How much value will my Macbook lose if I sell it without a hard drive?

Hard drives are cheap and easy to replace. I recently upgraded a couple of MacBooks to a half gig. Cost less than au$150 for the two of them.

I don’t know anything about Mac’s or selling laptops online. Your margin on the hard disk won’t be very much (since they are dirt cheap, right?), without one however you are restrecting your possible buyers to those who are tech savy.

If you’re selling without the harddrive, your buyer will not be able to see the MacBook working. Many will be deterred from buying it. Besides, most people buying a MacBook will be people that look for turn-key systems. If I were you, I’d buy a harddrive and make the MacBook work before trying to sell it.

You may even choose to turn this into your advantage:
Sell the MacBook with a choice of hard drive capacity. The drives by apple are extremely overpriced and so are their capacity choices. For just a little money you will be able to buy a drive at newegg. Your buyer may be willing to pay more for extra capacity and pre-installed OSX.

Add it. It might be like trying to sell a bike with flat tires. You run the risk detering prospective buyers who:
a. are forced to go on nothing but your word (that it, otherwise, functions)
b. may consider the task daunting or intimidating
c. are unable to envision the bigger picture

A small investment will earn you far more in the end. Most people do not want to buy a ‘project.’ Those that are willing will typically expect a major discount, and rightly so.

Whitenoise is right. Turn it into your advantage and install a bigger drive. Prospective buyers don’t have to know that the new and improved drive is there by default. Not long ago I found a vintage jacket that, upon bringing it home, I discovered had a broken zipper. It was an old and rare dark teal 1980’s Members Only jacket, so I wasn’t quite ready to scrap it. My initial goal was to sell it on ebay, as I had many others in the past. I turned the flaw into a selling point by paying a seamstress to install a white zipper. There are no Members Only jackets with varying zipper colors. This repair cost me $12 but I was able to advertise the jacket as ‘custom.’ It worked. There were a ton of bids and that small investment, plus some creativity, earned me way more than I would have made in the first place. There was no mention of broken zippers, only phrases like ‘one of a kind.’

Definitely add it. By selling without you will probably lengthen the time it takes to sell or have to sell it for way cheaper than you want because of the inconvience to the buyer. Personally I wouldn’t consider buying a computer without an included HD and I thinik I’m an average user.

Thanks all, I decided to include the drive indeed. I bought a 7200rpm 250gb drive for 77 euros. Think for the 7200rpm it was a good purchase. Might appeal to some. If I end up keeping the machine which is a possibility, I’ll keep it with a speedy drive. Thanks again, great insights amigos!