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How long will a MacBook Pro last?

AVBeatMan

AVBeatMan

macrumors 603
Original poster
Nov 10, 2010
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I bought my second MacBook Pro 3 years ago and all is working perfectly. I look after my stuff and it's always kept in a sleeve unless in use. It's not used heavily but I was just wondering how long do they last? Also, how often do you guys upgrade your Mac's? I guess it's not the same as iPad's and iPhone's that Apple upgrade every year.

Just wondering what you guys think and do?
 
my macbook pro 17" 2008 has had 2 HD's 3 optical drives 2 power cables under warranty & the gpu melted (3 battery's apple care did not cover that)
the display back light is dead now (past the warranty) so i use it with an external display and no battery installed.

the battery/power cable and HD (on older models gess all the new ones are ssd) are the only parts that tend to need replacing

but i was doing a lot of video and photography work on it
 
Since you are here...i'll just join in. I'm guessing 2 more years? or whenever Apple decides to cut you off.
 
ActionableMango said:
I imagine you are close to "end-of-battery". I wore my battery out in about 3 years. Maybe it will last longer if you use the battery far less than I did.
Click to expand...
No, battery seems fine. I only use at home. Take a iPad Pro when out and about.
 
I have a 2005 17 inch that has never left the office thats still operational.
 
'06 MBP still going strong here.

tubeexperience said:
...until the dGPU fails
Click to expand...
Ya know, the dGPU failures you read so much about are due to manufacturing errors on entire lines. Not individual GPUs. A machine of that age has no less chance of dying by a faulty GPU, than a faulty anything-else in the machine.
 
4-5 years from my experience, after that your likely to be wanting to upgrade. As ever much depends on the usage, harder you need to push the system the more likely you will want to upgrade sooner rather than later.

I still have an Early 2008 15 that is still running, stock bar the battery, equally it's not used frequently due to it's age.
 
It obviously won't last forever from a physics standpoint - but it would probably last your entire lifetime if you were to actually keep it for that long. But you wont - because you'll eventually upgrade. I honestly see the 2013 I have now lasting at least another 10 years for me barring any sort of revolutionary improvement. I'll probably need a battery replacement before then, but that's straight forward enough.

If your use case is browsing the web/email/light photo or video editing/watching movies then a computer from 5-10 years ago will easily do that. Sure, a computer today might do it slightly faster, but it's not necessary. I would say that most people upgrade out of want, not need. They want the faster SSD/RAM/CPU, not need. Unless you're a professional making money from video editing, photography, or 3D modeling, it's unlikely that the speed improvements are going to significantly alter your everyday life. Pretty much every other profession would rely on basic applications like Word or Excel so it's pretty rare to need to change out a machine to do those tasks.

So that said, I still don't understand why people are up-in-arms over the lack of updates on the MBP line so far. I mean, yes, it's coming, but it's totally not necessary in comparison to what's already available. I agree that the 2015 machines are a bit overpriced straight from Apple, but there are plenty of deals to be found.
 
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My expectation is a minimum of 5 years, up to 8-10 years.
That doesn't mean you won't consider an upgrade before then, but that any system you're paying over $1K for should last at least that long physically...or it's time to find a new manufacturer. There are always exceptions (going through one right now w/wife's 2012 MBP, but otherwise all of my Apple gear has made it 5+ years), but it shouldn't be a 'normal' expectation that a laptop only lasts 3 years before needing replacement, especially those of us buying maxed out $3k+ systems.

My white Sandy Bridge macbook is still running plugged into the TV. My old iPhone 3GS I used to use solely for music for off road motorcycling. My early 2011 15" dGPU MBP is still chugging away (added SSD, second drive, + 16GB) as my desktop replacement for software work, connected to 1 or 2 external displays depending on home or office, with it's only real 'failing' being crap battery life.

I typically run a 4 year 'consider upgrade' cycle for laptops, and 2-3 years for phones. Sometimes it's been slightly shorter when there was a real technology jump I just couldn't do without (e.g. Core -> Core 2 Duo, then to quad core), sometimes longer (waiting on next release to consider replacing my 2011 MBP, but haven't lost very much in way of performance, just not retina, which external displays + matte 1680x1050 laptop display makes up for well enough, for me).
 
My previous mac was a late 2008 macbook (still works). Never got around to upgrading that mac. It's replacement is an early 2011 macbook pro still going strong - just getting around to upgrading ram this year. Maybe an upgrade to a SSD drive later this year.

When to replace? I suppose that would come down to one of three things:
1) Major hardware failure that I cannot repair
2) No longer supported by Apple with security updates (or end of support on the near horizon)
3) Want do something that this computer cannot do (or do in any reasonable amount of time)
 
2014 MBP here. I was shocked when I realized that my MBP recently turned 2 years old, because it's working like it's brand new. I plan on keeping this machine as long as possible, and so far I am pretty confident that it will last at least 3-4 more years.

I mean theoretically there are just two parts that will eventually stop working due to wear:
1. The SSD. Not much of a problem unless you do a lot of video editing and write many gigabytes every day. I think the SSD would last a minimum of 10 years.

2. The battery. Again, it depends on how many cycles you are doing. I mostly use my MBP at home on my desk, so I don't add a lot of cycles. So far, my battery has 109 loadcycles and is at 8503 mAh maximum charge, design capacity is 8440 mAh, so I am still well over 100% after 2 years.

Another limiting factor would be the macOS support. But Sierra is still compatible with MB Pros and Airs from 2010, so there should be at least another 4 years of updates for my MBP, probably even 1-2 more.
 
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my macbook pro 2008 is still on osx10.6 ^^ no need to update the OSX for what i do on it & got to say i kind of miss osx10.6 still rock solid for everyday use
 
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2011 MBA 13 , still going strong , just replaced battery
2010 MBP 15 , upgraded to ssd and maxed out memory . Got a nice matte high res screen , can't see unloading it unless there's a major malfunction .
2010 MBP 13 , C2D and 2011 MBP 13 . Both upgraded to ssd and max memory .

Given the price of a new 15" and the glued up,sealed in nature of the MBP in general, we might have these for some time .
 
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I've got a mid-2014 15in rMBP (with 750M) and I'm hoping to get at least five years out of it. I think this is the first time I have actually really really liked my computer. Even two years later I'm still blown away by this thing, usually at this point with computers I'm already shopping around.

The only thing I could use is a bit more RAM, but that's always the case because I run virtual machines for software development/testing. 16GB is still very manageable, but 32+ would be ideal.
 
Forever, if you take care of them and have good luck.

My main machine is a 2012 15" MBP. I also have a 2011 13" MBP i7 as my media server and I just bought a broken 2008 15" MBP for $150, but brought it back to life!
 
my classic 2012 is a champ. the second it got slow I dropped a SSD in there and it's been great ever since.

I also have a 2006 that still works.

I would say an upgrade every 5-6 years is about right for a laptop.
 
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