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Need advice on shopping for a Macbook for a relative for Christmas (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The recipient doesn’t do any video editing or other process intensive workflows, just online banking, facebook, email, etc.

I’m trying to decide whether to buy new on Black Friday or shop the second hand market. I want something that’ll keep getting OS updates for at least a couple years.

Can anyone advise me on how to get the best value for my dollar—should I shop Black Friday deals for something new or stick to the used marketplaces like Facebook, eBay, etc? We’re in the US in case that affects the answer. Thank you!

ETA budget info: I’d like to spend around $500 or so, which I believe would mean going used, but I can probably stretch my budget to a grand if buying something new is actually the best value play. But if I go used, can someone recommend what years I should look for or avoid? thx

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Check out Apple refurbished if you haven't already. I almost exclusively buy Apple computers this way. You get basically a brand new device with a warranty and a nice discount because some of the innards were used. The exterior and battery is brand new so you would never know the difference. Looks like there's a few MacBook Airs on there within your price range and even a couple Mac mini's for less if desktop would suffice.

https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/mac

Edit to add: Anything with the "M-" chips should be supported for a while. M3 and M2 would likely be the safest though it seems like the first gen M1 is still well supported. If 16GB ram is available and affordable enough, I'd snag that. 8GB is just bare minimum nowadays but I have heard and apple claim that 8GB on their M-series laptops is akin to 12-16GB on other devices. Could be hogwash (I haven't used any of the M laptops), but just wanted to throw that out there.