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richsw

macrumors member
Sep 28, 2007
58
33
Oklahoma City
I don't understand the whining about OLD computers not being supported any longer. Is it because of an emotional connection or you just can't afford a new one. I know, I know, it must be a money grad by Tim Cook himself yeah, that's it.
 

delegagtor

macrumors regular
Oct 5, 2015
103
204
Frankly it's not practical to have Apple repair most units that are out of AppleCare anyway -- you're better off getting used parts somewhere and swapping them in where possible. And if you can't do that, get a new (or refurbished) system. Otherwise it's cost-prohibitive.
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,141
19,677
Well that escalated quickly from 2008 to 2010. Guess I'll be needing to sell my mid-2012 soon, lol!

Does anyone else feel like laptops just haven't gone anywhere in the past several years? For instance, look at the Geekbench 64-bit multicore scores for the MBP:

Current 2015 high-level config: 14937
My 2012 rMBP mid-level config: 12358

That's only a 21% speed increase in three years! And that's going from the mid-level to the high-end model. Going from high-end to high-end is only a 14% increase. Sure the graphics are probably a bit more powerful, but you won't really notice unless you game a lot on your Mac. And if that's the case, then you're about as rare as a unicorn. Other than that, the SSD might be a little faster but I honestly don't care if Photoshop opens in 3 seconds vs 4 seconds or if my machine boots up in 12 seconds vs 17 seconds.

I just have no reason to upgrade my machine except that I'm considering getting an iMac instead. I love my iMac at work and the newer 5K models look amazing. But even then the numbers aren't super impressive. Consider the fastest configuration, the 4GHz i7 scores a 16639. That's only 35% faster than my old 2012 machine. I mean, that's still nothing to sneeze at, but it's also a desktop machine that is three years newer (but with an amazing display). Moore's Law only seems to apply to mobile lately. Hopefully we are able to move forward soon with graphene-based chips to bridge the gap until quantum computing.
 

WiseAJ

macrumors 65816
Sep 8, 2009
1,206
3,919
PDX
Yay my computer is now vintage/obsolete! Now if they would just hurry up and release the skylake 15" MBPs so I can upgrade it.
 

techsmith

macrumors member
Aug 3, 2011
50
8
If I were to hazard I guess, it might be related to the discrete graphics found in 15" models.
 

ouimetnick

macrumors 68040
Aug 28, 2008
3,552
6,341
Beverly, Massachusetts
Keep in mind that just because it's now listed as vintage, it still may see future versions of OS X. The 2007 iMac and MBP still are supported software wise. They can run El Capitan.
 

ghostface147

macrumors 601
May 28, 2008
4,166
5,136
I'm one more year away from being obsolete it seems. 17" early 2011 MacBook Pro. Never once had an issue and adding an SSD was the best upgrade ever for it.
 
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bommai

macrumors 6502a
May 23, 2003
744
419
Melbourne, FL
Probably in May. Vintage simply means discontinued five years ago - the Mid-2010 iMac 27" was sold until May 2011. Doesn't mean it stops working. OS X El Capitan is supported on iMacs all the way back into 2007.
Yep I still have a mid 2007 imac 24" 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme. Just upgraded the internal HDD to a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD and already had 6GB of RAM. It is super fast!!

Also upgraded my father in law's mid-2010 Mac Book Pro 13" to 250GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. These should last a while.
 

ls1dreams

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2009
629
236
Honestly, the jump from 2010 -> 2011 was a big one. I intentionally waited to on getting a macbook until then because the architecture was such a change (core2duo to sandybridge).

By 2010 Apple was WAYYYY behind. They hadn't updated their cpu in those macbooks in a long time.

With that said, a core2duo with an SSD wouldn't be _that_ bad as an office/web browsing type machine.

I plan to use my 2011 for another couple of years. (I've replaced the battery and upgraded to an SSD).

The main things I'm looking forward to/holding out for:
- a retina screen
- lighter weight
- USB 3.0
- 802.11ac
- the new optane ram and SSD's (5-7x faster, hopefully by then 512gb ssd's will be more affordable)
- HEVC hardware decoding in the igpu

Basically, I think Kaby Lake macbooks will be the perfect time to upgrade from a 2011.
 
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Eithanius

macrumors 68000
Nov 19, 2005
1,541
412
I look forward to people pointing out how powerful their 2010 Macbook is they've owned for 5 years and there is no technical reason it couldn't run the latest OS X version and Tim Cook is too greedy and and and and...

I'd like to point out how powerful my 2010 Macbook Pro is which I've owned for almost 6 years. There is no technical reason it couldn't run the latest OS x. Tim Cook is too greedy and and and and... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 

Dimwhit

macrumors 68020
Apr 10, 2007
2,068
297
Well, my early 2011 17" MacBook Pro will probably be on the list next time around. Still love this computer. 16GB RAM and a speedy 512MB SSD upgrade has done wonders for keeping it fast and able to handle the current OS.
 

LastLine

macrumors 65816
Aug 24, 2005
1,313
21
Probably in May. Vintage simply means discontinued five years ago - the Mid-2010 iMac 27" was sold until May 2011. Doesn't mean it stops working. OS X El Capitan is supported on iMacs all the way back into 2007.
This is what people don't remember. It's simply a case of parts at a certain stage.
 
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Command

macrumors regular
Jan 23, 2015
183
79
USA
I remember when my Late 2008 MacBookPro went vintage ( I don't think it's actually obsolete, yet) ... still happily chugging along, though.
 
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57004

Cancelled
Aug 18, 2005
1,022
341
I look forward to people pointing out how powerful their 2010 Macbook is they've owned for 5 years and there is no technical reason it couldn't run the latest OS X version and Tim Cook is too greedy and and and and...

Yeah because they're right to do so if there's no technical reason.

Personally I'm switching away from the Mac anyway due to the 'dumbing down' of OS X and vendor-lockin. I still have my MBP 2010 to try out new OS X versions. I'll probably put Linux on it soon. But it is a totally capable piece of hardware, there's no reason it shouldn't still work with current OS X versions.
 
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psylence2k

macrumors 6502
Nov 16, 2012
423
159
It doesn't really matter. Apple overcharges for batteries anyway. For my 13-inch 2010, I got a third party one for half the price on Amazon last year and it has worked great.

you can replace the battery yourself

http://www.amazon.com/Lizone®-020-6...449036&sr=8-2&keywords=macbook+pro+15+battery

..also, if you'd rather have a service technician preform the swap, just take it to a computer repair place.. they'll still work on the thing.. it's just apple that won't.

There are plenty of 3rd party batteries on Ebay. You might even be able to get a genuine one from Apple. What's stopping you from buying one now?

Stockpiling batteries is usually not recommended as they will detoriate with age, but if you think you will need new battery within a year or so, sure a new battery now may be ok. I think however that third-parties will still provide batteries if Apple ceases to manufacture them.

I also imagine that Apple will provide service as long as you pay and their repair partners still have parts, however when parts run out it is the end.

It most likely means that they will stop producing the battery (they never sold it separately because they don't consider it user-replaceable) and also won't service the machine. However, you can find third-party batteries from a trusted source (e.g., OWC) or another third party. They're pretty easy to install yourself even though Apple didn't support it.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I've previously contemplated going the third party route but I was deterred because I heard so many horror stories of multiple things going wrong with them and the life span being REALLY short relative to the ones Apple uses.

What is your guys' opinion on the safety,reliability, and longevity of third party batteries in comparison to the original ones ?

Which third party battery would you recommend as the best from your experience ?

I've heard some other sellers online sell the original apple battery, any sellers you guys recommend ?

When the I check the battery status on the computer it still says it's okay. I just thought something was wrong because a few months ago the trackpad stopped clicking in certain areas it use to (mostly around the center area at the bottom). I heard this was commonly due to the battery bloating at the end of its' life span but I opened it up and the battery looked/felt fine but I wasn't able to take it out and examine it completely because the tri-wing screwdriver I had for some reason wouldn't turn the screw even though it looked about the right size.

Anyways, what's the deal with the third party batteries (reliability, safety, longevity) and any recommendations on the best manufacturer/model for them ? Hopefully the price of the third party batteries dont rise because of this. I was willing to spend the money (it's somewhere between 90 to 120 right?) for apple to give me one but it looks like that may not be possible anymore.

Thanks again for the feedback.
 
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weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,835
3,514
I’m pretty sure 2011 was when they switched for leaded solder to lead-free. So 2010 was the last year they used leaded solder. I guess they consider leaded solder to be obsolete, even though it won’t melt and short-circuit the logic board.

nVidiagate must have passed you by, then, because problems with lead-free solder and BGA happened several years before 2011. The directive in Europe ordering lead-free solder in commerical electronics came into force in mid-2006 and lead-free solder had already been used in computers for many years before that. Even iBook G3s suffered from lead-free solder connections cracking under repeated heating and cooling cycles.
 

bgraham

macrumors regular
Jun 23, 2015
184
888
United Kingdom
My MacBook Pro 2009 recently out of the blue stopped working. Since it was fitted with an SSD and 16GB RAM, it really wasn't slow at all. But, went to the Apple Store and they refused to fix it despite by the way, being repairable in California and Turkey so the argument that they can't fix it or don't have the parts is complete bs.

Switched to Windows and never looked back. Computers these days do not need to be replaced after 5 years.
 

andiwm2003

macrumors 601
Mar 29, 2004
4,382
454
Boston, MA
Well, my Mid 2010 has the random shut down issue that points to the GPU failure. I guess i won't replace the logic board now.

But it got made obsolete by Apple month ago when all of a sudden it slowed down dramatically after an OSX update.

I hope there is a nice update with Skylake coming soon........
 

jblagden

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2013
1,162
641
Yeah because they're right to do so if there's no technical reason.

Personally I'm switching away from the Mac anyway due to the 'dumbing down' of OS X and vendor-lockin. I still have my MBP 2010 to try out new OS X versions. I'll probably put Linux on it soon. But it is a totally capable piece of hardware, there's no reason it shouldn't still work with current OS X versions.
It's not just vendor lock-in. It's also planned obsolescence. If you can't replace the RAM, that's planned obsolescence - the computer becomes obsolete as soon as the OS starts requiring more RAM, and then you have to buy a whole new computer instead of upgrading the one you already have.
 

Command

macrumors regular
Jan 23, 2015
183
79
USA
Yeah because they're right to do so if there's no technical reason.

Personally I'm switching away from the Mac anyway due to the 'dumbing down' of OS X and vendor-lockin. I still have my MBP 2010 to try out new OS X versions. I'll probably put Linux on it soon. But it is a totally capable piece of hardware, there's no reason it shouldn't still work with current OS X versions.


This is where you're wrong - there are vast differences in the hardware tech inside these machines to accommodate the footprint and features of the new OS X versions. I have an 08 MacBookPro but also a few newer Macs - I hear people all the time crying of 'planned obsolescence' basically because we're all so spoiled. Who has machines that work for more than 5 years? Mac users. Rarely do other manufacturers' machines run that long. Do they fail? Sure. As does everything from refrigerates to TVs - but still, Apple guarantees support and therefore function of models for 3 years with AppleCare (or at least implied without) while your average vehicle warranty is between only 3 and 5 and also limited to usage. Most people don't have vehicles as old as a Mac that will run El Capitan (2007 iMac will do so) but expect more for some reason. Every electronics company in the industry must advance which eludes to current devices becoming obsolete and out dated at some point. It's only logical unless you prefer it stand still. Hardware repair is the same situation. You can't go to Apple for a logic board for that 07 iMac just like you wouldn't expect to go to the Ford dealer - or direct to Ford Motor-company, and get a replacement transmission for an 83 Mustang… or a 94 - or, even an 07, today.
 
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