Macbook Depreciation – All You Need To Know (Statistics)

• Macbook Pro laptops depreciate 30.6% in the first year and 51.3% after three years.
• Macbook Air laptops depreciate 17.1% in the first year and 36.1% after three years.
• Macbook Air laptops hold their value more than Macbook Pro laptops.

Everyone knows that Macbooks lose their value over time.  But knowing just how much value they lose requires research.

By analyzing the sold prices of hundreds of Macbooks I’ve been able to come up with some figures that show how typical, base model 13-inch Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs depreciate over time.

I’m not claiming what I have done here is perfect, but it should at least give you an idea of how to price a Macbook to sell.  

My findings should also help you if you’re looking to bag a bargain!

Let’s get to it.

Macbook Pro depreciation rates

Here’s what the depreciation schedule looks like for a base model Macbook Pro.

To determine the depreciation values, I looked at the sold prices for a 13-inch Macbook Pro with 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD on eBay.com.

I picked this spec so that I could compare the prices (as like-for-like as I could) with a base model, 13-inch Macbook Pro currently available on apple.com for $1,299.

And also because most people buy base model Macbooks without upgrades.

Here’s a couple of caveats:

1. The figures analyzed only covered Macbooks in reasonable condition.  I.e. I only looked at ‘used’ models and not ‘For parts or not working’ on eBay.com.  I also excluded Macbooks that were being sold without a screen.
2. I included all CPUs since the new Macbook Pro has the new ‘M1’ chip (at the time of writing) which was only introduced in November 2020.

Depreciation at one year old

At one year old, expect a deprecation of 30.6%.  

Whilst this is a reasonable drop in value, it doesn’t lose half of its value until year three.  This may be because of Apple’s extended warranty period.

Depreciation at two years old

At two years old, expect a deprecation of 37.3%.  

This is not a million miles away from the price in year one (about $88 difference).  

Again, we’re probably still in an extended warranty period here if the user or business has taken out AppleCare+.

Depreciation at three years old

At three years old, the depreciation is 51.3%, the biggest percentage drop.  

At three years old most warranties will have come to an end, unless extended further.  This I believe to be the main reason for such a steep drop in price.  

Depreciation at four years old

At four years old, expect the deprecation to be 57.1%.

Depreciation at five years old

Deprecation: 68.7%.

Depreciation at six years old

Deprecation: 68.5%.

Depreciation at 10 years old

Deprecation: 84.1%.

I didn’t look beyond ten years, since I doubt many will be looking to buy or sell a Macbook of that age.  

But a cursory look at some of the very early 2006 Macbook Pro models shows that as long as the laptop still works, they can hold some value – $61 on average in fact.

Here’s the data I obtained in tabular format:

What conclusions can we draw?

Well, it seems that Macbook Pros hold onto their value more in the first couple of years.

In year three, the price of a typical Macbook drops quite dramatically by just over 50%.  

Beyond year three, things start to level out as the depreciation fluctuates between 5% and 10% each year thereafter.

Macbook Air depreciation Rates

Here’s what the depreciation schedule looks like for a base model Macbook Air.

Like the Macbook Pro stats above, to determine the depreciation values, I looked at the sold prices for a 13-inch Macbook Air with 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD on eBay.com.

Again, I picked this spec so that I could compare the prices (as like-for-like as I could) with a base model, 13-inch Macbook Air currently available on apple.com for $899.

Also, most people go for the base Model when buying a Macbook Air.

Here’s a couple of caveats:

1. The figures analyzed only covered Macbooks in reasonable condition.  I.e. I only looked at ‘used’ models and not ‘For parts or not working’ on eBay.com.  I also excluded Macbooks that were being sold without a screen.
2. I included all CPUs since the new Macbook Air also has the new ‘M1’ chip (at the time of writing) which was only introduced in November 2020.

Depreciation at one year old

At one year old, expect a deprecation of 17.1%.  This is about 13.5% less than the Macbook Pro.  

We’ll look at why this could be the case further in the article.

Depreciation at two years old

At two years old, expect a deprecation of 21.1%.  

Not a huge reduction in price from year one.  Again, many Macbooks are still in Apple’s extended warranty period.

Depreciation at three years old

At three years old, expect a deprecation of 36.1%.  

This is the first large reduction in price for a Macbook Air.  There are further reductions still to come before the price drop levels out.

Depreciation at four years old

At four years old a Macbook Air will have lost half of its original value at 50%.

Depreciation at five years old

Depreciation: 67.7%.

Depreciation at six years old

Depreciation: 72.5%.  

The price drop for a Macbook Air levels off at this point and fluctuates between 0.15% and 4.82%.

Depreciation at seven years old

Depreciation: 76.6%.

Depreciation at eight years old

Depreciation: 77.7%.

Depreciation at nine years old

Depreciation: 77.5%.

Here’s the data I obtained in tabular format:

What conclusions can we draw?

Similar to Macbook Pros, Macbook Air’s hold onto their value more in the first couple of years.  

Again, this can probably be put down to the duration of Apple’s extended warranty.

The price drops for a Macbook Air seem to happen within the first six years and after that, they tend to level out.

One thing I did notice however is that the price drops for a Macbook Air are less severe, percentage wise, than those of a Macbook Pro.

This seems to suggest that Macbook Air laptops hold their value more than Macbook Pro laptops.

Here’s the depreciation data for Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs side-by-side:

Here’s a visual representation of the same data:

Do Macbooks hold their value?

The figures I collected indicate that Macbooks do hold their value well over time.

If you were to buy a base model 13-inch Macbook Pro today (in 2022) with a 2017 release date, it would still set you back $407 on average.

A base model 13-inch Macbook Air with a 2016 release date would set you back $291 on average.

According to my data, it takes five-years for a Macbook Pro to drop in price by 69%.

Or another way to look at it, a five year old Macbook Pro will be worth about 31% of its original price.

Comparison with Windows laptops

A cursory look at similarly specced Windows laptops revealed that Macbooks tend to hang on to their value for longer than Windows laptops of a similar specification.

I took an average price of 240 Windows laptops with a release date of 2020.

Some of the listings contained Intel i7 CPUs despite the filters that I selected.

But the majority of the laptops were Intel i5 13-inch laptops with 8GB RAM and 256 GB SSDs.

The average price for the laptops came to $299.  

Even Macbooks sold for ‘For parts or not working’ were priced at or even above this price point.

To buy a brand new laptop from Dell with the same spec will set you back $849.99 at the time of writing.

Based on these figures, Windows laptops experience a price reduction of 77.52% after nearly two years.  

In comparison, a Macbook Pro at a 2020 release date has a 37.34% depreciation.

Why do Macbooks hold their value longer than Windows laptops?

It’s not exactly clear why Macbooks hold their value longer than other laptops.

But I know from owning one that they are incredibly well built with a full metal chassis.  

I know that because of this build quality it’s going to last for years to come.

Compared with my previous Windows 10 laptop, which was an Intel i7 HP Envy with 16GB, the quality is worlds apart.   

This is despite being a better spec than the Macbook.

In the end, the hinge failed me as a result of opening and closing the lid too many times!

Build quality aside, here are a couple of other reasons why Macbooks may hold their value over time:

• There are fewer used Macs than PCs.  According to Canalys (link below), Apple had a market share of just 7.2% in Q4 2021.  Fewer sales also means there are fewer used Macs for sale, which pushes the price up.
• Lots of people want Macs.  But many don’t want to pay over $1000 for a new model.  This also pushes up the price for used Macs.

Factors that affect used prices for Macbooks

Some used Macbooks sell for more than others.  Obviously the overall condition of the laptop will have a big impact on price.

But there are a couple of observations that I made whilst doing my research.

The most expensive used Macbooks that had sold had barely been used.  

Some Macbooks were being sold with AppleCare+ warranty and some were even being sold with expensive software installed such as Adobe Photoshop.

One particular example was a well looked after 13-inch base model Macbook which sold for $1,825, more than the $1,500 the seller paid for it!  

I have also seen similar Macbooks sell for considerably less at $260 with scratches and dents.

Aside from the condition of the Macbook, there are some other factors which I think could affect the price you could sell your Macbook for:

AppleCare+

If you’re considering selling a Macbook and it’s still within the warranty period, it’s going to sell for more.

Prices for Macbooks only lose about half their value around year three.

You can also transfer your AppleCare plan to the new owner if you sell or give away your Macbook.

Butterfly keyboard program

Apple discontinued their low-profile butterfly keyboards in 2019 due to issues with characters repeating, keys being sticky and at times unresponsive.

Certain Macbook models with butterfly keyboards are therefore eligible for a free keyboard repair or replacement.

If the Macbook you intend to sell is older than four years after it was bought, then it will no longer be eligible for the free repair or replacement.

Therefore, should you come to sell a Macbook with keyboard issues outside of the butterfly keyboard program, it’s likely it will sell for less.

Upgraded Macbooks

Not only do upgraded Macbooks cost more brand new, but they also depreciate more than a base model Macbook.

Many people that buy used Macbooks generally only want a base model and typically don’t want to pay for extra bells and whistles such as additional RAM or storage.

Power users that do want an upgraded Macbook model, typically, but not always, will spec out their Macbooks and buy them brand new from Apple.

Here’s a video on this that you might find useful:

Do refurbished macbooks sell for more?

Refurbished Macbooks do command a higher price than used Macbooks.

They can be a great way to save money when buying a Macbook if you don’t want to pony up $1000+ for a new one.

But there’s only so many outlets that offer official refurbished Macs.  One of those is Apple itself.

Officially refurbished Macs will command a higher price than Macbooks that haven’t been officially refurbished or have been refurbished by the seller themselves.

How much can I sell my Macbook for?

If you wish to sell your Macbook after say five to ten years, it won’t have much retail value.  

But by that time you will have squeezed every dollar out of your Macbook already and “got your money’s worth” out of it.

But, if you wish to sell your Macbook after two or three years, it will likely have dropped in price by between 30% and 50% of its original price, assuming you bought it brand new.

According to my figures, a baseline 13-inch Macbook Pro, with a 256GB SSD typically has sold for between $600 (three years old) to $900 (one year old) on average.

Trading-in a Macbook Pro

Another way to sell your Macbook Pro is to trade it in for an upgrade.  

But it’s highly likely you won’t get as much for your laptop as you could by selling it privately on eBay, Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for example.

In fact, I have a 2019 base model Macbook Pro laptop in immaculate condition and Apple will only give me $540 of credit towards a new model.  

On eBay, the exact laptop has sold for $622 on average across 240 listings.

But trading in a laptop is often hassle-free and convenient.  

The laptop is inspected, taken off your hands and there’s little chance the laptop will be returned to you.  

Which is a real possibility when selling it privately.

You can see how much trade-in value you can get for your Macbook Pro on Apple.com.  

Just select the laptop you wish to buy, and above the blue ‘select’ button is a link to the ‘Apple Trade In’.

You can also trade-in your Macbook at:

• Best Buy 
• Walmart

Alternatively, you can sell to a reseller such as:

• Decluttr
• Gazelle
• Swappa

Sources

Canalys Newsroom – Global PC shipments pass 340 million in 2021 and 2022 is set to be even stronger

Buying a Refurbished Mac? 10 Things You Need to Know

eBay

Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson, the founder of Tech Parasol, had a keen interest in tech from a very young age. He studied Electronic Engineering at University and then went on to become a Software Developer. He launched Tech Parasol in 2021 to share his knowledge with the aim of making tech easier to understand for everyone.