I got cold feet on the 7 week old used MBA. The guy didn’t have a receipt and became pushy. My instincts said to walk away and that’s what I did.
BestBuy’s sale on the MBA 2017 is now up and it’s $799. I haven’t found a lower Black Friday price yet. I talked to a feller on Apple Sales Support chat yesterday and they said they are going to run a 4 day sale starting on Friday. He didn’t reveal any pricing but said it may be worthwhile to see what they offer before going with BestBuy. Somehow, I doubt BestBuy will run out of the 2017 MBAs because everyone at the store was all goofy over the new version.
Apple also has the 2017 MBP non-touch for $1099 but I hate the thoughts of giving up the ports, and one can replace the old MBA SSD with a larger drive. The Apple chap did say that Apple would warranty the keyboard against failure for 4 years with zero co-payment. That was reassuring, honestly.
Post Black Friday/Cyber Monday follow up: Apparently, my local BestBuy only had a very few 2017 MBA in stock. I hit the store at 5:25pm and they were all gone except for one with 512GB and it wasn’t on sale. I went home and looked at other local BestBuy stores with a reasonable driving distance and they were all sold out too. Bummer, but I can get an educational discount and that puts the price of a new 2017 MBA within $50 of the BestBuy special price.
I was ready to pull the trigger on a 2017 MBA when I received an email from the person that had the 2015 MBP 13 for sale for $700. She asked me if I’d consider $625? This machine has had 163 battery cycles on it. She had purchased it new in 2016 for college but her program required her to move to Windows due to required software compatibility. She said its battery lasts as long as it did new. She no longer uses it and would like to sell it. She said that the SSD has been reformatted and the OS set to the most recent version.
I would definitely like the Retina screen over the MBA screen. Is there anything special I should keep a wary eye out for? I can look for physical damage, ensure the ports all work, etc. But not being familiar with MacBooks, I don’t know if there’s anything special to watch out for. The pictures of the MBP look like its in new condition. The keyboard keys aren’t worn looking either. It has a 256GB SSD, btw.
Here’s my latest update, I opted for a Mac Mini 2018 Core i5 8GB Ram and 256GB. SSD. I should receive it tomorrow and will install the trial version of MacOS Scrivener 3.
I borrowed my son’s 2015 MacBook Pro over the holiday break and didn’t like the keyboard. I tried my friends 2018 MacBook Pro and didn’t like that keyboard either. I already have a Mac compatible Bluetooth keyboard that I like a lot and an excellent Dell 2715 monitor. I did order a Trackpad 2 just in case I like the gestures in MacOS.
This seemed like the best bang for the buck and highest probability of finding a setup I will like.
I’ll let you all know what I think of the kit once I get it all set up.
Hi chris
I would like to know the price of your Mac Mini 2018 Core i5 8 GB and 256 GB. SSD and your opinion
because I too want to buy one but I hesitate
cordially
I did receive the Mini today but haven’t had time to set it up yet. I’ll let you know how I like it once it’s set up. I’m coming from an Alienware Alpha R2 Core i7 6700k, 16GB Ram, 256GB/1TB hybrid drive. So I have a good frame of reference.
I paid $1049 through the Apple store but B&H Photo has it for $99.