Apparently got a new MacBook Pro 15 and wanted to trade in my previous one to Apple. It’s MacBook Pro 2018 i7, 32GB. Its in mint condition (zero scratches) with 5-6 hrs of battery.
I was shocked that they are only giving me $275. This is really sad. I can’t even get an Apple Watch for $275 right now lol.
Any suggestions where can I get most value of it? Sell it or use it as a server? Where to sell without much hassles.
PS: This is a rant. I know intel processors are deprecated but a laptop is a laptop, it’s retina display and runs super smooth even now. I showed it to a few friends who are not as performance craving and they loved it. They said it’s so fast.
That’s $275 more than many of us are offered. Apple only offers trade-ins in a few countries.
When I get rid of my M1 MacBook Pro later in the year, if I want a cent for it, I will need to brave the waters of a private sale, complete with inane questions already answered in the listing.
I’d love the option for Apple to just take it off my hands and actually give me something for it.
Listing it privately on a local marketplace would probably give you a bit more for it. Where to sell will of course depend on your location, but I’m sure Facebook will have a suitable group in your area.
Apple’s trade-in offers are laughably low, unless you trade in basically a new computer.
Only 5 years old and based on your description it’s still totally useable but not something Apple could sell. My guess is they recycle it for materials hence the low buyback.
In terms of environmental resources the most responsible thing to do is find a way to use it. Since you’ve already got a replacement, as others have suggested, sell locally. Or donate/gift it to a person or non-profit community group that can use it.
Unfortunately, your 2018 is almost certainly not going to get the new version of macOS this year, and it’s only going to get a few more years of security updates.
But it would make a really nice Linux laptop, and 32gb is enough RAM to then run Windows in a VM.
I just checked my 2019 13" MacBook PRO (8gb) and they’re offering $325 as a trade in. The last time I checked the value was last August, when I was considering a 15" MacBook Air, and they were offering $375 at that point.
I’m not surprised that Intel Macs aren’t being offered great exchange values now, though I can appreciate it’s disappointing. I’d follow the advice given above and look at third party recycling programs.
One thing worth noting is that Apple seems to mostly set trade-in value based on the model of laptop, rather than how it’s specced (they will ask you some questions about the specs, but it doesn’t seem to have much effect on how much they’ll pay). So @andy4222’s 32GB of RAM or all the upgrades on MKBHD’s Mac Pro don’t really affect the trade-in value much.
You may get better results from other services or a private party sale, but the ROI generally isn’t great regardless of where you sell. As someone who tends to buy specced-up machines I’ve ended up just accepting this as the cost of doing business.
In the U.K., I got double what Apple offered for my old iPad Pro (£70) with a cracked screen by selling through eBay (£150). I’ve never actually used Apple’s returns scheme because the prices are laughably below market value.