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introduction - Hello!

1K views 17 replies 7 participants last post by  eMacMan 
#1 ·
Just dropping a post to say Hi!

My current gear - iPhone 3GS & iPad 2 (64G WiFi), and a really old nearly dead iPod (classic before it was called classic) 30 gb, and bought my wife an iPod Touch 4th gen.

Also - my old Dell Precision M65 thinks it's a MacBook Pro 3,1 - doesn't count I realize, but still it has somewhat inspired me.

This tax return my intentions are to find a used, somewhat beat up MacBook Pro - I like the aluminum chasis - hoping for something from at least the last two years.

Besides fleabay, is there any place in Canada to get something that maybe needs some work, as in a used Mac store? My budget is always tight, so I am hoping for $600 or so.

I'm in Pembroke, Ontario - close enough to Ottawa to make it worth the drive, if this helps.

Great site by the way... I've been lurking for a while and thought I would drop a quick hello!
 
#2 ·
Besides fleabay, is there any place in Canada to get something that maybe needs some work, as in a used Mac store? My budget is always tight, so I am hoping for $600 or so.
Well, Billy, why go for something that needs work / is that old?

Today on Apple Canada's Refurbished Macs page, you can pick up an October 2010 model MacBook Air for $699. That'll get you a nice full Apple warranty... :)
 
#3 ·
I like the Air's well enough, but to cover my needs more I need more umph. I love movies, and am somewhat techie in nature. My house (with wife and 4 kids aged 1 yr to 14 yrs) currently is home to a small Windows Home Server, a machine for internet only purposes, a tiny little Shuttle PC behind the living room TV, 4 Windows laptops (not counting mine), plus various machines in various states of repair/disrepair soley for my tinkering.
I need an optical drive, and would use it at various times - meaning I don't want to lug around a separate drive.
 
#4 ·
I am though concentrating on a 13" MBP for my search. The Apple refurb store is near enough to a grand to be well over after taxes kick in, which is WAY more than my wife would let me spend.
 
#6 ·
Check your local (Ottawa?) Craigslist and Kijiji.
 
#7 ·
This is an ancient dead thread... but I thought I'd chime in that the franchise called "Easy Home Rent to Own" now offers MacBook Pro 13.3's, 2.4Ghz i5 - I know this for a fact, as my step daughter killed my hackintosh and my wife (beautiful loving woman that she is) let me get one from there, and I friggin love the thing.
 
#8 ·
not to poo-poo your "score" at EasyHome but at their low APR rates of 29.9% (calculated from cost of product - whatever that means) on their 104 week terms to own, you will pay $5,096.00 before taxes for a laptop you can by new for $1,249.00.

If fact, if you saved your $50 a week you would pay them for your "great deal" in 5 months you would have enough to buy it outright from Apple and save a year and half of payments

No deal from EasyHome or any other Rent-2-Own places.
 
#10 ·
No no - they actually "like" me there - I pay less than half that posted rate. So it's not $50 a week - my final payout is based on just over $100 a month - give or take I should end paying about $2400 for a Mac that I would pay about $1400 with taxes added in. Seriously I'm OK with this - I have 4 daughters there is no such thing as saving involved in my world.
 
#12 ·
I don't know what "liking you" means, unless it has something to do with that fact you are a frequent customer or give them steady business. Getting a high interest credit card at 29.9% you would pay $500 less over the course of their 104 week "term". That half of your next computer

As for saving, you can if you try even with 4 girls - I was able to save and buy my toys and I have 6 kids, a little planning goes a long way
 
#11 ·
Also making a hackintosh tought me quite a bit about the inner workings. I'm impressed with how all the guts work with the software - it is not easy to get a hack system to work, a person actually has to think about the end result as well as the process to get the end result. Especially in a laptop as there isn't an easy swap it out option.
 
#13 ·
Frequent customer... very frequent. We've gotten living room furniture, bedroom furniture, appliances, and my wife got a really crappy laptop about 5 years ago from there. I also had a brief stint repairing some electronics for them, reformatting their computers, putting together piles of useless stuff into piles of less useless stuff, etc. So yes, I got a decent deal. For a brand new MacBook Pro - this model sells for a little over $1400 with taxes included, and I will end up paying just a little over $2400 for mine, that I can have right now. I don't have a problem with paying the extra for something I can use now.
 
#14 ·
^^^Yikes, over three years that works out at about a 25% interest rate not including any late fees. You could do as well just buying it on a credit card. Even better if you paid a more than the minimum.

As much as I hate the Banksters, if you must borrow I am sure they could have done quite a bit better for you.
 
#15 ·
Two years... the final price will be just over $2400. That's about a grand more than currently available at the Apple store. It's brand new, I opened the box, had to cut the seal even. I set it up from scratch. I like it. How many people on this site are bankers or lawyers??? Please at least read the whole post before shooting down my purchase!
 
#16 ·
Two years... the final price will be just over $2400. That's about a grand more than currently available at the Apple store. It's brand new, I opened the box, had to cut the seal even. I set it up from scratch. I like it. How many people on this site are bankers or lawyers??? Please at least read the whole post before shooting down my purchase!
Sorry closer to a 35% annual interest rate. Too lazy to do an exact calculation at the moment.

Love the purchase.

However the $1000 premium on a $1400 purchase is approaching usuary levels.
 
#17 ·
It is rather disgusting, however in my humble opinion, it beats option A which is attempt to stuff away $100 a month and purchase a nice macbook pro next May (2013) or B scrape away a few hundred and buy a really low end Acer/Toshiba/HP from Walmart. I like the new laptop, I like that I was the first person to cut the seal to open the box. I like that I have it today.
 
#18 ·
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