What to look for when buying Used Macbook?

[benga]

Hey everyone,
 

My younger sister is looking to buy a used Macbook from Craigslist and wants me to come over to review it with her and also because she's never done a cash transaction like this. 
I myself have never owned a laptop or really used a Macbook/Mac for more than a day or two and so I'm pretty clueless as to know what to look out for.

The laptop is a Early 2015 Macbook  Pro 13 Retina

Cosmetically it looks pretty pristine and is priced at $750.

They also said there have only been 111 Battery cycle counts

 

Thoughts and advice for when I review it in person?

Also does the price sound right?

[LienusLateTips]

Make sure it has an SSD.

[Shiv78]

2 minutes ago, JDE said:

Make sure it has an SSD.

all MacBooks from that era are SSD only IIRC.

[The Sloth]

- make sure it's not stolen 

- check battery charge cycle 

- run a benchmark to make sure everything works 

 

[benga]

2 minutes ago, JDE said:

Make sure it has an SSD.

 

Just now, Shiv78 said:

all MacBooks from that era are SSD only IIRC.

 

Correct, in this case 256GB I also have a 500gb 850pro if she ever needs to upgrade space.

[LienusLateTips]

Just now, Shiv78 said:

all MacBooks from that era are SSD only IIRC.

I'm pretty sure there is a unit

 

i'll go find it

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Did it recently have a battery replaced? 111 Battery cycle counts sounds really low.

[Shiv78]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

- make sure it's not stolen 

 

how would one do that

[Shiv78]

Just now, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Did it recently have a battery replaced? 111 Battery cycle counts sounds really low.

does it count battery cycles if used off of wall power?

[Shiv78]

1 minute ago, JDE said:

I'm pretty sure there is a unit

 

i'll go find it

nope, only SSDs and since they are m.2 you can't even swap it 

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp715?locale=en_US

[LienusLateTips]

Just now, Shiv78 said:

nope, only SSDs and since they are m.2 you can't even swap it 

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp715?locale=en_US

Well they still sold it in 2016 but it's a "Mid 2012" unit.

[The Sloth]

Just now, Shiv78 said:

how would one do that

check the serial number for things such as AppleCare, stolen Macs with find my macs will be locked when connected to wifi. 

4 minutes ago, Shiv78 said:

does it count battery cycles if used off of wall power?

a full charge, 0 to 100% charge counts as a cycle. 

[Shiv78]

 

4 minutes ago, JDE said:

Well they still sold it in 2016 but it's a "Mid 2012" unit.

that doesn't count XP

[LienusLateTips]

Just now, Shiv78 said:

 

that doesn't count XP

ik

[Droidbot]

2 minutes ago, Shiv78 said:

nope, only SSDs and since they are m.2 you can't even swap it 

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp715?locale=en_US

it's not m.2, it's their proprietary connector that looks very very similar. 

you can swap it on the mid-2015 mbps, it's very simple actually. OWC make a drive that fits it and there used to be an M.2 NVMe to MBP adapter. 

[79wjd]

17 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

- check battery charge cycle 

Even an abused battery still lasts pretty long. I get a good four hours out of my Late 2013 rMBP with 50+ chrome tabs open including a few videos and I'm up to 2173 cycles (and about 70% full charge capacity -- it's only rated for 1000 cycles).

 

8 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

there used to be an M.2 NVMe to MBP adapter. 

http://www.microsatacables.com/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-m2-1022-mac

 

Also, I believe you can swap it up until the most recent Late 2016 Macs (where they changed the connector again on the non-touch bar and soldered it on the touchbar). Just note that the 2012 Retina was Sata and not PCIE.