Sweet Spot for Used Mac Book Pros?

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I would like to purchase a gently used 15" Mac Book Pro and was wondering what is the sweet spot in relation to age and price? I know for cars people say that buying a low mileage used car after year 2 and then after year 5 is good because that's when the largest depreciation has taken place. Which of the following options (examples) provides the best value in regards to the relationship between price and longevity:

1) Buying a current generation Mac Book Pro two months old with 2.8 yrs left on Apple Car for $2600.
2) Buying the previous generation (2.5 ghz) Mac Book Pro that's one year old with 2 yrs left on Apple Care for $1700
3) Buying two generations back from current (2.2ghz) Mac Book Pro with 6 months left on Apple Care for $1200

Assume all the options above have the standard amounts of RAM and HD that came with it. No upgrades.
I am a light daily user with 75% of use being surfing the internet. I don't mind using an older computer as long as it has enough RAM and speed to keep with with the current times and can support the latest OS and software. Then again, I don't mind buying the latest model and keeping it for 5 years.

I know it's kind of a difficult question but which generation Mac Book Pro for which price range provides the best value overall?
 

CrimsonRequiem


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MBP 2.3 Ghz 4GB RAM 860 GB SSD, iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 32GB RAM, Fusion Drive 1TB
Do you do anything else besides surfing the web? If that's all you do then you can save yourself some money by just getting a MB.
 
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2) Buying the previous generation (2.5 ghz) Mac Book Pro that's one year old with 2 yrs left on Apple Care for $1700
The best that I can see. Good luck. ;)
 
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Too many...
I'm going with number 2 for the best answer. But, If I were buying for myself, I would go with the first one.
 
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Do 3 then upgrade the RAM and use it for a couple of years and then take stock of what is available and where things are heading. I plan on hanging onto my 2.2 SR MBP for a while yet.
 
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I don't think new MB or MBP's are worth the money. I think option 3 is the best.


What about them is overpriced? Do you think in a few years, there will be great advancements in technologies over the 8 hour battery life? I'm still gathering information.
 
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I have excluded the MB because it only has a 13" screen.

You could still save a lot of $$$ by getting a MB and connecting it to a larger display/monitor. Even if you had to buy a new monitor, it would be cheaper than a MBP if you don't need that much out of your machine.
Besides, my brother has the 13" white MB and there isn't a HUGE difference in screen size compared to my 15.4" MBP. If it were me, I would just plug it into your tv or something like that.
 
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I know this isn't one of the options but I would get a 13" Macbook or a cheaper MBP and connect it to an external monitor. I picked up a 23" Dell recently and it makes a world of difference from the 13.3" screen. My roommate just bought a 22" Dell for like $160 (plus the $20 mini-DVI to DVI adapter dongle of course).

I used to have mine plugged into my 32" Samsung TV but it just wasn't the same.
 
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09 MBP 8GB ram 500GB HD OS 10.9 32B iPad 4 32GB iPhone 5 iOs7 2TB TC Apple TV3
NO 1 more cache faster front side bus and DDR3 ram with the latest available
processor.
 
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I would go with option 3 as it is the cheapest. However, if funds are available, go with option 2.
 

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