Advice to a college student wanting to buy a MacBook

[shacky]

A friend of mine going back to college wants to buy a used or refurb MacBook Pro for school. She asked me for advice because I have Apple everything....except laptops and desktops. I know that some MacBooks are aged out of being able to upgrade to the latest OS but not sure at what point, they are too old to upgrade. I know that price is an issue but she wants a decent MacBook that is upgrade-able.

She is taking general studies, nothing to technical or artsy. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Webster's Mac]

A friend of mine going back to college wants to buy a used or refurb MacBook Pro for school. She asked me for advice because I have Apple everything....except laptops and desktops. I know that some MacBooks are aged out of being able to upgrade to the latest OS but not sure at what point, they are too old to upgrade. I know that price is an issue but she wants a decent MacBook that is upgrade-able.

She is taking general studies, nothing to technical or artsy. Any advice would be appreciated.

Well anything truly upgradeable would be a mid-2012 non retina model or older...The mid 2012 is getting Catalina this fall but will probably not get any future major macOS releases. The 2015 is a solid choice, but it has soldered ram. I'd try to find a mid-2015 15" with the M370X GPU. It'll have the 2.5ghz or higher CPU and 16gb of ram as well. Should be way more than enough for what she's gonna use it for. And you can upgrade the proprietary SSD to an aftermarket NVME SSD with a $10 adapter that works well. That's what mine has right now.

Additional note: these are being recalled due to the batteries so be sure to check the serial number on Apple's website and get a free new battery if it's eligible.

Hope this helps!

 

[shacky]

You meant mid-2012 non retina model or newer, right? Edit: I think I messed up by saying "upgrade-able." What I meant was that the OS would upgrade to the new versions Apple offers for the foreseeable future.

 

[Strelok]

When I went to college in 2013 I got a new 13” MBPr in late 2013 and still use it to this day. Something from that era would probably still be usable, although it depends on budget and 2015 was a good year too.

 

[Webster's Mac]

You meant mid-2012 non retina model or newer, right?

There is no newer non-retina than mid-2012. Everything after that is retina and has soldered ram, and the models after 2015 have soldered SSDs (except for certain low end 13" MacBook pros) as well.

 

[buran-energia]

A friend of mine going back to college wants to buy a used or refurb MacBook Pro for school. She asked me for advice because I have Apple everything....except laptops and desktops. I know that some MacBooks are aged out of being able to upgrade to the latest OS but not sure at what point, they are too old to upgrade. I know that price is an issue but she wants a decent MacBook that is upgrade-able.

She is taking general studies, nothing to technical or artsy. Any advice would be appreciated.

Upgradeable... Unless you want a 7+ year old model, that won't happen.

Second hand mbp 13 2015 should be both decent, cheap and reliable. Memory can't be upgraded, but it starts 8 GB, which is more than enough. Hard disk can be upgraded there, but usually only with Apple drives taken from other laptops (you can't buy it from Apple).

 

[ilikewhey]

how much she wants to spend, i 2nd on the mbp 13 2015, i have one with 16gb and user friendly replaceable 256gb ssd, its a solid workforce with reliable keyboard, you can get one for around 700 bucks on swappa or ebay.

 

[shacky]

Upgradeable... Unless you want a 7+ year old model, that won't happen.

Second hand mbp 13 2015 should be both decent, cheap and reliable. Memory can't be upgraded, but it starts 8 GB, which is more than enough. Hard disk can be upgraded there, but usually only with Apple drives taken from other laptops (you can't buy it from Apple).

[doublepost=1567338511][/doublepost]To be clear- when I said it needs to be “upgrade-able”, I meant that it would take the new OS upgrades offered by Apple for the foreseeable future.

 

[jerryk]

[doublepost=1567338511][/doublepost]To be clear- when I said it needs to be “upgrade-able”, I meant that it would take the new OS upgrades offered by Apple for the foreseeable future.

Currently everything from mid 2012 is updatable to the latest MacOS, Mojave. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201475 for specifics.

No one can know what will happen in the future. But Apple does not drop systems from the latest update just because of age. It is done because they do not support technical features that the latest OS depends upon.

I would recommend she get a Retina MacBook Pro from 2013-2015. They have a better display than previous years (and same year Air system), good keyboard, USB-A ports, and a SD card slot. Also, they can be purchased at reasonable prices on the used market. Of the years, 2015 was the best.

 

[Fishrrman]

The 15" form factor may be "too much" for many to cart around through school. Just too big and too unwieldy.

I'd suggest a 2015 MacBook Pro 13" -- but might be difficult to find A GOOD ONE in the used market.
This is the last of the MacBook Pros to have a reliable keyboard AND a full complement of usable ports.

I WOULD NOT under ANY circumstances buy a 2016 or 2017 MacBook Pro.
The failure rates on these are FAR higher than normal (particularly the keyboards).

Again, look long and hard for a 2015 13" MBP.
If you can find a decent one, it will be "worth the hunt"...