How to Buy a Cheap MacBook Pro

A new MacBook Pro isn’t all that cheap. One of the new Retina-equipped models will cost you at least $1,300, and that’s just for the entry-level model. However, you don’t necessarily need to buy new, as a used model can be much less expensive and still perform admirably depending on the tasks you plan to do.

Apple lowered the price of the MacBook Air to just $899 for the entry-level model, which might be the first step that the company is taking to have cheaper entry-level MacBooks available for purchase. Until then, users having to find creative ways to spend as little as possible on a new or used MacBook.

With that said, here are a few methods you can try out in order to score a MacBook Pro for much less than what you would pay for a brand-new model.

Apple Refurbished Store

The first place we’d recommend checking for a cheaper MacBook Pro is Apple’s Refurbished Store, where you can get used models directly from Apple for several hundreds of dollars off.

Inventory is always changing, but currently you can grab a 2012 Retina-equipped MacBook Pro for as low as $1,059 for a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage, which is $440 less than what you would’ve paid for it if it was brand new.

Read: MacBook Pro Retina Review: 6 Months In

Arguably, Apple offers some of the best refurbished products around. Most of the Apple products that I’ve bought over the years have been refurbished, including gifts to other people for Christmas or their birthday, and guess what? They never know the difference between refurbished and brand new.

That’s because when Apple receives a defective item, they fix what’s wrong with it, and then replace the battery with a brand new one, as well as replace the entire aluminum shell with a brand new one. This means that you’re pretty much getting a brand-new product from Apple at a decent discount.

Granted, the hardware at one point was defective in some way, but Apple fixes that, so you’re left with a fully functional, good-as-new device for less than what it costs if it were still new in the box.

eBay

While we prefer buying expensive products from reputable sources, you can’t beat the deals that you can score on eBay. However, you’ll just need to be more careful when browsing for MacBook Pros on eBay, since there are a lot of sellers out there who are looking to take buyers for a ride.

Remember that one guy that bought a photo of an Xbox One for $615? Well, he thought he was buying an actual Xbox One console, but he was tricked. Granted, he read the description, but simply just assumed that it was a real Xbox One console that he was bidding on. To avoid such conundrums like this, be sure to thoroughly read the description and make sure that it’s the right item that you want to bid on.

Read: MacBook Pro & MacBook Air: Buy or Wait?

eBay sellers like to trick buyers by putting fine print in the description or simply just saying “Xbox One box” in the hopes that naive bidders will miss the fact that it’s just the box for sale. We’ve also seen sellers list dummy iPhones, and while they usually make it clear that it’s not a real iPhone, it’s important to read the description instead of just relying on photos. Not all eBay sellers are bad. In fact, you’ll rarely come across a trickster, but they’re out there, so be careful.

Craigslist

Craigslist is perhaps one of the most sketchiest places to buy consumer electronics, but when used carefully, you can find a great deal on a used MacBook Pro.

We’ve discussed many times how Craigslist is a hotbed for scams, but there are also a lot of good guys that genuinely just want to sell you their old MacBook Pro that they don’t need anymore, and since Craiglist is usually full of sellers looking to just get rid of their old hardware, they’re usually willing to give you a great deal.

Social Media

If you don’t trust yourself with finding a legit MacBook Pro on eBay or Craigslist, perhaps the next best solution is to ask friends and make a call-out on various social networking services.

Read: MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air: Which One Should You Buy?

Simply posting about how you’re in the market for a used MacBook Pro will automatically turn all of your friends into people trying to help you find a good deal. While none of your friends, specifically, may have a MacBook Pro to sell to you, they might know another friend who is selling one. From there, you can make the connection and buy your new computer.

I’ve found that usually only your closest friends are helpful in this respect, so don’t expect every single one of your Facebook friends to be keeping their eyes peeled for a MacBook Pro deal for you, but at least you’re getting the word out.