How long till my late 2010 15" MBP is obsolete?

[blairbits]

Hey guys,

I picked up a late 2010 15" Macbook Pro; 15", 2.4 ghz i5, etc.

I have since upgraded it to a 120 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM, and replaced the optical drive with a 1 TB hard drive.

How long do you this guy will carry me? I don't do anything processor intensive, mostly web browsing, and I'm also planning on going to school for computer science.

What do you guys think? if I keep upgrading it as far as I can take it over the years, how long do you think it'll meet my needs, assuming they don't change drastically?

What do you think the chances are that Apple will drop support for my i5 in future OS releases?

 

[maflynn]

How long do you this guy will carry me? I don't do anything processor intensive, mostly web browsing, and I'm also planning on going to school for computer science.

Years, its a very powerful laptop.

 

[hobbbz]

you could do comp sci for about 4 more years on this.

 

[Bear]

...
What do you think the chances are that Apple will drop support for my i5 in future OS releases?

Eventually they will drop support for your MBP. It will probably be when they drop support foor the video in your MBP.

But to sort of answer your question, if you expect to stop get OS X updates about 5 years from when they started selling it. And then depending on what you use the machine for is how long it will really take to go obsolete.or at least unusable for you.

 

[smooth]

I'd say at least 5 years. I have a 2007 MacBook and it still runs great. I have not done any updates to it and it is just now starting to show signs of it's age. I have a new MBP on the way, but this one is still going to bet plenty of usage elsewhere....

 

[Suno]

Years, definitely. I would estimate around 4 to 5, with a maximum of 10.

 

[Chic0]

Definitely got years left in that machine. I'm still using my late 2008 MBP 2.53 core 2 duo and it's still going strong for what I use it for.

going to be upgrading and getting either a 13" MBA or 15" MBP once Ivy Bridge is out. Mainly changing as I need a lighter machine though.

 

[shootist]

You can use it until it doesn't turn on anymore but it is already obsolete. It was obsolete the day the early 2011 models came out. That is why Apple stopped making that model. New technology had come out making everything that came before it obsolete.

That does not diminish the usability of that system.

 

[snaky69]

Hey guys,

I picked up a late 2010 15" Macbook Pro; 15", 2.4 ghz i5, etc.

I have since upgraded it to a 120 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM, and replaced the optical drive with a 1 TB hard drive.

How long do you this guy will carry me? I don't do anything processor intensive, mostly web browsing, and I'm also planning on going to school for computer science.

What do you guys think? if I keep upgrading it as far as I can take it over the years, how long do you think it'll meet my needs, assuming they don't change drastically?

What do you think the chances are that Apple will drop support for my i5 in future OS releases?

Define obsolete.

 

[kevink2]

It is already obsolete. Doesn't have Ivy Bridge. Can't support 16GB of RAM.

So I'm stuck with my obsolete computer for several more years

Realistically, as long as it runs, it should work fine for several years. 8GB is still plenty of memory unless you need to do things like virtualization. And even then it works fine to support up to 4GB of RAM for a virtual machine.

 

[that1guyy]

Your computer is powerful and will last you for at least 3-5 years more. However, software wise, it might only be 2-3 years before your computer is no longer supported. Apple's new OS (which is on a one-year cycle now) may not support features on the older models.

 

[maehara]

I have a late-2007 MBP that's still providing good service - planning on upgrading it as my main machine when the next refresh comes along, but even at 5 years old it's far from obsolete, I can see it carrying on for another few years on light tasks without any real problems. A late-2010 model should do you for a few years yet...

 

[preppy]

What the...? Quit worrying about it being obsolete and enjoy the darned thing.

My old 2003 17" powerbook g4 still works and runs like a champ with what I need it to do (which isn't much anymore)...but it's still a very capable computer. Is it obsolete? Sure, but it still holds its own...

 

[oLNutjob]

It depends on what you are doing....

Myself, I post process a moderate amount of still photos and do video conversions fairly often. The 2011 quad core MBP can run circles around the 2010. I toyed with getting a Mac Pro desktop, till the QM processors hit the portables.

For general use, you are good for a couple years at least, or more.

 

[spillproof]

You have until March 9, 2019.

 

[Suanmiao]

Years

Years. I have the same set up as yours, I suspect it's going to last for a long time.
With the iPad and Macbook Air going pretty strong, Apple is gonna go pretty easy with major OS updates, and third party developers their apps too.
I work with lots of images that's over 1Gb, don't see any problems here. And since DSLRs hit Megapixel sweet spot already, this machine will remain a capable post processing powerhouse for me for ages.