Sources:
eBay
everymac
& artists

Spreadsheet links

1 – HTML Webpage – https://dankpads.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/V2-Specs-1.html
2 – .xlsx file
3 – Google Sheets link

M1 MBP 16″ not released yet at the time of research & writing. Not sure if prices will really be affected, unfortunately I haven’t done price variances since October 2018 in a different format, so I can’t really compare (sort of like my X1 Carbon guide vs TPG guide) price change since then. This is just for the 15 and 16 inch Retina and TouchBar Macbook models. This is my first guide in 2021… 1/4 of the year is done and there’s much ground to cover. Later I will price research the 13″ MacBook Pro variant, then the MacBook Air & “MacBook” models, cover the old Unibody models in one swoop but not go in depth & revisit both iMacs…. hopefully by June!

Thanks to Covid-19, prices of laptops went up in 2020. Systems sold for $120 (which I flipped for $180+) went up to $150 and more… nullifying making an ez profit. When I did the ThinkPad Price Guide, a lot of laptop pricess went the fuck up for stay at home work, and the cryptocurrency market help bloat prices of high end graphics machines… . Even the 2009 and 2010 white macbooks models went up in price.

Before we start, I want to make it clear that this is mostly a price guide. I won’t get super into the specifics of each features or problems… having researched 130+ laptops in the ThinkPad Guide, I don’t have the capacity to fully detail these machines. I hope the best if you go down this path. 🙂

TL;DR Prices

Low – Hardest to get bc at this point it’s to sell fast, or it’s not popular at an auction. Prob ugly, untested, dented & no charger. This is at the drop off point for broken & for parts machines, be sure to read the description fully.
Mid – These are mostly auctions, best offers, & should come with a charger, but might not.
High – This is probably the Mid/Low BIN price if you cannot wait. Expect these from the original owner or from sellers who fix them up decently. These should be in great condition, but minor imperfections & probably have upgrades.
EX+ – High end sellers, should have excellent battery life, refurbished or upgraded to hell.
$$$ – averaged price difference percentage from the year prior

Good Sellers

Maximum Macs – Slightly overpriced BIN seller, doesn’t show battery cycles but has specs & photos.
pacificmacs – Says specs & supposedly has at least 80% battery guarantee. Photos are generic w/ grades
quality macs – a lot of macs for sale, intricate descriptions & photos. pricey but PLENTIFUL, BIN
macnq.llc – descriptive titles, photos, & specs on listing. auctions, low inventory, maybe a flipper?

e-Waste types (wiped drives, may not come w/ charger)
GJEnterprises1 – Some macs but other stuff too. BIN
wikiwoo – Selling working & for parts. Kinda pricey, no chargers? direct, no fluffery, BIN seller, decent.
human-i-t – I bought my W550s from them. Decent seller, non profit, all laptop types, all 3 listing types.
greencitizen – one of the best e-waste sellers, they sell everything & are descriptive. BIN & Auctions
poweron.com – bruh, bought an imac & made $200, tyvm. Packaged well & descriptive. Auctions & BIN
itsworthmore – they sell everything, BIN, come with charger, descriptive photos & specs, a bit high

Okay / Meh Sellers

redstonepc – im on the fence for these… comes with a charger & is “within apple battery threshold”
ocdepot – they aren’t (bad) but can be a bit unclear. Some deals come by, BIN overpriced , auction it

Bad Sellers

welikey – overpriced, deceptive listings, $200 unibody for $600, great photos, Illinois based w/ different names.
8ten144 – they sell over 20K of items, but their macs look like dropship welikey bs… avoid for MBPs.
fleetwood-macbooks – AVOID AVOID AVOID, ive made a vid about these & welikey…. ugh. overpriced

Luke Miani has a pretty good youtube video about these bad sellers, gets into the welikey things. Turns out they’ll just ship you a random laptop… rMBP or non-rMBP. fucking odd as hell.

I have written an article before about the bad sellers & how to avoid it… basically they have a background and take a generic picture of a nice laptop, then in the listing (either the smaller condition description, or big description below) it’ll say they are B or C grade machines with scratches & worn keys… if you see 4 photos in the same angle, skip the seller. Also the bad sellers are the reason why I can’t sometimes get accurate prices & are the reason why there is low units sold… if I write “2017 MacBook Pro” in the search field, I’ll get “2017 OSX MacBook Pro Upgraded”, they are units from 2009 to 2014 that all have 2017 software… which magically makes it equal to the 2017 MBP….

Checklist & Reliability

• Photos w/ Serial Number
  • Serial on the About this mac & on the bottom cover
    • The bottom cover might be switched out from another machine tho…
  • You can check specs via everymac serial number lookup tool
    • its about 95% accurate
• Battery Health
  • Later versions of MacOS have a battery health threshold
  • Some programs show a battery health readout; coconut-battery or iMazing
  • if they say how long it can be used… that’s better than nothing I guess
• A full “About this Mac” photo
  • Some versions of OSX don’t say what year MacBook they are…
  • Some sellers may crop the photo bc they have multiple inventory items
  • None of these Macs have upgraded RAM… unless from the factory
• Is it a Retina or TouchBar Macbook or is it a Unibody?
  • Unibody MBP says “MacBook Pro” on the bottom of the black LCD bezel
  • Unibody MBP have an optional no-glass overlay, so silver bezel instead of black
  • Both rMBP and tbMBP don’t have no name on the bezel, its just black
  • Unibody is thick, has a CD drive, Display Port, SD Card & no HDMI port
  • Retina has Display Port, SD Card Slot, & HDMI
  • TouchBar is USB-C only, no SD Card, but an Aux jack
• Wiped vs Removed Storage
  • 2012 to 2015 systems can be upgraded
    • Late 2012 to Early 2013 – 6Gb SATA blade type
      • 256GB to 768GB or 1TB
    • Late 2013 to Mid 2015 – PCIe 2.0 blade type
      • 256GB to 1TB
  • 2016 & onward cannot be upgraded, soldered onto the logicboard
    • PCIe 3.0 x4 speeds
      • 256GB to 2TB on 2016 & 2017 models
      • 256GB to 4TB on 2018 & 2019 15″ MBP models
      • 512GB to 8TB on 2019 16″ MBP models & later
    • M1X MBP may be faster bc the storage is on the processor chip
• Screen Issues
  • StainGate is when the anti-reflective coating delaminates & looks like shit
  • Apple supposedly replaces for free on any in 2021… idk if you need to be the original owner tho
  • You can remove the coating with vinegar & baking soda
  • IF it has vertical lines throughout the display, its a bad GPU, don’t buy it…
    • unless you don’t care for the dGPU performance & want to use only iGPU
  • FlexGate is when the LEDs have a hall like effect, check this MacRumors thread for more examples.
  • The LCD ribbon cable is the culprit, it affects 2016 – 2017 machines, recalls are only avail on 2016… xD

This isn’t really a full disclosure of every damn problem. Each model has their own specific issues, and I’ll be damned to watch every Louis Rossman video to find out. Basically read to see what’s going on, read to see if there’s anything shady and be skeptic about issues. Hope for the best, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t buy from those shady we-likey sellers or those with less than 10 feedback w/ year old accounts (older is fine, bc they might of been a longtime buyer). I am shooting for the best on these things, the price guide doesn’t list the broken & problem laptops, though there are still some shitty/broken listings sold at HIGH prices lmafo.

General Overview

Unfortunately, some laptops are listed under the Apple Model Number, e.g. A1707 instead of “TouchBar Late 2017 MacBook Pro 15“. Another is just going off the Identifier number, like MJLQ2LL/A, which eBay sometimes autofills incorrectly or the seller mis-lists it as. The best bet is to check specs from photos or via serial, but still a scammy seller could spoof it. Also there are a lot of Build to Order and Configure to Order MacBooks, which could be many different types & depending on the seller, may want to charge $$$$ as possible because “its custom & fast!”.

Model number for the most part seems to be based on the aluminum frame. So one good thing is that I think there are a lot of compatible parts you can get for you systems (Let me know if I’m wrong). Another number to consider is the EMC, which is like a sub-model number of 4 digits, so the IG and DG models have different EMCs, as do later year laptops, but they still have the same 5 alphanumeric Model Number. I’ll get into depth later when it comes to comparing the same model years. Also another thing is the Model Identifier, which some may list the laptops under, I’ll put it next to the EMC. Also I am going to reiterate what I said earlier…

Model-EMC
A1398-2512

• A1398 – Retina MacBook Pro 15
• Weights about 4.5 lbs
• 720p webcam, 2880 x 1800 display
• MagSafe 2 Chargers, 85W
  • 2512 – MBP 10,1 – Late 2012 (not the unibody, ofc)
    • Intel 3rd Gen CPUs
      • 3 CPU selections, all Quadcore
      • 6MB cache on two CPUs, 8MB on top end CPU
    • nVidia GT 650m GPU w/ 1GB GDDR5, Intel HD 4000 on battery, can power 2 displays
    • 8GB or 16GB DDR3L RAM @ 1600MHz
      • 7 Hour battery life, 95Wh
    • SATA SSD Storage, 256GB, 512GB, or 768GB
      • Chicklet, backlit keyboard
      • 2x USB 3.0, SD Card Slot, 2x Thunderbolt 2 (mDP), HDMI, Aux Jack
  • 2673 – MBP 10,1 – Early 2013
    • Slightly faster CPU speeds than 2012
      • Ports, Battery life, Keyboard, Graphics, RAM & Storage unchanged
  • 2674 – MBP 11,2 – Late 2013 IG
  • 2745 – MBP 11,3 – Late 2013 DG
    • Intel 4th Gen CPUs
      • 3 CPU options on IG models, but 2 on DG models (slower one not avail), all Quadcore
      • 6MB cache on all CPU options, no 8MB L2 Cache (not major, but still wtf apple)
    • nVidia GT 750m w/ 2GB GDDR5 (DG models), &/or Intel Iris Pro 5200 on battery
      • 8 Hour battery life, 95Wh
    • 8GB or 16GB RAM DDR3 IG, 16GB on DG standard
    • Discrete graphics are now an optional model for more $$$
    • PCIe 2.0 x2 SSD Storage, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB options. 768GB dropped
      • DG storage is 512GB standard
      • Ports, & Keyboard unchanged
  • 2876 – MBP 11,2 – Mid 2014 IG
  • 2881 – MBP 11,3 – Mid 2014 DG
    • Slightly faster CPU speeds in general
    • Same nVidia Graphics or IG
    • 16GB RAM standard on IG models now
      • Battery life, Ports, Keyboard & Storage is unchanged
  • 2909 – MBP 11,4 – Mid 2015 IG
  • 2910 – MBP 11,5 – Mid 2015 DG
    • Same CPU speeds
    • AMD R9 M370X w/ 2GB GDDR5, same Intel Iris Pro 5200
    • 9 Hour battery life, 99.5Wh size
    • Same RAM options
    • Faster PCIe 2.0 x4 Blades, Gen 4A?
      • Bigger TouchPad with ‘Force Touch”, supposedly irreplaceable from previous
      • Ports Unchanged

• A1707 – TouchBar MacBook Pro 15
• 2 Colors now, Space Gray, fuck yea!
• Thinner & smaller footprint, weighs about 4 lbs.
• TouchBar instead of Function keys… at least that thing is OLED
• Brighter LCD & wider P3 color gamut
• USB-C Chargers, 87W
• Fingerprint Login (Touch ID, 10 years late), Apple Pay support
  • 3072 – MBP 13,3 – Late 2016
    • 6th Gen Intel CPUs, 3 options, quadcore, 1-10% faster than 4th Gen
      • 6MB cache on base CPU, 8MB on 2 better CPUs
    • Integrated graphics thrown out, but now 3 dGPU options like how it used to be
    • AMD Graphics w/ 2GB GDDR5*, & Intel HD Graphics 530
      • Radeon Pro (Polaris) 450, 455, & 460, all can power 4 displays
      • the 460 had 4GB GDDR5 dRAM, the others only had 2GB
    • 10 Hour battery life, smaller 76Whr cell
    • 16GB LPDDR3 RAM @ 2133Mhz
    • PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD storage but soldered, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB
    • Massive TouchPad jfc
    • Butterfly keyboard 2nd Gen – Yes… dirt will get into this machine, recalls available
      • Ports cucked, 4x USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 (not USB 3.0 yet), NO SD Card Slot, Aux Jack
      • Any of the ports can be used to power the laptop now 🙂
  • 3162 – MBP 14,3 – Mid 2017
    • 7th Gen Intel CPUs, Quadcore
      • Similar Cache configurations, slightly faster clock speeds
    • Slightly faster AMD graphics but same Chipset, now Intel Graphics HD 630 on battery
      • AMD Radeon Pro 550 w/ 2GB GDDR5 or Radeon Pro 560 w/ 4GB GDDR5
    • Same RAM configs
      • USB-C is now USB 3.1 Gen 2 Compatible
        • Battery Life, Keyboard, & TouchPad are unchanged

• A1990 – TouchBar Macbook Pro 15
• New T2 Security / System Management Chip introduced (and its flaws)
  • Unlike others, the T2 chip w/ iCloud will not let you clean install an OS, so it’s like a locked iPhone
• This brings some iPhone/iPad program compatibility
• The Ambient light sensor can now change the LCD color temperature, called True Tone
  • 3215 – MBP 15,1 – Mid 2018 (MBP 15,3 for Vega)
    • 8th Gen Intel CPUs, 3 options available, now Six Core
      • 2x i7 CPUs w/ 9MB L2 Cache, new i9 CPU as high option w/ 12MB cache
      • More cores = lower base clock speed & better performance… still higher Turbo speeds
      • these CPUs are a considerable jump from the previous in performance in benchmarks
    • 4 GPU options, & Intel UHD 630 on battery
      • AMD Radeon Pro 555X or 560X w/ 4GB GDDR5, same Polaris chip like previous years
      • Radeon Pro Vega 16 or 20 w/ 4GB HBM2 (3x memory bandwidth, lower energy v GDDR5)
    • 10 Hour battery life & w/ bigger 83.6Wh wize
    • 16GB DDR4 RAM @ 2400MHz, upgradable to 32GB
    • Same SSD Speeds & sizes, but now w/ a 4TB option added
    • Butterfly Keyboard 3rd Gen – “fixed” the dust issue, but they still break from dust going in lol
    • It have voice activation to track, i mean ask Siri for questions, ty T2 chip
    • BT 5.0, but who cares? I havent been covering wifi/bt
      • Ports, & TouchPad are teh same
  • 3359 – MBP 15,1 – 2019 (MBP 15,3 for Vega)
    • 9th Gen Intel CPUs, 3 Options available, Six Core on base & Eight Core on the 2 higher configs
      • i7 is just the base now & i9 CPUs are 8 Core, not six
      • the i9 CPUs have a nice boost in performance, the i7 is better than the prev 2018 i9!
        • 12MB Cache on i7 models standard, now 16MB cache on i9 systems
        • These CPUs are the same for the next 3 models, idk what will happen w/ the used market when the M1X comes out. Doubtful if they’ll be sought after like the 17″ MBP…
      • The same four dGPU options like last, & same Intel UHD 630 on battery
    • Same RAM, Storage & Battery configs
    • Butterfly Keyboard 3rd Gen w/ a Revision… it can still be sent in to be replaced. so FREE TOPCASE!
      • Ports & TouchPad are still the same

• A2141 – TouchBar MacBook Pro 16
• New screen added! But not a fuckton glorious mammoth 17″ we missed… 3;
• 3072 x 1920 pixels on the screen, but still 500 nits and same-ish DCI-P3 color gamut as 15″
• Slightly bigger, thicker & heavier, bc of the panel size? still lighter than the non-TB Retina MBP 15 >:,-)
• Same T2 security chip and force touchpad, just bigger
• Has a “better” six speaker system
  • 3347 – MBP 16,1 – Late 2019 16“
    • Same 3 CPU options like 15″ Model
      • “redesigned for computing” but still throttles… lol
    • AMD Radeon Pro 5300M or 5500M w/ 4GB GDDR6 & Intel UHD 630
      • The 5300M is a lil slower than the Vega 20 in some tests… but still better overall
    • 11 Hour battery, 100Wh, new 96W USB-C Charger
    • 16GB DDR4 RAM @ 2666Mhz, upgradable to 32GB or now 64GB!
    • Keyboard is back to “scissor switch” type that “different” from the unreliable butterfly ones
      • Touch ID & Esc key aren’t part of the KB now…
      • Same fuckhueg Force TouchPad
        • Despite being bigger & it has the same base price as new like the 15″ it replaced
  • 3347 – MBP 16,4 – 2020* (2019 CTO option w/ 5600M graphics)
    • Just the same as the 2019 model… just was a $700 CTO model
      • Only the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M GPU is different
      • It has a whopping 8GB of HBM2 dRAM
    • It isn’t advertised as a 2020 model, but as a 2019… still i had to make note of this bc it has a different model number, kinda sort of like the Vega 16/20 machines were
    • Most likely this was backordered to 2020 bc of the HBM2 memory shortage

Charger Information

• 85W MagSafe 2 – 2012 to 2015 MBP 15″ Retina
• 87W USB-C – 2016 to 2019 MBP 15″ TouchBar
• 96W USB-C – 2019 to ???? MBP 16″ TouchBar & ???
  • MagSafe 2 only came in the T shape, if its L-Shape, it’s not OEM
  • MagSafe 1 can get an adapter to MagSafe 2 if you want that L-Shape
    • You can use the 60W charger but it’ll only run on iGPU
  • The original USB-C Charger has a matching serial number on the cable
  • Luckily the USB-C MacBooks aren’t picky for OEM chargers
  • however just be sure the cord is rated for 100W
  • Yes you can get a MagSafe mod piece for your USB-C macbook
• $25 to $40 for MagSafe 2 generic & “used”, $80 OEM retail
• $25 to $55 for 87W USB-C, $80 OEM retail
• $35 to $65 for 96W USB-C, $80 OEM retail
  • I think Apple charges $20 for the USB-C Cable separately…
  • You’ll need OEM cable for data speeds, but charging speeds should be the same…

Battery replacement

I’ve yet to replace a battery on one of these models, unlike the previous Unibody MBPs & PowerBooks, the battery is sealed with adhesive to the topcase. Looking at the iFixit guide, it says its difficult to replace, because you’ll need a heat pack, a card to remove the battery & patience.

• $50 to $120 for the battery + cost of tools (cards, heat shit)
• $200 at the Apple store, 2 hours, end of day, or weeks if not avaialable
  • new topcase & keyboard bc its a mobo swap
  • idk if Apple can deny service if the machine is opened, service afterwards

The Logic Board

If you’re thinking of buying a MacBook & upgrading, you’re at the wrong place. Unibody MBPs have much more upgradability, these? You’re fucked on the CPU/GPU/RAM & maybe SSD it comes with. On top of that, the whitelist & proprietary WiFi card formats may stop you from getting something better. It might be possible to upgrade all that, but its not economically feasible… The following is mostly an abstract from the Retina 2012 – 2016 & TouchBar 2017 – 2020 differences pages on EveryMac. Also, I will not price out logicboards due to multiple configurations they can have, its too much work imo, they usually seem to be 70%+ of the high price that I have here listed.

What you cannot replace or upgrade without a full Logic board (mobo) swap.

• CPU / Processor
  • Since the G4 PowerBook, Apple laptops have soldered CPUs onto the logic board
  • Its theoretically possible to upgrade the CPU, but is not feasible on a budget
  • Since 2015, Intel 5th Gen & later processors are soldered on ALL laptops, not just Macs
  • Because of the thin & cooling “features”, top CPUs throttle & can give base model performance
  • 2018 6 Core & later 8 Core CPUs were notorious for crappy performance after a minute of use

BUY A LAPTOP COOLER!!! These macs (like many others) are made for looks first, price tag second & cooling performance last. In some instances on passmark & anecdotal cases, the more powerful CPU performs under it’s inferiors. I’ll delve deeper into CPU performance later, just know that the big performance jump happens on the 8th Gen CPUs in the 2018 systems. Late 2013 to Mid 2015 all have the same gen processor and about the same speeds…

• RAM / Memory
  • All these MBPs have soldered RAM, no RAM modules to upgrade with 🙁
  • Most sellers list how much RAM they got, unless its a quick sale or an untested machine
  • Late 2012 to Late 2013 IG models have 8GB standard, or 16GB DDR3 optional
  • Late 2013 DG to 2017 models come with 16GB standard, but have no upgrades
  • TouchBar Late 2016 have 16GB LPDDR3, meaning better battery life than previous
  • 2018 & 2019 15″ MBPs have 16GB DDR4 or can come with 32GB optional
  • the 16″ 2019 & 2020* models still have 16GB standard, 32GB or a massive 64GB optional

Memory is the least of your concerns when it comes to performance, CPU and GPU would hinder your programs more than anything. Most systems here have 16GB RAM, so plenty of chrome tabs, audio tracks on music editing & coding will be working perfectly. Nab the 16″ systems if you want 32GB or 64GB if you can afford it. I’d skip the 8GB RAM early models if possible, but if it’s a good deal, in excellent shape or if you just want to try the apple ecosystem on a budget, get one.

• GPU / Graphics
  • MacBooks from 2012 to 2015 have one set of graphics cards (unless its the iGPU models)
  • From 2016 & onward, there has been about 3 different dGPU configs available
  • MBPs have a plethora of dGPU issues, which require BGA reflow as a bandaid, no true solution…
  • MBPs lose out against workstations & gaming laptops bc they can upgrade to newer MXM GPUs
  • Since 2018, some laptop makers are going the MBP route & just soldering their GPUs on mobos…
  • Its a blessing bc you won’t have to deal w/ these MBPs being picky with RAM, you got what you got

Get an iMac 27″ if you want a 4K rendering machine. It will be cheaper, & it will have much more power. If it needs to be a laptop, then a gaming or workstation laptop should be cheaper than any of these MBPs. With all that said, the walled Apple garden has benefits windows/linux/hackintosh systems just cannot adhere to. Personally, if I were to trash my ThinkPad T460p & W550s, I would probably try to nab at least a Mid 2017 model or later, I would skip any unit that has a videocard limited to 2GB dRAM. nVidia models suffer from the bad BGA solder, which will go out eventually, & the later units have an IC chip issue which will mimic faulty GPU issues. Arguably the IG Iris Pro 5200 models are the safest to buy, and I wouldn’t worry about GPU issues on 2018 or later systems.

• SSD / Storage
  • Retina MBPs have removable SSD blades; TouchBar MBPs has SSDs embedded in the logic board
  • 15″ models have 256GB SSD as default, 16″ models have 512GB as default
  • Late 2012 to Early 2013 have SATA type SSD – Gen 2A format
  • Late 2013 to Mid 2014 have PCIe 2.0 – Gen 3A or 3B format (compatible w/ Gen 4A & 5)
  • Mid 2015 have PCIe 3.0 x2 – Gen 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B
  • All these models have only one drive spot
  • Beetstech Apple SSD Guide

The advantage of a 15″ MBP is that you can upgrade your storage if needed. However there is only one drive slot on all of these MBPs, & no disc drive. Other than slower read/write speeds, the Unibody is better if you want a 2nd drive onto your laptop. It’s dumb that these do not have a second SSD slot, especially when it’s competitors often have two or even up to four. Most people selling rMBPs will state if the drive has been removed or wiped. I am a bit intimidated as to what SSDs to get for a macbook, some of these drives are expensive due to supply & bc it’s an Apple exclusive part. I saw something about converting the SSD to m.2 NVMe drives with an adapter, but for now I can’t dive into that. It’s whack that the tbMBPs have soldiered storage, but it is a blessing in disguise. eWaste sellers & recyclers often wipe the drive of the MBP and/or they’ll do a clean install because they have to. Their client might ask them to destroy the storage, but that means ruining the MBP, they will only do that as a last resort, unless they’re scumbag eWaste places and send everything to china (oh fuck off when they supposedly “keep it in america” it’s sent to a facility in America, which from there the next asshole cuts what they can from the load and sends it overseas. They keep it american only bc they pay more).

Screen & Display

Space here for the deep dive post I will make one day… skip to bullet points, useless tangent incoming

Notebookcheck has a list of “best displays” and the Retina/TouchBar MacBook Pros are regarded the best, used by photo & video professionals. They use an IPS, which is superior to a TN TFT screen of previous MacBook Pros. When I write IPS, some panels are actually AFFS, AHVA, S-IPS or H-IPS, however when it comes down to it, they’re generally called IPS displays or whatever marketing term is to contrast them from TFT screens. Yes in the past, in some cases there are TFT screens that look way better than their IPS competitors and had a higher color accuracy or refresh rate, but for the most part, companies would rather make it an IPS, OLED, or miniLED panel instead of a TFT one because of the color shifting it has.

The Retina & TouchBar MBPs differ from most of the UniBody ones is that they have a anti-reflective coating on the glass of the laptop. Some people will say this is better, but honestly they did this because they cannot fucking just remove the glass otherwise their “Apple never did anything wrong, & are always the greatest bc they only live in their walled garen, and then say Apple invented it first, despite it being made by other manufacturers for years, like ((((introducing)))) customizable icons bc they cant jailbreak iPhones bc the ghost of Steve Jobs will yell at them like he did with Apple engineers” fans will bitch and gnaw on their fingernails if there isn’t a black glass border around the screen. Even on the unibody macbooks, you could op to get it without the glass overlay as like a minor upgrade, those are becoming “rare” whenever a seller wants to mark it up. They are even whining about the new 24″ iMac having white boarders, but uh yea they could of just put a matte panel without glass & it wouldn’t have reflections.This is the fifth time I tried writing this paragraph trying to shorten it down but I come up with tangents, it’s going stay.

Another thing that gets fucked is the whole color gamut and what is better. You’ll see triangles and all this shit, but it doesn’t always add up. every website shows NTSC as a different value bc they don’t say which one, just draw a random triangle. Even then its more like a 3D color space bc of the different contrasts changes things, its best to see it with an interactive model than a 2D image. I say this bc some laptops on NoteBook check have 99.9% sRGB but 65.7% adobe RGB while another one has 97% sRGB & 84% Adobe RGB…. 100% DCI-P3 is touted as the digital image standard, but then there’s fucking REC 2100 for UHD/QHD displays… all these different committees, countries, or companies doing their own standards and shit. GENERALLY sRGB < Adobe RGB < DCI-P3, the Adobe RGB goes farther with Greens/Cyans, but DCI-PE has a little bit of edge on blue and reds. I’ve spent 2 hours trying to write this thanks to research.

sRGB < NTSC < Adobe RGB < DCI-P3 < REC 2100 < (Adobe) Wide Gamut RGB < ProPhoto RGB

• BenQ Source
• MSI Source
• Line website thingy
• Wiki ProPhoto RGB

Next we gotta go into contrast & brightness details… if you thought color gamut was bad, here’s this lol. Basically the higher the contrast ratio, the better the screen will look. Blacks will have a darker color, void of any light, so it fucking POPS when you see that shit. The screens that have extremely high contrast ratios are the OLED (PMOLED & AMOLED) screens compared to their TFT & IPS counterparts. Sony had the first OLED screen on the market in 2007, right now LG seems to be a current “innovator” of OLED, and Samsung is literally doing marketing mumbo jumbo with QLED and whatever the fuck to make it sound fancy when it’s not really. One of the first laptops with an OLED screen is the Thinkpad X1 Yoga. So you’re thinking “but my TFT/IPS laptop has an LED”, yes it does, it’s backlight is LED, which is usually placed at the bottom of the screen or both top & bottom. OLED panels skip the need of a traditional backlight, because… it has LEDs for color & light? Micro LED is basically the same thing but with smaller LEDs & it doesn’t use an organic LED. The OLEDs can suffer from screen burn bc of blue hues will degrade over time, giving a warmer color. Right now we don’t know what problems MicroLED can have since it’s barely hitting the market. Why did I bring this all up? No MacBook Pro at this time (before the M1X MBP gets released), has a OLED or MicroLED screen, with that said its IPS panels are still really fucking nice bc they are made by Samung, & LG.

Oh Yeah, Super Retina & Super Retina XDR? It’s a marketing term for OLED & micro LED technology.

STN < DSTN < TFT < FlexView / IPS ≤ AFFS ≤ AHVA ≤ H-IPS? < OLED ≤ Micro LED

• 15″ – 2880 x 1800 (WQXGA+) IPS Screen
• 2 makers for the panels – Panelook
• Samsung – Supposedly better bc it’s brighter & has a bluer tone
• LG – Warmer & not as bright
  • A1398 – Retina MBP 15″ Late 2012 to Mid 2015
  • 1000:1 Contrast Ratio (NBC – Late 2013 Model)
  • 96% sRGB / 60.6% AdobeRGB?
  • 300 Nits brightness
  • Most Reliable out of all here
    • Dented $130 – $250 Grade C
    • Good $350 – $650 Excellent
      • 2012 thru Early 2013 look to have the same screen
      • Late 2013 & 2014 look to be together
      • 2015 has different connectors & can’t be used on previous models
  • A1707 – TouchBar MBP 15″ Mid 2016 to 2017
  • 500 Nits brightness
  • DCI-P3 Color Gamut
  • Flexgate on 2016, supposedly fixed in later 2017 models…
    • Scratch $280 – $400 water damage
    • Good $600 – $800 “New”
    • Most aren’t advertising if there is 2016/2017 compatibility
    • Don’t forget, gray or space gray lids. Or build a frankie mismatch, like old ibooks
  • A1990 – TouchBar MBP 15″ Mid 2018 to 2019
  • idk if the flexgate cable is a thing on these still… dat warranty returnnnnnn
  • IDK if you can swap older display… Truetone sensor may complicate things
    • Decent $400 – $550 (actually really good)
    • Good – $600 – $800 (mint condition examples)
• 16″ – 3072 x 1920
• Same shit like A1990… just bigger screen
  • A2141 – TouchBar MBP 16″ 2019 / 2020
    • Good – $700 – 1000

Value being held & Benchmarks

First off, this is all for fun, and isn’t 100% accurate because that would be extremely tedious. I just averaged the base price of the macbooks, which range from $1999 up to $3699, and it doesn’t include upgrades, which can be $400 to $3000… if I specified the search like (2017 MBP 16GB 1TB 2.5GHz) or whatever, then I would know that actual MSRP and then be able to get a much more accurate price. But I’m lazy, and doing one more thing would mean I would have much less time to do price research for other laptops. And say if I did that, there are listings that wouldn’t be in this data bc that specified search result would ignore any MBP without those specific words in the listing & then you got mislisted laptops with those specs… With that said, lets have fun with the data

• 50% discount happens around the 3-4 year mark.
• 75% discount happens around the 6-8 year mark.
• 20% discount happened when a different sized MBP came out 6 months later
• 5% of the value generally drops each year after

The 15″ MBP vs the 16″ MBP both have similar specs & had about the same price range. Although the 16″ MBP came out about 6 months later than the 15″, the latter lost about 20% of its value, but it might have to do with the GPU being a newer architecture & perhaps the extra SSD/RAM upgrade options the 15″ doesn’t have. I don’t think the 16″ MBP 2019 will lose that much value when the M1X comes out bc it’ll have the “last intel MBP” bs tax, like the 17″ currently has. The next big price difference is the 2017 & 2018 units, I think it’s due to the latter having the much better performing Kaby Lake R CPUs & informed buyers are likely going for that model. From the 2017 model, we see about a 5% value drop on each preceding year

Price Guide

Each search has a link to sold listings. Feel free using them for your searches, just untick sold/completed & use this guide to grab a deal.
Consider to budget another $100 for extra stuff after purchases, like a charger, case skin, keyboard cover, mouse... 

#Sold - Units sold past 3 months, the higher, better chance at the price point
Low   - Grade D to B, mostly eWaste
Mid   - Grade C to A, eWaste & original/2nd owner, maybe upgraded
High  - Grade C to A+, top eWaste, original owner & refurbs
EX+   - Grade A to S+, top refurbs, ((big name brands)), & better be upgraded
MSRP  - Original price brand new

Most Buy it now/best offer machines on the market are in the high price category, people who get low/mid prices are usually from auctions so watch them, best offers & a rush listing buy it now special. You can get the latter if you implement your price ceilings, put on phone notifications & check about 2 to 4 times a day. Remember to don't pull the trigger too soon & overpay, its OK to lose out on a deal, another one will come by. Expect a 4 day to 3 weeks market hunt period before you bid/buy.

Why do I have an “Early 2013” row & an “averages” row as well? Wouldn’t it just be the same?
The first row is a general search with some optimizations while the averages row is a search which combines the specialized searches of the specialized searches for the particular specs on the models. But sometimes the general search has listings that are not shown on the specialized ones, bc the specialized searches omit loose results, such as listings not specifying CPU base clock and turbo instead or maybe the person selling it just omits certain keywords that don’t get shown the search results I get. I just want to get a general idea of what these would sell for, before the optimized search result, because I could miss results from having a flawed search. Also I like to have it bc sometimes I would see listings from the general search that don’t come up with the specialized one, so I would fix search terms to bring them in, or omit them.

MacBook Pro 10,1
Late 2012 Retina & Early 2013
A1398

• Both Systems have the same nVidia GT 650m GPU w/ 1GB dRAM
• Both come with Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics
• Both can come with 768GB SSD as an option & there was 1TB aftermarket solutions

At their cheapest, you can get these machines from 80% to almost 90% off their MSRP bc they are almost 10 years old. These laptops are at the bottom, with only 1GB of dRAM on the graphics & having the oldest generation of processors. The Sold numbers are low because I had to do extremely specific search results due to it getting mixed up with unibody macbooks.

MacBook Pro 11,2 / 11,3 / 11,4 / 11,5
Late 2013, Mid 2014 & Mid 2015
A1398

• All systems have Intel 4th Gen CPUs
• These models have either Integrated graphics at a lower cost, or discrete as $300+ option new
• dGPU systems don’t really offer a premium in price, in relative to it’s depreciated value
• 2015 Models are probably the “best” bc of the force touch-pad, but does it matter for moung gang
• You could upgrade the SSDs on these if needed.

These all relatively have the same performance, maybe get a DG model if you’re going to do heavy video editing. The 2.2GHz i7 on the Late 2013 is the worst computing in these 3 machines, but strangely passmark says the 2.6GHz i7 has higher scores than the “better” 2.8GHz i7… anyways the Late 2013 model is probably the best for a budget photoshop, coding & music making machine if you require the 15″. The performance of the M390X is much better than the GT 750m, don’t pass it up bc it doesn’t have CUDA cores. The 2.8Ghz model is a bit high across the board, & you probably won’t see much of a difference if you went with a 2.5GHz models… consider the next machines if you want speed.

TouchBar MacBook Pro 13,3 / 14,3
Late 2016, Mid 2017
A1707

• 6th & 7th Gen CPUs are here, offering better integrated graphics & battery life
• High clock speeds & higher turbos, luckily some of these have 8MB L2 cache if it’s not a base model
• Space gray is a new color added with silver, & Apple distinguishes the two w/ a different model number
• These are the budget video editing machines, just try not to get a base model bc the i7-*700hq are kinda slow
• The SSDs are soldered, grabbing a 2TB model should be perfect if you render videos
• 2017’s 3.1 i7-7920hq has very good benchmarks, 8100 vs 7400 the 2.9GHz i7-6920hq offers
• The low prices start the same, so possibly you can get a 2017 for the price of a 2016! Good luck!
• Both upgraded 460/560 GPUs are great w/ 4GB dRAM, they have equal-ish performance to their mid-tier successors
• Dat 100% DCI-P3 gamut display at 500 nits!

Ok so I currently own a Lenovo ThinkPad T460p that has equal-ish specs to the base 2016 model. The performance of that base CPU isn’t as great as I thought it would be (previously I’ve owned a 2012 Mac Pro w/ 4 core Xeon), however if I were to sell it for what I paid, around $530, I would try to nab a 2017 model for around 800. For $1000 you can get one of these in OK condition, or step up to a HP Zbook G4 or Dell Precision 7xxx in much better condition/spec. With that said if you require the Apple software (i love final cut pro x), then well these would be great for an entry level 4K rendering machine. If you just want 1080p rendering, then these should be good, expect the render time to take from 3x to 7x of the time your video will be (10 min vid, can take 30 min to 1.2 hours to render). The loser of these is the base 2016 2.6GHz i7-6700hq model, because for about $100 more you could upgrade to the 2.7GHz i7, or nab the base 2017 2.8GHz unit with a much better GPU boost. For graphics performance, there’s a chance you can get the 2016 Radeon Pro 460 w/ 4GB at a decent price, as the 560 performance boost is negligible.

TouchBar MacBook Pro 15,1 & 15,3
2018 & 2019 15″
A1990

• 21/26 of the 2018 2TB listings came with 32GB RAM as well, the other TB listings didn’t have this sort of majority
• Not sure if the Vega 16 GPU is elusive or skipped, but no one lists that option vs the Vega 20 having 15 & 24 hits
• All 2018 models have six core CPUs, the i7 has 9MB cache, while the i9 have 12MB
• The 2019 models has just one i7 six core w/ 12MB cache, but the i9 CPUs are eight core & w/ 16MB cache!
• Passmark benchmarks show the 2018 being quite a bit stronger than the 2017 and priors
• 2019 passmark has better performance as well….
• these are known to throttle & downclock, which hampers performance, a laptop cooler is unfortunately a must
• AppleCare might have 1 year left on 2019 units (don’t read this in 2022), who cares if it’s on 2018 machines

Let’s get this shit started. I have a feeling these machines will get a price drop about 3 months after the new M1X comes out, I have a hunch these will be what people will upgrade to, if they haven’t went to the 16″ model yet. We know 2-4 years is the normal cycle time when it comes to businesses upgrading, so it makes sense. As I stated, these have about a 28% price drop vs the 16″s 8% when sold used, I think it’ll come closer to 35%. Not too many units with 4TB’s, as it was a $3000 upgrade option, on top of a $2400 to $3350 MBP, at the time of writing, one 2019 unit for $3700, but quite a few i9 2018’s sold for under $2500, plenty of storage for 4K or 8K video editing & RAW photo collections. The 2018 models you can get for under $1800, but expect 2019’s at the mid $2000’s, strangely the 2.3 i9 sells about the same as the 2.4 i9, I guess that $250 upgrade difference doesn’t discern buyers. The .1GHz difference isn’t much, passmark says 14061 vs 15081 in benchmarks, and single core turbo boost is 2578 vs 2678…..

((((16″))))
MacBook Pro 16,1 & 16,4
Late 2019 16″ & 2020
A2141

• GDDR6 dRAM vs HBM2 – the former can be faster, but wastes up to 4x energy
• these have the same CPUs as the 15″ model, which is kind of whack considering there were higher CPU options at the time.
• The 16″ has better cooling capabilities, but it’s fucking minute as hell, so get a laptop cooler lol
• the 2.6 i7 & 2.3 i9 seem to be sold lower than MSRP vs 2.4 i9, probably bc they didn’t get pricey options
• Not much listings on the 2020 / 5600M units, prob bc people don’t want to sell it.
  • I did check a few listing descriptions on 2019 sales & none put the 5600M option or 16,4 identifier…
• quite a bit of people upgraded to 64GB, which resold on eBay. Buyers remorse???
• 8TB is the most expensive option you can get… seriously skip it & buy USB-C SSD if you need the storage
• AppleCare on these may last 1 year or 2 depending on purchase date
• 5300M – 5603 | 5500M – 6745 | 5600M – 9912 passmark scores
• G2D GPU score is close on these GPUs, so in certain apps the 5600M maybe a worth upgrade

Last of the last, for now. M1x gonna fuck this up? doubtful. You’re going to pay near retail for these laptops, so either wait for a good deal or maybe buy it from Apple itself? Also don’t buy these on PayPal credit if you think you can pay it off within a year… that 29.99% APR fucked me up, if anything buy new (at this price point) & go with the apple pay plan. Then again, M1X is coming out soon, soooooooo maybe these will be cheaper? idk hard to justify it bc that chip may revolutionize their proprietary programs… or they program “updates” to do so.