13" MBP Enough to Last 4 Years?

[Pax]

That.
Of course, it really depends on what usage is done on the computer, but a 4 to 5 years old Mac is still a great, functional and reliable machine for most non-techie users.

+1

My GF has my 2006 1.86 GHz CoreDuo Macbook.
It's still very capable. My new MBP is not significantly better for day to day use. I imagine my MBP would be a lot better for gaming but neither of us does that.
I fully expect the MB to last another 3-4 years.

Prior to that she was on a 2002 700 MHz iMac. Actually still quite useable, though desperately in need of more RAM.

 

[djasterix]

Wow, thanks for the quick replies. I now know that if I do go with the 13" I will definitely go with the lower end model. I will also look into the 2.4Ghz i5. Thanks a million. Just one more question, how is the battery life on the i5?

6 to 7 hours, light browser use (not Chrome), 50% brightness; 5 to 6 hours in more demanding tasks; 4 hours in youtube.

 

[stefan1975]

I'm on an old Dell Inspiron 510m Intel Pentium M processor at 1.40GHz notebook with ubuntu 9.10 as a surf and mail machine until I decide which model is for me. Works better than I first feared actually. Had an old work computer that died on me and I thought why not try something new.

well i have an old beast lying around and running ubuntu 10.04 pretty decently, but i paid $400 new for it 5 years ago, it is a different thing paying EUR 1150 now for a 2008 lappy.

 

[cathyy]

well the p8600 was made in 2008, which is 'just' 2.5 years, but keeping it for 4+ years is stretching it. i wouldnt use a p3 now either.

Eh...true I guess. But generally when you talk about how long something 'lasts', it's usually referring to how powerful it is.

If I recall correctly though, the main difference between Penryn vs Merom was a smaller die size resulting in less heat and lower power consumption. It also had minor instruction changes which made it perform slightly faster.

In a way, the T7700 was the predecessor to the P8600 and T8300 because they all run at 2.4GHz. However benchmarks still placed the T7700 slighty ahead of the T8300 (T8300 is ahead of the P8600) due to the extra 1mb of L2 cache.

The T7700 was made in May 2007, so yeah, that puts it at about 3+ years old I guess.

 

[PCRanger]

My Core Duo Macbook is still serving me well after 4 years, though I wish I had waited a few months till I had enough for a Macbook Pro. I think the biggest bottleneck in my system is the lack of dedicated graphics. If you don't want to play the latest and greatest games, then I'd say the base MBP will be fine.

 

[peapody]

I'm in the same boat as you are. I'm probably just going to buy the 13" from microcenter, $999 deal.

Man the 13" macbook pros are cheap nowadays - no longer a elite status symbol.

 

[ihonda]

i plan to dump my mbp for the new refresh, hope i can pull $800-$900 for mine that way ill only be spending $200 to upgrade

 

[klover]

Wow, great thread - I've often wondered if the buying the C2D model was the right call but I'm considerably assured.

 

[ayeying]

i guess my TP is bad, or your bigger machine can dissapate heat better (mine be 15"). mine idles at 75c->80c and under load will get to +100c (when fans kick in it eventually comes down to 85c).

I am using AS5 thermal paste but its been months since I applied it and Im pretty sure my system is filled with dust now from running f@h all day.