What's my old MacBook Pro worth?

[dparm]

Have an old MacBook Pro, model A1226 (3,1 model). 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 200GB 7200RPM hard drive, SuperDrive, Airport Extreme. Snow Leopard installed. Basically has been maxed out spec-wise and still runs like a champ. Cosmetically it's pretty good, no dents or dings. A few scratches on the lid.

The "bad" is the LCD is flaking out. I'm thinking it's time to just ditch it on eBay or Craigslist. Someone can replace the display for $200ish or just use it with an external monitor.

What's a fair price to ask, $350? $400? Better to part it out?

 

[JHZR2]

What size screen? Dont think Id pay more than $250 for it, especially with a flaky screen, considering that for around $1000 I can get a new 13". Your HD is just too risky for my tastes, so the computer would need a lot of work to be safe and acceptable.

 

[dparm]

It's the 15.4" model. If it had a working screen, what would it go for? $500?

 

[PandaBear]

If you want a good price you might want to replace the screen yourself before selling, but then again you might want to just replace it and use it yourself.

 

[JHZR2]

I dont know that Id pay $500 for it... last gen model, would need a HD replacement, etc. What is the battery health?

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

try http://www.gazelle.com/

when did you buy it?

 

[hr1940]

When someone looks at buying any type computer they look at the age, condition and price. New computers have all the latest updates plus a warranty. Staples advertised a laptop for $550. Where I get my computer repaired they have a pro model for $900.00 and it has a 3 year warranty and a 7.5 hour battery. You may not get the money you want for your old one. You might want to consider keeping your old one for a back up.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: hr1940
You might want to consider keeping your old one for a back up.


+1: Tech hardware devalues so insanely quickly that any functioning piece of hardware will probably be of more use to you than the few bucks you'd get for it. My wife (a teacher) keeps a thousand-year-old IBM ThinkPad (which can't be worth $50 on its best day) up in our bedroom solely to check whether the school buses are running in the winter. Being able to ascertain this information without leaving the gentle azure of bed in January in Canada is worth more than whatever that thing'd fetch on eBay!

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

If the screen is the only thing wrong with it then hook it up to a monitor and use it as a desktop. Doing that with a 3.5 year old laptop right now. Although my new laptop has turned into my primary computer.

 

[dparm]

I threw it on eBay for $275. It sold in like 5 minutes.

I built a nice Core i7 desktop a few months ago that I am totally content to use. If I need to travel, I'll grab a netbook or tablet.

My work computer is a newer unibody MBP anyways, so I'm still sort of a Mac guy.