Core Duo MBP - worth buying?

[Warsteiner]

Hi guys,

My flatmate wants to sell his laptop sometime in the near future, which neatly coincides with my desire to buy one. It's a 2.16 ghz Core Duo 15' Macbook Pro with a 256mb ATI x1600 graphics card and 2GB of RAM.

What I want to know from you guys is if this laptop is worth buying. My concerns about it are:

1. The processor is 32 bit only - which could present problems down the line as more applications are written for 64 bit.

2. The RAM is non-expandable from 2GB. This amount, while adequate, is hardly generous.

3. The graphics card is not listed as being among those supported with OpenCL.

4. I've heard (just anecdotally) that the battery life on early MBPs isn't too great. Opinions from those who have actual experience with these laptops would really be appreciated.

I'm in two minds over this. I've used it (albeit for about five minutes) and found it to be a decent enough machine; solidly built with a great display. Am I correct in thinking in that the potential flaws I mentioned would possibly make the laptop a bit obsolete? I plan to offer him €600 for it, by the way. It'd probably be worth slightly more were it not for a bit of cosmetic damage.

 

[tofagerl]

It's all about how long you'll be using it. If you'll be using it for more than a year, I'd strongly recommend you look at a more recent refurb or used machine. At least one upgradable to 4gb, that's the first bottleneck you'll hit.

 

[miles01110]

I used to have a CD MBP 15" before it got stolen in July. It was running Leopard just fine and did everything I needed it to- music, internet, movies, programming, and executing various data acquisition programs and scripts I use for work. I had no plans to upgrade.

 

[jt2ga65]

Am I correct in thinking in that the potential flaws I mentioned would possibly make the laptop a bit obsolete? I plan to offer him €600 for it, by the way. It'd probably be worth slightly more were it not for a bit of cosmetic damage.

I'm not sure how much money that is, but it sounds like quite a bit for a machine that is likely already 3 years old or older. I agree that the memory is going to be the most troubling thing, and you will quickly realize that 2 gig in a mac is not enough. for the things that you will want to do beyond reading email and browsing the Internets. Everything else should be fine, though. I still have a Dell I use for certain tasks that is a 2.0 gig CPU, and still reasonable fast.

-jt2

 

[Warsteiner]

It's all about how long you'll be using it. If you'll be using it for more than a year, I'd strongly recommend you look at a more recent refurb or used machine. At least one upgradable to 4gb, that's the first bottleneck you'll hit.

It'll probably be up to year before I'll have enough money to trade it in for a unibody model. Oh, the joys of being a college student! Yeah, the RAM issue is a bit of a concern.

I used to have a CD MBP 15" before it got stolen in July. It was running Leopard just fine and did everything I needed it to- music, internet, movies, programming, and executing various data acquisition programs and scripts I use for work. I had no plans to upgrade.

Sounds promising. How long did the battery last on average for you, and under what kind of usage?

 

[vaderhater245]

I currently have and use a Day 1 15" Macbook Pro as a "work horse" machine. From experience, my original(replaced by apple for free) battery has died recently. this is after 3 years of nothing but Adobe CS products. my late 2007 battery is still getting a good hour and 15 minutes on it. My recommendation is asking him how long he's had the battery for it.

 

[Warsteiner]

My recommendation is asking him how long he's had the battery for it.

He's had the same battery since he bought it, which is just over three years ago. He said that it's pretty worn compared to when it was new, so I'll probably get a new one if I do end up buying the laptop.

 

[yoak]

That alone adds (I´m guessing) €150 to the price.
You have to ask yourself if it´s still a good deal

 

[miles01110]

How long did the battery last on average for you, and under what kind of usage?

When I first got it I think I was getting around 3 or 4 hours with the new battery and fairly light usage. I mainly just have a text editor, a browser, and terminal open... so that hardly takes up any CPU. Make no mistake though- battery life is not great especially compared to the unibodies.

 

[Warsteiner]

That alone adds (I´m guessing) €150 to the price.
You have to ask yourself if it´s still a good deal

It's €139 from the Apple website, or €69 for an unused battery sold by what appears to be a reputable company on ebay. That is a good point regarding the price - I think €500-550 would be a more reasonable offer (from my perspective) under the circumstances.

When I first got it I think I was getting around 3 or 4 hours with the new battery and fairly light usage. I mainly just have a text editor, a browser, and terminal open... so that hardly takes up any CPU. Make no mistake though- battery life is not great especially compared to the unibodies.

While 3-4 hours under light usage isn't too great, I think I could live with it. All I need from it in terms of battery longevity is the ability to take notes in a couple of lectures, and then followed by an hour or two of basic word processing in the library.