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Comment by blehn | Hacker News Reader

There's also the issue of depreciation. In 3 years, you'll be able to get about $10 for your Toshiba, whereas a 15" MBP will probably sell for $700-1200 depending on the model. The cost of ownership is much closer than the price tag would indicate.

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Good point, but I keep laptops until they die. Never have sold one. Do used Macs really keep that much of their value? I can't imagine spending that much on any 3 year old box (laptop or desktop).

The thing is, it's rare for a Mac laptop to die. I still have a perfectly functioning 12" powerbook that won't die despite all my attempts to kill it.

Unless you had a MBP from the generation right before uni-body. I know a lot of people (myself included) who've had the logic board burn out right around the 2 year mark.

Mine, too. I would have liked it to last longer; I'm not a fan of the zero-button trackpads.

Count me in on this one. Paid $800 to replace the logic board on this macbook from 2008.

the two macs i've sold:

2003 aluminum PowerBook: paid $2800, sold after 5 years for $1000

2007 iMac: paid $1300, sold after 1 year for $1300. (It was the previous gen when I bought it, so that worked out really well.)

I bought one of the first 15" LED backlit MacBook Pros in 2007 for ~$2000 and sold it for $1000 a few months ago. That might not sound amazing until you learn that my wife dropped it down our staircase and it had a giant dent in the side. You can sell Macs like that - I don't hear of people buying smashed up PC notebooks for anywhere near premium prices :-)

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