Ask HN: How are you going to dispose of your butterfly keyboard MBP? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How are you going to dispose of your butterfly keyboard MBP?

4 pointsgnicholas4 comments

Like many HNers, I have an MBP with the dreaded butterfly keyboard. I will soon be upgrading and am trying to figure out what to do with it.

I’m guessing the resale market for these laptops is very buyer-friendly, both because of the infamous keyboard issues on the old MBPs and the amazing performance of the M1 MBPs. I can’t imagine who would buy a used MBP these days, and there must be a glut of them on the market as people upgrade to M1 models.

What are people doing with their old MBPs? Does it even make sense to sell them? Or are people repurposing them as media machines or something? My laptop still works, but it’s just terrible to type on and runs the fan all the time for no apparent reason.

If the issues with it aren't too obvious you can trade it into Apple claiming it's in good condition. That's ethical as far as I'm concerned given the issue is their own fault.

Interesting idea, and that does set a BATNA for any private sales. Looks like it's worth $400 via trade-in, which is a little better than I expected. Good to know!

Have you tried using it with a BT keyboard? Sometimes that is an option and even in clamshell mode with an external monitor.

Depending on where you are located, it might be an idea to list your MBP for sale. I did a quick check on Gumtree.com.au and was surprised at the typical prices being asked. As always it is not always a good idea to just guess. Do some research first.

I do use my MBP with a BT keyboard and external monitor, though that forces an unfortunate tradeoff between clamshell mode (which reduces heat dissipation and makes wifi connectivity noticeably worse) and lid-open operation, which is more taxing on the GPU.

The bigger issue is that if I go work at a coffee shop, park, or conference, this isn't an option. I don't want to have to lug an external keyboard/trackpad with me, and limited table space would prevent me from setting up these peripherals at any rate.

I'm glad to hear you found good pricing in your area! What I've seen on NextDoor does not look promising. Perhaps this is because I live in Silicon Valley, where the shortcomings of these computers are very well-known.

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