A1211 - is this a good buy?

[nanogirl21]

I was wondering if this is a good buy. It is $200 but needs a new battery. The computer works when plugged in. Im not too tech savvy on computer specs. The device would be used for basic YouTube watching, web surfing, and iTunes.

Hardware Overview
Model Name: MacBook Pro A1211
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 500 GB
Screen Size: 15.4"
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP22.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.12f5

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Well it'd do it but

I was wondering if this is a good buy. It is $200 but needs a new battery. The computer works when plugged in. Im not too tech savvy on computer specs. The device would be used for basic YouTube watching, web surfing, and iTunes.

Hardware Overview
Model Name: MacBook Pro A1211
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 500 GB
Screen Size: 15.4"
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP22.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.12f5

That computer is 9 years old and will have all the issues that being a 9 year old laptop implies it is slow, the components are slow and not least a distinct possibility that it fails catastrophically.

 

[austinpike]

Based on your sig, you have newer hardware available to you, so is this just a secondary machine, or for another family member?

For the purposes you listed, with a clean OS install it can be a perfectly serviceable machine. It looks like a "Late 2006" which maxes out at Lion 10.7.5 (4 generations old now) so software support will be dropping off at some point. Whereas a slightly newer "Mid 2007" would support all the way up to current Yosemite.

I wouldn't necessarily call it a "good buy" but it seems like a fair price for what it is, as long as you have reasonable expectations from it. A lot of older Apple hardware is priced unreasonably high so you aren't likely to find something better at that price point. If you need it to work on battery I'd look for a $20 generic on eBay.

 

[redheeler]

I was wondering if this is a good buy. It is $200 but needs a new battery. The computer works when plugged in. Im not too tech savvy on computer specs. The device would be used for basic YouTube watching, web surfing, and iTunes.

As already mentioned you should be weary of purchasing a MBP of that vintage. Pre-unibody MBPs can be unreliable/prone to GPU failure, and this one also lacks support for the latest OS X.

I would suggest investing in at least a newer unibody model (but stay away from the 2011 15"/17").

 

[nanogirl21]

As already mentioned you should be weary of purchasing a MBP of that vintage. Pre-unibody MBPs can be unreliable/prone to GPU failure, and this one also lacks support for the latest OS X.

I would suggest investing in at least a newer unibody model (but stay away from the 2011 15"/17").

Based on your sig, you have newer hardware available to you, so is this just a secondary machine, or for another family member?

For the purposes you listed, with a clean OS install it can be a perfectly serviceable machine. It looks like a "Late 2006" which maxes out at Lion 10.7.5 (4 generations old now) so software support will be dropping off at some point. Whereas a slightly newer "Mid 2007" would support all the way up to current Yosemite.

I wouldn't necessarily call it a "good buy" but it seems like a fair price for what it is, as long as you have reasonable expectations from it. A lot of older Apple hardware is priced unreasonably high so you aren't likely to find something better at that price point. If you need it to work on battery I'd look for a $20 generic on eBay.

Thanks guys. Yes, this is a secondary machine just for the sake of having a "classic" white Macbook. Basic web browsing, YouTube, and iTunes is all that will be done with it. I end up purchasing a seller refurbished mid 2007 Macbook for the same price. It has 4gb ram, 500gb hard drive, good battery, and cosmetically is in good condition. It's runnng Snow Leapord.

 

[diggy33]

Thanks guys. Yes, this is a secondary machine just for the sake of having a "classic" white Macbook. Basic web browsing, YouTube, and iTunes is all that will be done with it. I end up purchasing a seller refurbished mid 2007 Macbook for the same price. It has 4gb ram, 500gb hard drive, good battery, and cosmetically is in good condition. It's runnng Snow Leapord.

I wish I still had my BlackBook, but it took a dive down some stairs a couple years ago. I still have a MacBook Pro 3,1 that I threw a 128GB SSD in it and 3GB of RAM, and installed Yosemite on it. Still runs fine