My MacBook Pro Upgrade Options
I’ve been thinking of selling my 1 year old MacBook Pro to upgrade to the latest.
Option A: 2.53 GHz 15” MacBook Pro 4GB memory, 320GB hard drive, 512MB graphics
$2,499.00 MacBook Pro + $349.00 AppleCare + $19 Remote = $2,867.00 before tax
+ 9.5% sales tax = $3,139.37 after tax
-$1,600 from selling old MacBook Pro (Assuming I can sell it for this much)
Total cash out of pocket: $1,539.37
Option B: 2.4 GHz 15” MacBook Pro 2GB memory, 250GB hard drive, 256MB graphics
$1,999.00 MacBook Pro + $349.00 AppleCare + $19 Remote = $2,367.00 before tax
+ 9.5% sales tax = $2,591.87 after tax
+ $92.99 320GB 2.5” Hitachi 5400RPM hard drive + $139.99 4GB RAM upgrade kit (no tax and maybe $9 shipping = $241.90)
Grand total of $2,833.85 after tax and upgrades
-$1,600 from selling old MacBook Pro (Assuming I can sell it for this much)
Total cash out of pocket: $1,233.85
Only about $305 savings if I were to buy the lower-end model that wouldn’t even be a big upgrade from my 1 year old MacBook Pro. It would make the most sense to go with option A.
I may also look for an online reseller that doesn’t charge tax in the state of TN, it would save me a good bit on the MacBook Pro if I could.
Update: Amazon doesn’t seem to charge tax in TN.
2.53 GHz 15” MBP $2,494.00 + 2 day shipping $19.89 = $2,513.89
Plus I could buy my AppleCare (with-in 90 days) and AppleRemote from Amazon or another (discount) reseller also without tax.
Update: MacMall offers a $100 rebate on the new MacBooks, however they are based in TN so they would likely tax me. Here’s the 2.53 GHz model.
