Hi!
Was looking for this kind of info and found this old thread. After having read it, with much interest, I really feel that it should be woken up again, since it is obvious (after reading this thread) that basically every computer "need" can be satisfied with an (often surprisingly) old Mac. I hope more people can add their experiences with Mac models from around 2010-2013 since they are starting to turn old (I guess that some are more reliable than others, and I would like to know
).
I want to add some love for the 2010 13" MacBook, the last of the white plastic laptops. I own four, all upgraded to 8 Gig of RAM. Three of them are used almost daily (I use one and my kids have one each). I also have a MBP15 late-13, but I almost only use it when I have a specific reason to (serious Excel and some gaming), rest of the time it just easier/feels better to pick up the white 13".
So whats good about the 2010 white Macbook?
- It just works. Have bought all of them second hand, one has a glitchy backspace-key, one has a loose rubber backplate, they are all worn, but all works without any issues. I got a sneaky feeling that they will still work in 5+ years. (Will try to remember to check back to this thread then...
).
- It is surprisingly capable! It runs High Sierra (10.13)(cannot update to higher OSX). It can basically function as your only computer if you don't have any specific needs for power, and can be a little patient with heavy webpages. Me and my kids play lots of Minecraft on them. I can even play Heroes of the Storm on it (or could last year at least when I last tried it, only real issue was with the mouse driver that for some reason had problems when moving the cursor in one specific direction)(it should be noted that HotS seems to be exceptionally well programmed because similar games does not work half as well).
- It is so silent! I recently played Minecraft with my brother, who has a MBP13 late-13 (or early-14?), and his fans were all over the place while none of my white MacBooks spinns up doing the same thing. Same when I play HotS - more noise from my MBP15 (late-13).
- Its cheap. It was a budget model when it came (no firewire, no SD...) so it has never been expensive I guess. The last ~five years the second hand price has been around 1000-2500SEK (~$US150-300), but if it does not have 8 Gig of RAM then you
really should buy that as well.
Downsides?
- You really should/need to install 8 gig of RAM, otherwise it will have a hard time in my experience. But the change is easy enough for most people (tiny screwdriver/pocket knife point). I guess it would be nice to install an SSD, but I have not felt the need to spend time/money on it because it works very well with the standard 5200rpm HDD (true, I avoid running many applications at the same time, and I choose to live with the startup times).
- No firewire or SD-slot (but the MBP13 2010 has them, and I guess that model is equal to the white macbook in all other aspects since they have the exact same stats, appart from the aluminium casing which I think hinders the wifi signal more than the plastic (or so I have read) but of course no more than on all other aluminium MacBooks).
- Be patient when it updates to a higher OSX...
- Don't confuse this model with the 2009 model... they are more or less identical, appart from the graphics card, but where the 2010 GeForce 320M seems to be the reason for many of the qualities of this model.
