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Re:Perfectly good M1 MacBooks are being scrapped because of ... by sangnoir on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @06:10PM (#36687921)
> Base M1 Macbook Airs are selling for 800€, I doubt you'd get half of that for the parts in an activation locked Macbook

All true, but the next question is: would a thief not steal a MacBook Air if they are only getting €400[0] rather than €800? IMO, halving the reward won't make a dent on the rate MacBooks are stolen, whole inconveniencing everyone else who cares about aftermarket repairs.

0. Actual thieves are unlikely to sell their wares at anything close to full price, unless it's a an organized ring - so the actual difference might be between getting €200 or getting €100. Either is free money, from thieves perspective

Re:Perfectly good M1 MacBooks are being scrapped because of ... by newaccount74 on Wednesday July 12, 2023 @01:42AM (#36690834)
Thieves might need a fence to sell a locked Macbook for parts, but there's no way a thief would sell an unlocked, working Macbook to someone for 200€. It's trivial to sell working Macbooks on local classified websites. You don't need a fence to sell an unlocked Macbook.

In my experience, if you sell it for a good price (10-20% below average) it's going to be sold within days. So the reward would be 800€ for unlocked Macbook vs maybe 100€ for a locked Macbook if you are lucky selling it for parts to a repair shop that doesn't ask questions.

And that's assuming you have a base model: Models with extra RAM and SSD go for higher prices, but if you sell it for parts those upgrades are worthless.

Re:Perfectly good M1 MacBooks are being scrapped because of ... by sangnoir on Wednesday July 12, 2023 @02:27PM (#36699435)
> So the reward would be 800€ for unlocked Macbook vs maybe 100€ for a locked Macbook

As someone who frequently browses used electronics - you're way off on the locked Macbook prices - you probably won't even get a locked iPad for €100 - let alone a MacBook. A locked M1 Air is going for[1] $319 on eBay.

1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/364344402004

Re:Perfectly good M1 MacBooks are being scrapped because of ... by newaccount74 on Wednesday July 12, 2023 @03:05PM (#36700066)
I wasn't saying that you could buy a locked Macbook for 100€, I was trying to say that the thief might sell it for 100€ to a dealer, because it's harder to sell a locked Macbook for parts than a working Macbook.

But maybe I was wrong, and locked Macbooks are just as easy to sell as unlocked Macbooks.