I’ve never had to wait more than a day to sell my old Mac, as they’re always in demand, but over time I’ve realized that the remaining use of that Mac is almost always worth more than the money I’d get reselling it.

So if you’re looking to sell your Mac when you next upgrade, and you don’t need the money, there are several ways you can get much more value from your old computer. So hang on just a little before that machine changes hands, and let me change your mind.

7
It Makes a Perfect Media Server

For a long time, I used a broken M1 MacBook Pro as a Plex server, because it would be too expensive to fix the laptop, but it still worked perfectly as a desktop system. The M1 CPU is still one of the fastest chips for day-to-day computing, and it has plenty of GPU grunt to help with transcoding.

The only reason I stopped using it is that we needed it for something else when a new project came up, so I switched to a mini-PC as a dedicated Plex server. That has worked pretty well, but I do have way more issues with Windows updates taking the server down, which never happened with the MacBook, and trying to get Plex on Linux to see my external drives is a nightmare.

Though in the meantime, my colleague Dave McKay wrote up a guide even I can follow, so I might do the Linux thing eventually after all.

6
Turn It Into a Dedicated Writing or Focus Machine

Maybe I’m a little biased because I write for a living, but if you’re someone who has to do focused work on a computer, having an old MacBook lying around that you only use for the purpose of working on those projects can be a pretty decent productivity booster. We live in a time when it’s normal for one person to have multiple computers, and I like having different machines for different purposes.

It might also be useful to designate your old Mac or MacBook as a homework machine, and take strict control of what’s loaded on it. It’s a good way to introduce younger people into eventually having their own dedicated personal computer as well.

Incidentally, Apple Pages is a great word processor for distraction-free writing, Microsoft Word has a focus mode, and, of course, Google Docs is a great focused writing tool just by virtue of how streamlined it is.

5
Use It for Testing Betas or Experimental Software

One of the main reasons I work on a Mac rather than a Windows computer is that I have found Windows to be too unreliable over the years. Updates break my computer overnight, drivers go haywire, and any number of things will go wrong and hurt my productivity even if I didn’t do anything wrong.

In the six years I’ve been daily-driving macOS I haven’t had a single day of downtime. However, since I can’t actually afford any downtime on my Mac I tend to stay away from beta versions of software, systems updates, and any software that pose any risk of leading to an afternoon spent installing macOS from scratch.

So having an extra Mac around is a great way to try any beta software, or operating system updates, assuming that the older Mac is still eligible for that major OS update.

4
Use It as a Spare Family or Guest Computer

Having a communal computer is an overlooked luxury these days. When I was growing up, families could really only afford one computer, if at all. Which meant having to share them. Ironically, these days everyone might have their own smartphone or tablet, but not their own full-blown computer.

It’s one of the reasons Zoomers and Gen Alpha kids are struggling in the workplace, because they have no experience using common desktop apps like MS Word.

So it’s always a good idea to have some sort of computer access for people in your home who don’t own their own computer, and it’s also a good idea to have a computer that guests can use, which should also be running on your guest network.

3
An Offline Machine for Legacy Apps and Games

The last version of macOS that could still run 32-bit software was Mojave, which meant a whole lot of apps and games stopped working on Macs after updating to macOS Catalina.

If you have an old Mac that can still run Mojave, you can use it to play these games or use these apps. Just keep it disconnected from the internet, since it won’t receive future security updates. Then hook it up to some quality peripherals, and you’re good to go.

2
Use it as an Emergency Backup Mac

If your Mac is your main system, then it’s handy to have a Mac around you can use as a backup in case something happens. Theft, loss, hardware failure, or anything could render your main Mac unusable. You might even have the option to restore your cloud backup to the older machine and be back in business in no time.

1
Turn It Into a Portable Studio for Audio/Video Projects

Depending on the exact model of Mac you’re getting rid of, it might be the ideal machine for any audio or video projects you might have. The first thing that comes to mind is the humble podcast. Virtually any modern Mac will handle podcasting duties with ease. Likewise, if you want to live-stream video, you can use the Mac as a streaming computer, combined with a Mac-compatible capture card.

Plenty of Macs are also excellent for music production and video editing, though that won’t be true of every old model. Still if you think you might want to dabble in the world of AV, and plenty of people do these days, that’s a great place to start and it beats having to drag your new computer around all the time for sessions.

While it might feel redundant to keep your old Mac when you get a new one, and it feels good to have some cash in hand, the truth is that you’re probably getting rid of good hardware that’s still potentially useful to you and will have years of software updates to boot. So weigh up a few hundred bucks versus everything that an old Mac can do, and make your choice.