Pretty much forever - even if anything goes wrong, you can just swap out the SSD and the battery, and it will be brand n...oh wait, it's a Macbook! 
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How long will a MacBook Pro last?
- Thread starter AVBeatMan
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Why not just get a good external display to hookup to your existing computer? You get a bigger screen without having to pay for a second computer.
With a Mac it's more 9-10 years
This one is proving to be more to look like 9-10. They still haven't really released anything that much better than what I have. The SSD made it run like new and I can always throw another 8 gigs of ram in it..With a Mac it's more 9-10 years
My 2009 15" MacBook Pro is still in use as a computer with external display, mouse and keyboard at the office.
It's used Mon-Thursday 7am-7pm.
It won't be replaced until productivity is being hindered using it. So unless hardware dies I can see easily 9-10 years out of it.
mine is non retina mid 2012 15" MBP. It just survived the Apple ASD test and going strong, albeit there are a few vertical dead lines on the matte screen!
I am not sure if I want to pay USD 600 for the repair
I am not sure if I want to pay USD 600 for the repair
I have an early 2011 13" MBP (Intel sandy bridge generation CPU) and it is either broken, or else these latest versions of OSX ("macOS") have simply obsoleted my Mac, because it is SO SLOW. Just...unbelievably slow. Even simple tasks requires a lot of CPU fan ramping to max RPMs, bouncing dock icons bouncing dozens of times, and not rarely also display of that accursed beachball mouse pointer, even though I upgraded my Macbook to 8GB RAM (so whatever is going on with it is not running out of memory related.)
I had issues with files getting corrupted in the past, so I replaced the harddrive with a Seagate SSHD, hoping to get some speedup as well, but no. It is still unbelievably slow, and I think it's still chewing up files randomly as well. I don't use it much these days so I'm not sure.
Oh, and the thunderbolt/displayport connector seems borked as well. My thunderbolt display either does not light up, or goes dark randomly after either a few minutes or a few hours of booting up the computer (mostly a few minutes!), and lately displayport doesn't want to work either even though it did in the past. *shrug*
So I'm looking at just putting my current one out to pasture and switching to one of the new retina MBPs that just came out. There's been so many upgrades in capability in the 6 years since I bought mine, and I don't ever use the DVD drive or the SD cardslot, ethernet or - jeesh - firewire connector.
If I was made of money, I'd upgrade every 3rd year at most, but alas.
For the previous example of a 2011 macbook pro, that machine will supposedly be able to upgrade to High Sierra. If High Sierra is the last available upgrade version possible for that machine, there will ideally be security updates for another 2 years. If I got the math right, about 9 years of security patches for that machine running macOS.
I have a 2007 MBP 2.2 GHz that won't die, so I max'ed the RAM and stuck an SSD in it. Runs great!
I sold a PowerBook G4 last year that was still going strong. Battery was toast but it still worked good.
I sold a PowerBook G4 last year that was still going strong. Battery was toast but it still worked good.
Got a Mid-2009 17" MBP for Christmas of 2009, replaced it with a 15" Retina MBP on October 11, 2012, and replaced with with a 15" Retina MBP w/ touch bar yesterday.
MacBooks can easily go longer than my 4+ years each depending on what you're using it for, but mine was starting to show its age for the tasks I use it for and Discover has a 5% cashback promotion for Apple so I pulled the trigger on the new model.
MacBooks can easily go longer than my 4+ years each depending on what you're using it for, but mine was starting to show its age for the tasks I use it for and Discover has a 5% cashback promotion for Apple so I pulled the trigger on the new model.
hardware is obsoleted via firmwear after 5-6 years, on all makes and models from all manufacturers
the physical machine may work beyond 6 years but the system will be broken down via updates
the physical machine may work beyond 6 years but the system will be broken down via updates
I can NOT second that. My mid 2009 MacBook Pro is now more than 8 years old, and is just as fast (or slow, if you compare it to current models) as it was back when I bought it. It shipped with OS X Leopard, and got all updates until El Capitan. Yes, Sierra is not supported on that model, but I've yet to see a piece of software that won't run on El Capitan. It'll probably take another two to three years until I'd call that notebook obsolete, and at that point, it served more than ten years. And I mean ten years of multiple hours of use pretty much every single day.
Well you're either on the edge of the bell curve, or have a light use case. OP would be completely kidding themselves if they were planning on buying a MacBook now and relying on it until 2026. It's even a bit rich to expect to rely on it till 2023.
I mean, obviously every once in a while it happens (great for you), but I've certainly never had a computer legitimately useable for typical professional applications for more than 5 years. Or have any recollection of any colleagues who have either.
Didn't the OP say "It's not used heavy"? I just tried to make a point that for light use, they last a surprisingly long time.
As for professional applications - I don't use my 2009 MacBook Pro for any heavy lifting since 2012 - I do that on a desktop Mac now. But that doesn't mean that there's not tons of typing and office work to do which I still do on that notebook. Just because editing 4k videos or developing high res RAW images isn't any fun on an 8 year old machine doesn't mean it's useless for either private or business use.
But I agree - if you're working with heavy duty apps, don't expect a MacBook to be useful for longer than, say, four to five years. However, it didn't sound like the OP needed to do any heavy duty work on the MBP, or did I miss something?
This. I had a mid-2009 MBP that worked like a champ for 7+ years, and when I realized that it just didn't cut it for what I had to do I upgraded and gave the old guy to my parents, who are still perfectly happy with it. I couldn't do any "pro" stuff on it anymore, but for their needs it's still perfect.
Just because a machine is not suitable for demanding professional workloads anymore, it doesn't suddenly become useless. For light/moderate home and office use, it's very possible for a MacBook Pro to last nearly a decade (accepting the fact that during such a long lifetime there is a high chance that some hardware component might eventually fail, and that when it happens it will likely not be worth the repair).
My 2011 MacBook Air still works well, but the 4GB RAM that was the maximum at the time is more and more of a problem over time, and of course it is not upgradeable. Max out your RAM.
In general I would say it'll feel like new after 2 years.
After 4 years, it still works but you find yourself waiting more, see that spinning wheel of death more, maybe you have to move or delete some stuff because your SSD is full.
After 6 years, you will feel like it's time for a new machine, even if it still works and still runs the latest OS.
In general I would say it'll feel like new after 2 years.
After 4 years, it still works but you find yourself waiting more, see that spinning wheel of death more, maybe you have to move or delete some stuff because your SSD is full.
After 6 years, you will feel like it's time for a new machine, even if it still works and still runs the latest OS.
I've had to have a hard drive bracket (I keep forgetting the technical name for it, it was a known problem) replaced, had my charger replaced, but it was my fault, not because of a faulty cord). I have considered getting a MBA in the early part of 2017, but with a little work on my end and very patient 
phone tech support, its running pretty good.
Yes, sometimes I get the "beachball of death" and I sometimes get a "blue beachball", but all is good if I keep running certain apps. (MacMechanic and TotalAV), but I have roughly have had it since January 10, 2013. I think the only way I'll replace it is if something catastrophic happens and it's unrepairable or not worth repairing it. I've never upgraded my memory for this MBP either.
phone tech support, its running pretty good. Yes, sometimes I get the "beachball of death" and I sometimes get a "blue beachball", but all is good if I keep running certain apps. (MacMechanic and TotalAV), but I have roughly have had it since January 10, 2013. I think the only way I'll replace it is if something catastrophic happens and it's unrepairable or not worth repairing it. I've never upgraded my memory for this MBP either.
All my Apple products last as long as Apple wants them too! My IPad's start having problems at the two year point, my iPhone 5s started having battery problems after the battery fiasco last year. My MacBook Pro USB ports quit working after 1 year. Everything worked fine on these products until the warranty ran out. I know nothing lasts forever, but every product I buy from Apple I know will only last a certain amount of time. I have owned almost every iPhone, iPad model since 2010. I have had 4 MacBook Pro's none of which lasted more than 3 years. If I could get a Dell with macOS I would. Apple's too busy trying to save the world than put out reliable hardware.
Depends. You might want to check out local repair places. I have a friend who charges me like 150 for screen repairs.mine is non retina mid 2012 15" MBP. It just survived the Apple ASD test and going strong, albeit there are a few vertical dead lines on the matte screen!
I am not sure if I want to pay USD 600 for the repair
I've got a 2009 17", with a laughably underpowered Core2Duo & 8GB of like DDR2 ECC ram, an OWC SSD master & a 2TB HD slave. Battery, hi-res antiglare screen every etc are all original and in excellent condition. It's running Sierra just fine, even though Apple tried telling it not to, and we use it for everything from imaging to 3D Solid Modeling to running CNC & rapid prototyping machines, and it occasionally gets pressed into service by IT for networking and offsite backups of controlled data. It's probably the #1 favorite computer here, due to that huge crisp display. I didn't really have a use for it when I found it sitting on the shelf, & figured I'd just use it to use it up, but surprisingly, it just keeps right on going no matter what we throw at it. Crazy. We'll replace it with something newer eventually, and when we do, I'll toss snow leopard back on it and run it as a home server. & enjoy a decent iTunes ui & FrontRow too again. This & the MacBook Air 11 are fantastic machines that complement and complete each other perfectly.
...both discontinued. Next up, the iPad mini...
...both discontinued. Next up, the iPad mini...
I just replaced the trackpad on my 2012 this week, and that is the only "repair" I have had to do thus far. I have tinkered with it (16GB RAM, SSD + optical drive SSD) but that has been the only thing that has NEEDED to be replaced. Its not my daily driver anymore, but its seen a TON of usage....