Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Anyone else happily using half-decade-old hardware?

abuzar1 said:
I am considering getting an SSD. I dont think I need more than 4GB of RAM. Would RAM really be my bottleneck? I almost always have 1GB or more free. I only use the webbrowser and maybe PPT or word. Nothing else. It shouldn't be slow just browsing the web! It's still a Core 2 Duo and I'm still only on Snow Leopard. I don't think computers should SLOWDOWN when we're still doing the same thing we were 5 years ago!
Click to expand...

I'd add an SSD and consider upgrading to Mavericks. I know Snow Leopard certainly is friendlier to older hardware, but it seems support is being phased out, and some of the optimizations (Timer Coalescing, Memory Compression) in Mavericks actually help older hardware, too. It actually runs quite well in 4GB RAM for everyday tasks (I've got a few 2009-era MacBook Pros that have SSDs and Mavericks that are quite snappy, even compared to my much newer, faster one).
 
I still use my 2008 white MacBook everyday and it is doing just fine... I put a 90 GB SSD in it and it really made a huge difference speedwise... I do own a Mid 2011 Mini and a late 2013 MBPr and they are great, but I also love my old, trusted white MacBook... :)
 
My mid 2009 2.5 15 inch MacBook pro is still going great guns at the moment. Its been upgraded to 8gb and I recently installed a Crucial 256Gb SSD and the difference this made has been remarkable.

It's still not the latest and greatest of course, but I still use (and it copes admirably) for the same programmes that I bought it for four years ago - Safari, Aperture, Photoshop, Office for Mac, iTunes.

I don't see any reason why I can't get another 2 years out of this machine, hopefully Yosemite will run as smoothly as Mavericks does. Once the Broadwell Macbooks come out I may have a tough decision to make, but right now I can't really justify the costs in upgrading when this machine still comfortably does what I need it to do.
 
Not currently but my old 17" MBP was 5 years old when I got my current machine. Only reason I got rid of it was the memory limitations. 3GB limit was just too confining for me. I expect my current machine to last a few more years as long as the Radeon card doesn't crap out.
 
I am rocking a mid-2009 15" MBP 2.8Ghz. I upped the RAM to 8GB and installed a SSD a year ago, which gave it a new lease on life. I have no complaints about the speed for regular usage, and it works really well for being 5 years old. I do wish for some more power when rendering or photo editing.

I will say I have had the HDD, charger, battery, logic board, and then some all replaced under AppleCare, and in the last few months I lost a foot and my (second) charger started to fray (solved with some heat shrink tubing). The (second) HDD is also starting to go (it's dual drive with the SSD), because I can hear it clicking. The battery is about 75% of what it used to be, but still lasts 4 hours after 480 cycles.

With all that said, I am very pleased with how well it has held up after five years, especially considering that four of those years where in my backpack during college and includes a fair bit of traveling.

I will be getting a new MBP as soon as the new ones are released, but my MBP has served me very well and I have no reservation about using it for the next several months until the next new MBP is released. It has only started to show physical wear in the last two months, and with the SSD is perfectly functional. Although, I am looking forward to the Retina and a few other hardware related capabilities.
 
mdgm said:
My 07 MacBook died in 2012. Using a 15" 2012 rMBP with 256GB SSD and 16GB RAM. The SSD is always full. Need to get a new one with a 1TB SSD. Hopefully the next refresh brings the prices of 1TB SSDs down.

I still have an early 09 Mini and a late 09 Mini. The fan and/or hard drive is going in the early 09 Mini. Might get both the fan and hard drive replaced.

I also have a 2011 Mac Mini Server

----------


Get an SSD. 4GB RAM is more than enough if you are happy with Snow Leopard.
Click to expand...

Yeah Im disappointed with 256GB SSD I thought it was plentiful but it is not when you want to add some games and I had to move iTunes folder to external HD to make more room. I learned my lesson. I am waiting for 512GB SSD price go down. :apple:

----------
Altemose said:
It's okay. Even though Yosemite will run on a 2007 MacBook doesn't mean you should do it. It will run decently enough though. I would sell the old or return the new.
Click to expand...

Maybe 2007 MBP can run up to OSX 11.1? Just kidding. :apple:
 
My 2008 Mac Pro just turned 6. I've had a few faulty RAM sticks (invariably OWC for some reason) and one broken RAM riser but nothing else. Upgraded with memory and drives over the years. I love this machine and hope to be able to use it for another several years, perhaps another decade.

I recently bought my first Mac notebook, the late 2013 retina, and have no intention of replacing it in the next 6-7 years.

I'm quite used to using old equipment, come to think of it. One of my cameras is in its 9th decade actually. Ticks along like new.
 
early 2009 white macbook here... upgraded to 4gb ram and 240gb SSD and it does everything and more that I need!

for me, it holds a little nostalgia with the old 'white' look of apple products back in the day!

--rob
 
Here's the problem with rMBP's:

I have and still use my 13" cMBP which has 500gb SSD and 8gb RAM. I bought it new with a 250gb HD and 4gb RAM.

For work I use a company bought 13" rMBP which is great by the way.

Lets assume it's my laptop or work let me keep it after so many years at the company. It's now 2017 and I'm feeling the latest and greatest apps are taxing my rMBP, what upgrade options do I have? *None*
 
CarreraGuy said:
It's now 2017 and I'm feeling the latest and greatest apps are taxing my rMBP, what upgrade options do I have? *None*
Click to expand...

Well the SSD can likely be changed on the late 2013 retina if OWC or other companies develop drives that are compatible (as has been done for other retina models). RAM is a problem though which is why I went with 16.
 
7years old and still chugging along, only just though.

My daily 'office' machine is a Mid 2007 15" MBP (Core2Duo) running 10.9.3 and was all set for 10.10.
I hit it's 7th birthday last week. It's had 3 HDD upgrades, followed last earlier this year by an SSD upgrade, moving the HDD to the optical bay. It's on 6GB too.

It had a logic board replacement under warranty and the fans were swapped out a couple of years ago, at an Apple Store, for the grand-price of £59 - less than a pair of second hand ones on eBay.

Unfortunately just after it's 7th birthday it's loosing the will to drive an external display. Office setup is attached to a 24" via single link DVI. Home Office setup is attached to a 27" iMac in target display mode using a Kanex display port adaptor. As of last week the most it will drive externally is a 22" (although it still detects the 24" and switches to dual screen setup it doesn't drive the screen).

MBPr is on the cards now...
 
I'm a hardcore user. If the computer I bought lasts for more than a year, that means the computer build quality is amazing.

I'm now on my first Mac, 15" Late 2013 rMBP using it for 8 months now. So far looking good. Still looks brand new in which itself is a statement. I owned more than 5 laptops in the past 5 years. The only ones surviving are my HP Mini 2140 which is still surviving to this day after 5 years running on the ancient Atom N270 and now my rMBP.

My Samsung also died, My other 2 ASUS notebooks, one netbook and one notebook also died. Oh one of my ASUS, the N56 the hinge broke apart after 6 months and caught a fire. Build quality was that bad. :mad:

So yeah, go on Apple. Mac OS is so addictive.
 
Got my 15" rMBP in June 2013, I hope to not be considering purchasing a new desktop until the same time in 2016. I feel about 3-4 years is reasonable for a computer. I change my phone every year though and only recently decided I'd be sticking with my iPad Air for a good 3 years before buying a new iPad (I've bought a new iPad each year for the past 2 years).
 
I am usually at the cutting edge of technology most of the time and after lusting after a 13" rMBP I decided to save the cash and buy back my old 17" MacBook Pro (Early 2009) model from my parents who no longer use it as they prefer their iPad.

I am finding it surprisingly fast given its age - I expected it to be noticeably slow, but with a SSD it's actually extremely usable even for me as a developer. I've decided to buy a newer/faster SSD and upgrade it to 8GB RAM and I think it should happily last me another few years.

I agree with some of the previous posts - people usually need a lot less computer than they think.

I also dread to think how many perfectly good computers are thrown away each year because people deem them 'too slow' and replace them, when an upgrade to a SSD would have made it fast again? My wife got another few years from an old 17" iMac just by fitting a SSD.
 
I still use my 15" 2011 Macbook Pro with anti-glare hi resolution model. I upgraded recently with 16GB of ram and a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD and it is exponentially faster.

I feel like I could get another 3-4 more years with this laptop before wanting to upgrade. My only gripe about wanting to upgrade right now is that I want a slimmer/smaller/more portable machine like the Macbook pro 13" Retina or the 13" Macbook air.

Maybe if the rumored 12" Macbook Pro with retina is released, I'll sell this machine for it. :)
 
2007 MBP here. It's got 4GB of RAM and a 320GB 7200RPM HD, although I'm considering upgrading to 6GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD HD.
 
We still have a 2008 Unibody, an early 2010 MBA, and an early 2010 MBP in our family, all still going strong. I used an indigo ibook 366 for nearly 8 years until one of my kids stepped on the screen. It was still going just fine.
Generally, I have no issue with an Apple running for at least 5 years.
 
Last edited:
Happily using my early 2011 13" MBP, just installed a Crucial SSD disk and will be putting the standard HDD in the superdrive caddy when it arrives in the next few days

I see no reason to replace it whilst it is still going very strong
 
In my house, I have the following...
2008 iMac with 256Meg video ram - son uses for Minecraft
2008 iMac - I use for simple browsing and word.
2008 MBP - misses uses as her everything machine. MS office, email, browsing
2012 MBP - my tech machine - multiple VMs, software development, etc...

All these machines have been upgraded by me over the years, all have added ram, all but 1 iMac has had upgraded storage.

This is why apple's move to all glued in hardware is especially annoying, and driving me away. The 2012 MBP may be the last Mac I buy. Luckily, I don't have to think about replacing it for a long while yet, since it has 16 gig of ram, SSD, and secondary HDD for big storage.
 
Arriving late this afternoon, a mid-2010 mbp 15" running yosemete. I hope to use it for several years as a satellite to my desktop mac for mainly ms word for the mac.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back