u/shoegamethrilla

So this is not the best deal, but it is a little better. Computer is 100% battery life still in Apple care window and in pristine condition

A couple of weeks ago, I needed to replace some tech, so I got a $400 M1 MacBook Pro from a pawn shop. It was the basic specs with the Touch Bar; there were no real issues, but it was just a little slow for my liking.

Then I saw a pawn shop had a 2024 14-inch MacBook Pro for $2,000. I was curious to see the specs, and it turned out to be an M4 with a 500 GB hard drive and 24 GB of RAM. The guy said the "Find My" was stuck on there and they couldn't get it off, but iCloud was signed out and everything, so I could get it for about $1,300.

I thought about it and came back a couple of weeks later, and it was still there. I traded in the MacBook I had paid $400 for, but they only gave me $275, which was a bit of a loss. However, it meant I only had to come out of pocket $1,179. I also bought a warranty for $117, hoping and praying that I could either get the activation lock off or that it wouldn't be flagged as lost or stolen. It was a huge gamble, but I had 30 days to figure it out.

Within an hour of being home, I saw the previous owner's information was still on the computer, so I messaged the iCloud account. Turns out the guy is a real piece of work (I was reading some of the messages between him and his kids, but I am not going to get into that).

I messaged him and told him his information was still on here, and that in order for me to erase everything, I needed the PIN. It took about 30 minutes to get it because apparently he is dying or something, but anywho, I got it. I was able to wipe everything and sign in.

I even got the $117 I paid for the warranty back. So, this MacBook that they were selling for $1,999, I got for roughly $1,200. That is including the trade-in I got ripped off on, but yeah, I am happy.

Pawn shop manager cried a little bit, he whined when I asked for the 117 back “you got a 2000 computer for damn near nothing” … my rebuttal was “I paid $400 for a MacBook M1 and you only gave me $275 , and this is less than a month ago” he refused at first, I told him I was going to make a few phone calls.

I was on the line with corporate and he called me telling me to bring back so I can get the $117 back.

Live alone with a roommate (dog) no need for the dinning space. Would like to have a main area for me and a main area for my dog sooooo I started off with 2 sofas that recline and I think the space is to small for both, I could slide them down where the dinning space is I was going to use for my dog, but that leaves me with the smaller space and him with the larger space.

I plan on mounting a 65-75 inch tv on the wall somewhere ,.. if I get rid of a sofa I will use like a bookshelf as a divider please help. ( and it’s a 2/2 1,150 square feet, other room is home office, I moved up from a 1/1 where my living area was a home office )provided photos the space now with the two sofas and before. Open to everything !!! I like clean / cozy and minimal