Do you think that that was a good deal?

I managed to get a used M1 MacBook Air for $600 on eBay about a year ago. It was for my mom and she loves it.

If some of the parts laptops have no battery, then you can just replace the battery only, not the whole top case, you’d probably pay 100$ more for a used 256gb ssd and a new battery

Just bought a 2017 MacBook Air for 260€ for school and i love it

I bought a 2015 15" MBP not quite a year ago based on Luke's Videos as a replacement for an older 2010. Its not the top of the range with the dual graphics but did come with16gb ram and a years warranty. True its older but was almost perfect (just slight scuffing on the bottom) and if you dont have the money for new...you dont have it. I feel comfortable with the deal I got.

I bought a 2019 top of the line 16" MacBook Pro with the i9 2.4Ghz 8 core processor, 64 gig of Ram, 4 TB drive and the best graphics card they offered at that time right before the switch to Apple Silicon. But I keep my Macs until they die. My wife still has the 2014 Mac Book pro and and it's still works fine. Now my daughter has the new 2023 M2 Mac Book air and it's probably faster than my 2019 Mac Book Pro

i almost thought mine that is listed on there would pop up.

I’ve got M1 Max and various M1 Macs but I’m just keeping all my mint condition Intel macs for compatibility and bootcamp. Think lots of people are doing the same or handing them onto family. Even had a battery swap on my top spec 2015 15 inch. Too many scammers on eBay and eBay always side with the buyer. I never sell tech on eBay. I’d rather get less but know I’ll keep the payment on Facebook marketplace.

if you are willing to hack together the os by putting the mac into disk mode or connecting the drive to a usb sata cable and then implant the drive in the mac and boot to recovery disk and disable sip and tweak a few things so you can run the latest os on an unsupported mac and then have to buy additional hardware as usb dongles then additional software to get the features that are native in the mac like sidecar for example or turn your ipad into wacomm tablet then the more expensive worn out macs may be viable. i think why they are asking $500 for a mac with display problems is because it is only the built in display it should be ok with an external display or to remote desktop (vnc) into

Thankfully about two years ago I bought 2 good looking and stock mid 2012 13 inch macbook pros. They worked great - I went ahead and maxed both out - put in double ssd's (one OS and one data) and maxed the ram; then I took them and hooked them up to 27 inch monitors - what amazing machines - they stand on edge in a holder with lid closed and they give actual HD screen clarity. I could not be happier. Oh sure, they aren't going to make videos quickly, but I have a Dell XPS 17 for that (which is fantastic). But I use these because they are the best laptop ever made - unibody macs. These computers start quickly with the SSD and they just work - I run Catalina on them and that is just fine. I'm not in a fruit ecosystem so I run for stability and to download videos and to archive them on external drives. I think I paid around $150 for each as they were very basic and then added about $150 to each. These are actually better than entry level windows machines right now. Glad I got them when I did.

Regarding to cheap broken M1 MacBook Air listings most of them are actually sold for parts because they are iCloud locked. Those machines aren’t actually broken but are stolen units. Listings of iCloud locked devices are actually one of the biggest scams out in eBay. iCloud locked listings aren’t only the case for Apple Silicon Mac computers but it is also really common to come across one when searching for used iPhone or iPad.

You can rip my 2015 15 inch MacBook Pro from my cold, dead hands

Oh yeah the upselling strategy from Apple applies to eBay too… a 2015 MBP is 299. But for **just** 200$ more you get a M1 (heavily worn). But for **just** 200$ more you get a refurbished M1…

I found this video helpful.

A lot of people stopped selling apple products on eBay because the fees that eBay charges have increased so much that for some it’s not worth it.

I've been spoiled by Apple Silicon MacBooks not getting warm on my lap. I still have a 2015 15 as a backup but I'm considering selling it and buying a 15 Air. My asking price would probably be $200 and I don't even know if I'd get that. There's still a health market for iMacs as efficiency isn't as big an issue on the desktop. I only sell on Craigslist out of my home and give the buyer a week to change their mind. The battery on mine was replaced in 2021, screen, keyboard and trackpad are fine.

I picked up a 2020 iMac 5k for about $650 in mint shape with warranty to the end of year. It's great that others don't seem to want Intel macs anymore -- I prefer them so I can run Windows and Linux no problem, extending the life of the machine. Plus I tossed in 64 GB of RAM for another $100. Even the display itself is worth it to me. I also have a 2014 Air that runs poorly on macOS (and looks bad since they got rid of sub-pixel rendering). It's too bad since battery life and form factor are still great, just bogged down by the OS as is the norm with Apple these days. Windows 10 and Linux (especially Xfce) run beautifully on it.

i found this video helpful

Some of the best deals on what you are searching is actually at OWC (subject to avail). They have some really good prices, and you can add upgrade options (RAM, SSD). Also - and you frequently mention - Apple refurb is good channel for -1 gen hardware. Lastly, coming up on Tax-holiday on some states, then buying from OWC no sales tax.

We had covid - which created a crazy starvation. We're past that now with a rapidly crashing price state. We are racing into a world where GPU princing, and 6/12 8/16 core pricing on used parts is a real deal. One of the issues I see with Ebay - is it mostly stopped being a good place - partially because they made sellers life - the good ones - difficult. This pushed up quality and behaviour, but it equally brought it in to shop and vendor price levels. There are also two elephants in the room. Apple engineering (some terrible, some non upgradable) - which really lowers value now when SSDs are £36 for 1TB. And age of device. Who wants to pay for - and who wants to expect decent life from 8 year old electronic devices. Intel Macs are just terrible when going back to tired/hot I7 kit that wasn't great when new - against M1/M2.

I just got a 2019 i7 MacBook Pro 15inch 512 gb for $350, im upgrading from my 2013 MacBook Air, and im so excited!