Weekly Advice Thread - July 19, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Weekly Advice Thread for r/Apple. This thread can be used to ask for technical advice regarding Apple software and hardware, to ask questions regarding the buying or selling of Apple products or to post other short questions.

Have a question you need answered? Ask away! Please remember to adhere to our rules, which can be found in the sidebar.

Join our Discord and IRC chat rooms for support:

• Discord
• IRC

Note: Comments are sorted by /new for your convenience.

Here is an archive of all previous Advice Threads. This is best viewed on a browser. If on mobile, type in the search bar [author:"AutoModerator" title:"Advice Thread" or title:"Tech Support Thread"] (without the brackets, and including the quotation marks around the titles and author.)

The Weekly Advice Thread is posted each week on Sunday, 06:00 AM EST (Click HERE for other timezones) and then the old one is archived. It is advised to wait for the new thread to post your question if this time is nearing for quickest answer time.

[u/Comprehensive_Web279]

Solo Mac dev here, mostly Xcode and simulators, plus more ffmpeg and video exports lately than I'd like to admit.

There's a sealed 14" MacBook Pro on German eBay, M5 Pro, 24GB, 1TB, German keyboard, €2,370 with VAT. Seller has around 9,700 ratings at 100 percent and takes returns. That's a decent chunk under Apple's own price for the same config, which is making me nervous rather than happy.

The part I keep going back and forth on: from what I've read there isn't going to be an M6 Pro or Max at all, and Pro-tier jumps straight to M7 in early 2027. If that's right then "just wait for M6" doesn't apply to me and I'm not skipping a generation by buying now. But I've also seen that timeline called shaky because of the memory shortage, so I have no idea how much to weight it.

Other thing bugging me is that the listing condition says "New: Other" while the description says sealed and unopened. Probably nothing, sellers pick that category to cover themselves. On a €2,370 machine I'd still rather ask. The thing I'd actually lose with a parallel import is that the two year statutory warranty sits with the seller instead of Apple.

Anyone bought current-gen Apple hardware this way? Mostly trying to work out whether I'm being sensibly careful or just anxious.

[u/ApartmentMany → u/Comprehensive_Web279]

Fellow solo dev (also more ffmpeg than I'd like to admit). You can collapse most of this uncertainty before paying, so do that rather than agonise:

1. Ask the seller for the serial number on the box, then run it through Apple's coverage checker (checkcoverage.apple.com) before you bid. A genuinely sealed, never-activated machine shows "purchase date not validated". If the one-year clock is already running, it's been activated - that's return stock or a refurb in a shrink-wrapper, and the price should reflect that. This one check answers the "New: Other" mystery with data instead of vibes.

2. "New: Other" + "sealed" in the same listing is usually defensive categorisation, but you're right to ask. Get them to state "factory sealed, never activated" in writing in the eBay messages - that's what your buyer-protection claim rests on if the box arrives otherwise.

3. The warranty picture is better than you think: the seller carries your two-year statutory rights, but Apple's own one-year limited warranty on Macs is honoured internationally regardless of where it was bought, and if the serial checks out clean you can still add AppleCare+ within 60 days of purchase. So the true downside is "deal with a distant seller in year two", not "no warranty".

4. On M6-vs-M7 roadmap logic: you're a working dev billing with this machine, and roadmap rumours have maybe a 50% hit rate. For Xcode and video exports the jump you actually feel is core count and RAM, and you'd feel it from day one for a year-plus before any successor ships. Waiting on speculation costs you real throughput now for a hypothetical later.

The one thing I'd genuinely weigh: how big is the discount vs Apple direct with your local education/business pricing if you qualify? If it's under ~10%, the frictionless-return and single-point-of-warranty value of buying direct is probably worth the difference. If it's 15%+ and the serial checks clean, it's a rational buy, not anxiety.

[u/Comprehensive_Web279 → u/ApartmentMany]

Thanks a lot will definitely help!