Wife is doing some more work from home and is complaining about her current laptop which is an HP. I thought about getting her a used Macbook to see if she would like it better but I know they are a little quirky if you aren't familiar with a Mac. Was thinking if I get her an older used one to see if she would even like it before springing for a new one. I'm not a Mac guy but seems they update to the newest operating software and should be efficient if they are factory reset. Do Macs get bogged down and buggy when they are older?
Duke
MegaDork
2/18/21 11:47 a.m.
I'm running a 2011 iMac as my desktop machine. It needs a (free) system update but the newest system it will run is about 4 years old.
That being said it still functions fine as a general purpose browser / Word / Excel machine.
Yea she isn't doing any powerful editing of any kind, just office, word, excel stuff mainly.
Old hardware running new software is usually a recipe for slow performance, Mac or PC.
Really depends on your tolerance for such things.
As long as you get an Intel MacBook, you do have the ability to run Windows if your wife doesn't like MacOS.
That said, I wouldn't really spend money on a MacBook to use as a replacement Windows box. May look at a commercial grade (as opposed to consumer grade) Lenovo for that?
OTOH MacBooks tend to hold their value pretty well, so you're unlikely to lose a lot of money if you buy a used one and she doesn't like it.
My personal preference is for the early/mid 2015 MacBook Pros - in fact I'm typing this on a 13" version of one. They are the last generation before they went to the butterfly keyboard (which IMHO is not a good typing experience and has usability issues). IIRC those were also among the last ones that allow you to upgrade the SSD - on a lot of the later ones, the SSDs, RAM and all that jazz are soldered to the board. Oh, and they still use the Magsafe power adapters.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
I have two 2015 MacBook Pros and a 2010 Mac Pro. They're all still perfectly usable, as is my ten year old Lenovo. Obviously they're not great at playing games, and I probably wouldn't want to edit videos on the MacBook Pros, but they're perfectly usable and perform well enough even for some software development.
Used older Macs tend to be a lot more expensive than their Windows-running counterparts with similar specs. The new Apple Silicon one is $799 in its base configuration and is said to run circles around anything else at its price point, and the older Intel stuff doesn't seem to be dropping in price to reflect that. I'd personally rather spring for the new one right now, rather than overpay for the older hardware.
One other thought - if you are getting a MacBook, get a MacBook Pro. I wasn't that impressed with the more consumer grade versions, even though they tend to be better than a lot of other consumer grade hardware.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Apple is switching to their own processors over the next few years, and right now it's not clear how long they'll support the Intel versions of the OS. Which could be an issue with security updates as they usually only support the current version and the two prior versions of the OS.
Good stuff guys, I've seen a couple Macbook pros on the marketplace for around $300 for a mid 2011 version
I have a mid-2012 15" Macbook Pro (non-retina) that has been an absolute workhorse for nearly 9 years. It's still running fairly up to date software and I've noticed very little performance handicap including doing video editing over the years. I did install a solid-state drive and all the RAM it would swallow. It's been quite easy to service when needed, even to the point of replacing part of the aluminum case when it took some damage on a drop a year or two ago. You can get replacement parts! Even my desktop work machine is an iMac from 2014.
When my wife needed a new laptop, I picked up a 13" version of my laptop and installed Windows via Boot Camp so she can run some windows-only software when needed.
I also have a cheap Win10 Lenovo laptop that I picked up for in-car tuning and it's just a terrible, terrible thing. An old Macbook runs rings around the bottom end of the new Windows market.
Duke
MegaDork
2/18/21 12:13 p.m.
1988RedT2 said:
Old hardware running new software is usually a recipe for slow performance, Mac or PC.
I'm running the MS Office 2017 suite on my 2011 iMac and it's just fine.
BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter) said:
One other thought - if you are getting a MacBook, get a MacBook Pro. I wasn't that impressed with the more consumer grade versions, even though they tend to be better than a lot of other consumer grade hardware.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Apple is switching to their own processors over the next few years, and right now it's not clear how long they'll support the Intel versions of the OS. Which could be an issue with security updates as they usually only support the current version and the two prior versions of the OS.
Here's what support looks like right now: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624
My 2012 MacBook Pro went on the obsolete list with their most recent OSx release last year, but it's still getting security updates.
So is $300 too much to spend on an older unit?
It needs to be a Macbook Pro of a particular vintage (not exactly sure what years). After that, they changed the chassis construction, and it becomes prohibitively difficult to replace the battery.
There are plenty of new laptops that can be had for the price of replacing the battery on a Macbook.
I recently got a new Lenovo ThinkPad, rather than try to stretch another 2 years of service out of my otherwise capable Macbook Pro, purely because the battery life wasn't enough for my work needs.
To that end, it might be worth looking on iFixIt to see what their guides look like and what would be involved in a battery swap on the model in question. I have not had good luck with their batteries, but you cannot fault their instructions.
Keith Tanner said:
BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter) said:
One other thought - if you are getting a MacBook, get a MacBook Pro. I wasn't that impressed with the more consumer grade versions, even though they tend to be better than a lot of other consumer grade hardware.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Apple is switching to their own processors over the next few years, and right now it's not clear how long they'll support the Intel versions of the OS. Which could be an issue with security updates as they usually only support the current version and the two prior versions of the OS.
Here's what support looks like right now: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624
Heh, they list the Apple I and Apple II as obsolete world wide . That's mostly the hardware list though, and lists those products that Apple won't repair anymore (and not provide parts, not that they provide those to third party repairers anyway).
My 2012 MacBook Pro went on the obsolete list with their most recent OSx release last year, but it's still getting security updates.
The OSX support is somewhat different as you probably know - in general the Pro models are supported fairly long from an OS perspective so as long as you're on an OS that's supported (10.14, 10.15 and 11.x) you'll get security updates. Right now I would look at machines that can run 10.15 as those are (I think) also all supported on Big Sur (OS 11.2). If past performance is an indicator of future performance, I would expect the support (and thus the security updates) for 10.14 to stop after the next OS release.
Placemotorsports said:
So is $300 too much to spend on an older unit?
For the ones mentioned above, I think that's about par for the course. Newer Pros tend to be considerably more expensive, especially the last pre-butterfly keyboard version.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Depending on the model, I don't think the replacement is that bad for the "pouch" batteries. Although you have to be a lot more careful replacing those than your average brick battery.
The main issue is getting a decent replacement, because Apple only supplies official batteries to their own repair places and some approved third party repair places. For the rest of us, the parts can be a bit of a crapshoot.
Even official batteries for a 8 year old MacBook Pro can be sketchy, because they're old by this point. I had good luck with the one I sourced from OWC. FYI.
I know Apple publishes how long support is expected to last for the phones, but I guess they don't do the same for the computers.
Duke
MegaDork
2/18/21 1:22 p.m.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Yeah, I usually get NewerTech NuPowers from OWC, and I've had decent luck with those.
The older ones you can upgrade the RAM as well I've read correct?
In reply to Placemotorsports :
I think that stopped with the 2011 models. A good way to find out what's upgradable where is to check the "my upgrades" section on the aforementioned OWC web site: https://eshop.macsales.com/upgrades/
Is a 2011 model one to avoid?
In reply to Placemotorsports :
yes. it's a 10 year old laptop. Components have drastically improved in 10 years, and components wear out. Even if you're just using it for basic function, 10 years old is too old for a laptop. an SSD is lightyears above spinning drives, I wouldn't buy one without it.
Apple has made repairs notoriously difficult, so if repairablilty is something you need, Apple is not for you. HP has plenty of low end models, as well as high end. J ust because that one isn't good doesn't mean all PC's are bad. You can get a better PC for the money than you can a mac, because mac people think they are made with gold and spend stupid money for old stuff.
My 2012 was the last MBP that could get a RAM upgrade. It's one of the reasons I didn't get the Retina version.
I have found repairability and parts availability to be very good on my Macs.
My laptop was considerably more expensive in 2012 than the majority of Windows machines but also had a higher spec and better build quality. And it has proven to be far longer lived than most. Some people hate Apple because it's not just bargain basement crap, but to me it's been quite clear that the money was well spent.