(Updated) Almost-New NMB 2017

[lishaoalox]

(Update)

Thanks for all the advice and opinions below!

Now I'm considering whether to buy from my friend or not.
(Might have 2 business trips around October, so might not be able to wait till the 2018 new models being released.)
Also, I guess there won't be a huge improvement with the 2018 models for NMB.

Details are below, here is the simple sum up.
--
New one
(about three and half months warranty remain because of no receipt. But I can still buy Apple Care.)

2017 New MacBook 12"
i5 CPU
8G Ram
512G SSD
Price: $1,170

*Comparison:
Apple Refurb one is around $1,425 in my country.
New one is about $1,680.
--

I'd love to know what you think about the price, if it is a good deal, I'll just buy this one from my friend.

Thanks again!



-----Original post-----
Hello, community,

Once I asked for some buying advice couple weeks ago, and now I got 2 choices for the New MacBook 2017 with i5/8G/512G specs.
A. One is an all-new machine (but left in the room for a couple months.)
B. Another one is the Apple refurbished one.

A. is about $235 cheaper than B. but only has 4 months warranty left (since being purchased for a while ago), so I was wondering, is the 8 months warranty worth the $235?
Should I buy A. and go for AppleCare, or just go for the refurbished one?

Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kohlson]

Consider B, especially if you can use the savings to get Apple Care and extend the warranty for a couple of years.

 

[lishaoalox]

Consider B, especially if you can use the savings to get Apple Care and extend the warranty for a couple of years.

Thanks for reply!

While A. is the cheaper one, do you suggest that I choose A., then use the saving money to buy an Apple Care?
Or just choose B. and buying Apple Care for another more couple pounds?

Thanks!

 

[canuckRus]

Hello, community,

Once I asked for some buying advice couple weeks ago, and now I got 2 choices for the New MacBook 2017 with i5/8G/512G specs.
A. One is an all-new machine (but left in the room for a couple months.)
B. Another one is the Apple refurbished one.

A. is about $235 cheaper than B. but only has 4 months warranty left (since being purchased for a while ago), so I was wondering, is the 8 months warranty worth the $235?
Should I buy A. and go for AppleCare, or just go for the refurbished one?

Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Was A purchased with a CC offering extended warranty?

 

[lishaoalox]

Was A purchased with a CC offering extended warranty?

Thanks for the reply!

No, it was a prize which gotten from his company's annual event.
And it has no receipt, so I guess the warranty period is base on the manufacture date.
Also, I'm not live in the US, there seems no CC extended warranty in my country.
I could also get the Apple Care for around $185 here, so I was considering whether it's worthy or not.

Thanks!

 

[chscag]

You can find out the date purchased by his company and warranty status if you have the serial number. If the purchase date exceeds one year, then you can not purchase Apple Care. You may be better off buying the Apple refurbished model since you can always add Apple Care to it. Even if you do not add Apple Care, it will still be warranted for one year which is the standard Apple warranty.

 

[lishaoalox]

You can find out the date purchased by his company and warranty status if you have the serial number. If the purchase date exceeds one year, then you can not purchase Apple Care. You may be better off buying the Apple refurbished model since you can always add Apple Care to it. Even if you do not add Apple Care, it will still be warranted for one year which is the standard Apple warranty.

Thanks for the reply!

The seller is my friend, he registered the serial number to Apple and got the result that the warranty is valid until Nov. 2.
The website shows that it's still able to purchase Apple Care.
He let me do the unboxing so that I can confirm it's a new one.

So now I'm just confusing whether the warranty worth the price or not.
A.) He sells the 2017 NMB 8/512 for $1,185.
B.) The refurbished one in my country is about $1,420

Thanks!

 

[chscag]

Based on your reply above, the 2017 model for $1185 is the better purchase. And yes, the cost of the Apple Care warranty added to that is well worth it. In my opinion, purchasing Apple Care for any Apple portable is well worth it, even if it's just for peace of mind.

 

[lishaoalox]

Based on your reply above, the 2017 model for $1185 is the better purchase. And yes, the cost of the Apple Care warranty added to that is well worth it. In my opinion, purchasing Apple Care for any Apple portable is well worth it, even if it's just for peace of mind.

Thanks a lot for the advice!
I'll take it seriously and consider to purchase the $1,185 one.
Any other opinion is still welcome!

By the way, the new MacBook products 2018 are expected, since Apple registered new models with the ECC.
There is still less info about the new Mac line-up I know, just wondering that whether to wait for the new one will be a good choice or the cheaper price tag now is enough to buy an NMB.

Thanks!

 

[MSastre]

If you don't have an immediate need for the MacBook, I would wait and see what the new line-up is like, then decide.

 

[lishaoalox]

If you don't have an immediate need for the MacBook, I would wait and see what the new line-up is like, then decide.

Thanks for the reply!

To be honest, I'm also considering this.
I'm not in an immediate need actually but have 2 business trips around Sep. or Oct.
I can't assure whether new Macs will be up that time or not since there isn't any announcement from Apple recently.
So I'm just wondering if the cheaper price could help me to make the decision.
Any opinion or advice would be a great help!

Thanks!

 

[shyam09]

Thanks a lot for the advice!
I'll take it seriously and consider to purchase the $1,185 one.
Any other opinion is still welcome!

By the way, the new MacBook products 2018 are expected, since Apple registered new models with the ECC.
There is still less info about the new Mac line-up I know, just wondering that whether to wait for the new one will be a good choice or the cheaper price tag now is enough to buy an NMB.

Thanks!

You have three decisions:

1. 2017 MB (friend) - $1185
2. 2017 MB (apple refurb) - $1450
3. 2018 MB (apple) - $1700 (I'm guessing, compare with the current prices for a 2017 same-spec model because I highly doubt Apple will decrease pricing without decreasing specs).

That's about $500 savings compared to a new model, $250 savings compared to an Apple refurb. I assume any taxes are included in Apple prices provided as well. If not, add those numbers too to see the total savings.

To me, my suggestion is to wait UNLESS you find an amazing deal. Savings on current gen models are more valuable to me.

 

[lishaoalox]

You have three decisions:

1. 2017 MB (friend) - $1185
2. 2017 MB (apple refurb) - $1450
3. 2018 MB (apple) - $1700 (I'm guessing, compare with the current prices for a 2017 same-spec model because I highly doubt Apple will decrease pricing without decreasing specs).

That's about $500 savings compared to a new model, $250 savings compared to an Apple refurb. I assume any taxes are included in Apple prices provided as well. If not, add those numbers too to see the total savings.

To me, my suggestion is to wait UNLESS you find an amazing deal. Savings on current gen models are more valuable to me.

Thanks for the reply!

Appreciate your advice and opinions!
So now I guess the point has become is the $500(assumed) or $250 a worth saving or not.
Many ppl say that the 8th gen Intel CPU is a relatively big improvement, but I believe that "more power, more heat.", as for the NMB, I doubt the efficiency to the heating problem.
Maybe 8th gen m-Cores won't have as much improvement as U-Cores do.
I have no idea that when will the new gen being announced, so for now, I could only consider that is the $250 savings worthy to buy now.

Thanks!

 

[shyam09]

Thanks for the reply!

Appreciate your advice and opinions!
So now I guess the point has become is the $500(assumed) or $250 a worth saving or not.
Many ppl say that the 8th gen Intel CPU is a relatively big improvement, but I believe that "more power, more heat.", as for the NMB, I doubt the efficiency to the heating problem.
Maybe 8th gen m-Cores won't have as much improvement as U-Cores do.
I have no idea that when will the new gen being announced, so for now, I could only consider that is the $250 savings worthy to buy now.

Thanks!

I haven't heard of Intel releasing a successor to the M or Y-series (Y series is what the current "i5's" have in the macbooks).

It might be best to wait since there are a few rumors pointing to a $1000 MB device coming this year?

 

[lishaoalox]

I haven't heard of Intel releasing a successor to the M or Y-series (Y series is what the current "i5's" have in the macbooks).

It might be best to wait since there are a few rumors pointing to a $1000 MB device coming this year?

Thanks for the reply!

So it's assumed that even there is a new MacBook 12", it wouldn't have much improvement compared with the current model?
For the $1,000 MB, I think you mean the rumored new MacBook model that succeeds the old MacBook Air, I'm also looking forward to see what Apple will provide.
I'll just keep this in mind.

Thanks!

 

[shyam09]

Thanks for the reply!

So it's assumed that even there is a new MacBook 12", it wouldn't have much improvement compared with the current model?
For the $1,000 MB, I think you mean the rumored new MacBook model that succeeds the old MacBook Air, I'm also looking forward to see what Apple will provide.
I'll just keep this in mind.

Thanks!

That's hard to say since there haven't been any benchmark leaks (apart from the controversial MBP one) for the MBs.

Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about. I'm expecting it to, at the very least, become a modern device with a 1080p or higher display (retina most likely). If it is still relatively thick with fans, probably a base i3, upgradeable to an i5. 8 GB of RAM. Weighs more than a MB, less than a Pro probably - sort of paving the path for the next gen Pros.

Out of curiosity (unless the pricing is different for you), have you considered the Macbook Pro (NTB)? It's $100 more expensive for the 512 GB model, but you're getting a significantly more powerful device. I assume that you're looking for a super-light laptop though and your usage doesn't demand that power?

 

[lishaoalox]

That's hard to say since there haven't been any benchmark leaks (apart from the controversial MBP one) for the MBs.

Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about. I'm expecting it to, at the very least, become a modern device with a 1080p or higher display (retina most likely). If it is still relatively thick with fans, probably a base i3, upgradeable to an i5. 8 GB of RAM. Weighs more than a MB, less than a Pro probably - sort of paving the path for the next gen Pros.

Out of curiosity (unless the pricing is different for you), have you considered the Macbook Pro (NTB)? It's $100 more expensive for the 512 GB model, but you're getting a significantly more powerful device. I assume that you're looking for a super-light laptop though and your usage doesn't demand that power?

Thanks for the reply!

It's just like what you said, my purpose is to check emails or to watch Youtube in the hotel on my business trip, most of them are pretty light usage. So I'm looking for a light laptop to carry around.
MacBook Pro is a great machine, but I won't use so much power even at home and that's the reason why I didn't consider the MBP series.

Many rumors or test reports showed that the 2018 new models (if come with 8th gen CPUs) should bring us much more powerful CPU performance than ever before (if they won't go overheating.), but if I'm looking for an NMB, I won't expect too much improvement on m/Y series CPUs.

The rumored new MBA model might be the best bet for me to wait, but no one could assure that there is one.
And this price I got seems to be a relatively good deal, so it made me confuse that whether to wait or not.

Thanks!

 

[lishaoalox]

Updated and looking for price advice on the top.
Every opinion is appropriated!
And thanks to all the advice above!