How are your MacBooks doing as they age?

[Nickhamm]

One of the oldest macs to post so far, I've had to replace my battery 3 times since I bought my Mac, the first two under AppleCare. I upgraded it to 500GB 7200rpm drive and 4GB RAM with Mountain Lion and for 95% of what I do it works like a charm. The other 5% is video related because of lack of hardware video decoding on the 8600GT so HD video sometimes taxes the machine too much.

I do agree with a poster above that Mountain Lion seems to run slower than previous OSs, especially when it comes to hard drive heavy tasks.

ONLY real issue is an LED backlight banding issue that just started, problem posted in another thread on the forum.

 

[CarreraGuy]

While we're at it here is my coconut:

This is my daily driver bring it to work everyday and it's on battery power a lot. It's a mbp 13" 2010 with 8gb ram 500gb ssd running Snow Leopard, original battery.

 

[ybz90]

I have an 08 Penryn that has been given to a computer illiterate relative, and she has no problem with it. It's still on SL but it runs great and I recently put in an SSD.

Though the following two are not Pros, I want to note that my other two computers are thriving too, as it seems a testament to the potential longevity of Apple laptops. My Air has been a work horse at about 1.5 years old, but I already have around 750 battery charge cycles on it with 87% health. And of course, my PowerBook G4, the predecessor to the MBP, is aging quite gracefully.

 

[Badrottie]

My 2007 MBP runs very fast than my amd althon 64 x2 4800+ desktop pc running windows 7.

 

[OllyW]

My 2006 Core Duo MBP is still chugging along nicely and has had a new lease of life from the SSD upgrade I recently fitted.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

3-year old Macbook Pro 17 (2009 model). I can't believe how this beast still performs. I did swap out the HDD with an SSD, and put in a second HDD into the optical slot. I also changed the RAM from 4GB to 8GB.

Besides that, and software updates to ML, everything is factory and it has never really needed any major service (replaced a rubber foot).

I don't think I've ever had a laptop last this long, and I can't imagine any reason to replace it until some great leap in technology comes out. I checked out the 15'' retina MBP, and just can't justify the extra expense currently. When I had PCs, I replaced my laptops/desktops at least once per 1.5 years as they would just be almost useless by then.

Can't say it is all Apple, as the SSD/spare HDD keeps my laptop fast (whereas before the laptops would slow down due to a full HDD), but I am an Apple customer for life after this experience.

I can't go back to PC, and don't see Windows coming back anytime soon.

 

[OnceYouGoMac]

My 2010 MBP is still working fine and I upgraded the RAM to 8GB so that should keep the thing working for another few years. I've been neglecting it lately though as I've been using my Air more (easier to carry around). That's partly why I got the RAM upgrade.

 

[swastik]

Mine is doing fairly good. Bought in 2010, and runs as fast as it ever did.

 

[tfstone]

Great battery

Still 91 % for my 2010 MBP

 

[Soron]

Still live and kicking. This is the original battery, but needs replacement. Also the superdrive is broken. But besides that.... it's running nice and smooth.

Still... i think i want to upgrade this year to a new machine. I just can't decide between the cMBP and the rMBP...

 

[669532]

I have a Mac Pro that does most of my work..When working and I need it to do something with it I screen share from the MP. But really I guess thats no different than using it plugged in all day. Beyond that I use it like a portable any other portable computer.

No such luck here it seems.

 

[Rhinoevans]

I've had mine for 30 months. And man - it's still damn good. I've only ever had a PC (family windows desktop computer) and after a few years everything gets slower on them, you can't even open word without it freezing. But on my Mac? It STILL opens applications fast. It's still a good computer. I take good care of my Mac but it does show it's age in say the cover - I have a few scratches or dents on it since I had to carry the Mac with me a lot and take it to school. But overall, it still looks good and works well.

I'm probably going to take it to Best Buy and do a cleaning sometime, they say you should every year but I've never really cleaned it or had the fans cleaned. But the computer doesn't really seem to need it - it's still fast, overheats sometimes but that seems to be a problem for other Mac Users too. I always clean the screen with a glass cloth and keep it looking good.

Over all it's still a good comp. How are your Macbooks doing? Do you ever take them in for cleaning or do you not feel the need?

Sounds like u didn't take care of your PC. My Sony in almost 4 years old, good as new. If you take care of any computer they will last, not just Mac's. And taking your Mac to BBY once a year? For what! What can they do that you cant do?

 

[Zwhaler]

Not bad at all, just make sure your hard drive doesn't fill up below about 15% because that will slow it down the most.

 

[ctc799]

My MBP is going on 4 years old, and it's still working pretty great! The LCD starts to go funny along the side when I adjust the hinge, but other than that everything still works great.

 

[opinioncircle]

My 3 year old Macbook Pro shows its age, light on the charger not getting up all the time, some hot temperatures, not able to handle flash well (I see you Colbert Report in Google Chrome )...

Well I haven't got much to complain over that, original battery, and original SL from 2009

 

[Ih8reno]

My early 2011 mbp still runs great. I swapped out the memory today from 8gb to 16gb and the thing is a beast.

 

[MTD's Mac]

The idea of a "routine cleaning" is an interesting one. I remember blowing huge amounts of dust out of my PC towers as recently as 5 years ago. When I opened my MBP to upgrade the RAM a few years ago, I was surprised with the amount of dust on and around the fan. Now, with a MacBook Air, I never get to see inside. The same is true for iOS devices I suppose. Out of sight, out of mind...

----------

I work at a private school where most students have Apple notebooks. It's amazing to see how well the aluminum unibody models hold up. The white and black plastic MacBooks, along with the non-unibody Pros, are all in pretty bad condition after heavy use at the hands of a kid. There's not much they can do to severely damage the aluminum unibody models besides cracking the screens.

I've had mine for 30 months. And man - it's still damn good. I've only ever had a PC (family windows desktop computer) and after a few years everything gets slower on them, you can't even open word without it freezing. But on my Mac? It STILL opens applications fast. It's still a good computer. I take good care of my Mac but it does show it's age in say the cover - I have a few scratches or dents on it since I had to carry the Mac with me a lot and take it to school. But overall, it still looks good and works well.

I'm probably going to take it to Best Buy and do a cleaning sometime, they say you should every year but I've never really cleaned it or had the fans cleaned. But the computer doesn't really seem to need it - it's still fast, overheats sometimes but that seems to be a problem for other Mac Users too. I always clean the screen with a glass cloth and keep it looking good.

Over all it's still a good comp. How are your Macbooks doing? Do you ever take them in for cleaning or do you not feel the need?

 

[fenskezen]

Wirelessly posted

My 2008 white MacBook is as good as new. I added 2 gig of memory a while back. I am on a second battery. I love this little machine. It does all I need it to do. I run Lion on it without problems. I keep thinking about upgrading but why??! I do back up to an external drive using time machine regularly just in case.

 

[WillFisher]

My 2010 13" Is still chugging along, therefore no need to upgrade.
Thrown in an SSD in the last 6 months to speed it up, but otherwise fine.
Part of me wants something to go wrong, its a good excuse to upgrade! But money issues tell me otherwise...

Its the other things that seem to break, I've been through 2 chargers with this and the 3rd I'm using now is starting to damage again!

 

[muon25]

My mid-2009 White Macbook with 4GB RAM was starting to show its age. I upgraded to an SSD a few weeks ago and the thing flies.

 

[tcphoto]

My Late 2008 MBP has been great up till it met Mountain Lion. The original battery went 844 cycles and 70% health while it's replacement is 16 months old with 314 cycles at 60% health. Last week, the "genius" told me that was normal and asked if I would like to buy a new battery, I simply gave him the skunk eye.

If I don't replace the machine with a Retina, I'll install an SSD to go with the 8GB of RAM that it's running. I'm hoping that OS10.8.3 will address the battery issue.

 

[Tony5787]

I've had my base model 13" MacBook Pro for I believe 16 months and I just cleaned like 50gb of files off of the SATA drive and now it's rebooting as fast as when I first got it. My last laptop, an HP Pavilion, had a failing GPU after this much time and a few months later the motherboard fried. I'm very pleased with mine at this point. I'm going to upgrade the RAM from 4gb to 16gb soon though but then I'll be set (hopefully) for the next few years. In the meantime I'll use this awesome laptop and save up for a Retina MacBook Pro or whatever is the next big thing Apple has in 2-3 years. Hopefully that will have a great GPU in it.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

I've had mine for 30 months. And man - it's still damn good.

My Early-2011 17" 2.2 GHz Quad-Core i7 is still pretty fast. I think the Sandy Bridge Quad-Core i7 together with Turbo Boost (version 1 or 2) increased the efficiency of the OS and certain applications, especially applications which support GCD. (Mac) OS X 10.6.x components support GCD, including certain command line utilities.

The problem which i see, is that older computers have less RAM, and do not have SSDs.

 

[GermanyChris]

My Early-2011 17" 2.2 GHz Quad-Core i7 is still pretty fast. I think the Sandy Bridge Quad-Core i7 together with Turbo Boost (version 1 or 2) increased the efficiency of the OS and certain applications, especially applications which support GCD. (Mac) OS X 10.6.x components support GCD, including certain command line utilities.

The problem which i see, is that older computers have less RAM, and do not have SSDs.

I'm pondering picking one of those up, the last iteration of the 17" but then it would have to be my only computer and I don't much like that idea.

 

[Patriot24]

I realize that I'm only coming up on 2 years, but my mid-2011 13" Air (4,2 - 1.7 GHz i5, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD) is running as smooth as it did on day one. It is definitely the most well-built machine I've ever owned (this is my first Mac).

I have not experienced any difficulties or slowdowns after upgrading from Lion to Mountain Lion.

I use the Air as my daily driver (40-60 hours of usage per week). It has not disappointed. I'm using almost all of the RAM at any given time, but OS X does a nice job of allocating and moving things around to operate smoothly. Inability to upgrade the RAM is a drawback, but not a deal-breaker when weighed against portability.

I have done OK with the 128 GB of space on the SSD. I currently have around 20 GB free, but that is largely due to a conscious effort on my part to manage data as to not completely fill it. I have identified increased storage space as a must in my next machine as a result.

I am at 202 charging cycles and 91% health. Lately I have become more aware of my cycles and have been making efforts to unplug the unit and let it die completely some days in accordance with Apple's recommendations to retain the health.

The power brick recently died and needed to be replaced. Other than that, I have not experienced any other technical issues with the unit.

Overall I couldn't be happier. Planning on taking it to ~year 3 before giving it to my wife/upgrading.