Comments on: What is the cheapest MacBook or Apple Laptop out there? http://www.free-computerblog.com/45/what-is-the-cheapest-macbook-or-apple-laptop-out-there/ Find the best free computer Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:36:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: jf http://www.free-computerblog.com/45/what-is-the-cheapest-macbook-or-apple-laptop-out-there/comment-page-1/#comment-15 jf Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:58:48 +0000 http://www.free-computerblog.com/45/what-is-the-cheapest-macbook-or-apple-laptop-out-there/#comment-15 One option is that you could look into a last generation laptop. The ones pre-Aluminum. They are being liquidated all around (Apple Refurbish store, big box stores that sell Apple, Amazon, etc.). That is where you're likely to find the most value. But its still not necessarily going to be a cheap investment. Don't expect to get a lot of horsepower or modern features in $500 on a Mac, even used. I think you should expect to be able to invest at least $1200 to get a reasonably up to date model. You could go used, and go with an older model, for less, but how much wear and tear is on that machine such that someone is ready to sell it? For those though check out your local craigslist and/or eBay. Personally, I'd recommend a MacBook Pro, last generation, 15.4" from Amazon. You're looking at $1500-$1600 I think. But you would get a top flight laptop. Plus it would come with firewire ports (which the MacBook does not have). A firewire 800 port could come in really handy for video editing (you won't be able to put much footage onto the laptop's internal hard drive, you'll chew through the space too quickly, so you'll want external drive options and well editing on USB 2.0 is umm sketchy at best). One option is that you could look into a last generation laptop. The ones pre-Aluminum. They are being liquidated all around (Apple Refurbish store, big box stores that sell Apple, Amazon, etc.). That is where you’re likely to find the most value. But its still not necessarily going to be a cheap investment.

Don’t expect to get a lot of horsepower or modern features in $500 on a Mac, even used. I think you should expect to be able to invest at least $1200 to get a reasonably up to date model. You could go used, and go with an older model, for less, but how much wear and tear is on that machine such that someone is ready to sell it? For those though check out your local craigslist and/or eBay.

Personally, I’d recommend a MacBook Pro, last generation, 15.4" from Amazon. You’re looking at $1500-$1600 I think. But you would get a top flight laptop. Plus it would come with firewire ports (which the MacBook does not have). A firewire 800 port could come in really handy for video editing (you won’t be able to put much footage onto the laptop’s internal hard drive, you’ll chew through the space too quickly, so you’ll want external drive options and well editing on USB 2.0 is umm sketchy at best).

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