How much life do you believe you can get out of your MacBook.

[Samantha124]

I still have a 2011 13'' Macbook Pro that is starting to give me problems/getting on my nerves. Its a little on the slow side even after installing a clean OS X. Not too bad though its tolerable. But the USB is pretty much dead. I get a ridiculous error about it drawing too much power. I really wish the USB would work because I have an IPAD Pro and don't need a new computer. If I could get the USB working I'd consider adding more RAM. But who knows it might be time to get a new one.

 

[bradl]

Until last June, my wife's 2008 15" MBP worked like a champ. Yes, it was slower compared to other models today, but it worked and suited her needs. We never updated it past Snow Leopard, which suited her fine.

It was around the beginning of June that the display started to go, and the battery expanded, making the entire thing useless. We took one last backup, and the following week, picked her up the 12" Macbook.

That was 7 years for that. On the other side, I'm going on 5 years on my mid-2011 13" MBA. It's still running strong, and I've done a clean install of every OS since purchasing it: Lion all the way up to El Capitan. So the $1400 - $1800 investment on a machine like that over a 5-7 year period is definitely worth it, compared to most PC laptops that die right after that 2-year warranty expires (yes, I'm looking at you, Dell).

BL.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I think laptops today have become like cars. Provided your demands aren't too extreme, and you keep up with good maintenance and care, there is no reason a laptop shouldn't last 5-10 years.

 

[Jack Neill]

My newest Mac is a early 09 white book, has a 240 SSD, 8Gb ram and El Cap, works great for what I use Macs for these days. I expect to use it until OS X wont support it and I'll buy one that will. I'll still cling on to my PowerBooks for PPC stuff, and the nostalgia of 10.4/10.5. Man those were some good days in MacTown...

 

[josh36]

for last 3 years I am using my brother Macbook, it is still working fine and i believe it will work for 3 more years

 

[deeddawg]

My (adult) daughter is still using my 2010 MBP13 as her primary computer. Her needs are basic web, email, music, social, etc. I did have the HDD die at about year 3 and replaced with an SSD then. Otherwise that's five and a half years continuous use.

I also had a 2011 MBA13 for four years; I'd switched to it from the MBP13 because I needed more screen real-estate (1440x900) for the things I was doing, I ran across a great deal, and my daughter needed to replace a previous windows computer.

A month ago I bought my rMB because I wanted a smaller/lighter travel computer, wanted more storage space than I had on the MBA13, and ran across a great deal on an openbox. My MBA13 will serve someone else well.

 

[drjsway]

I'm hoping my 2015 rMB lasts forever (or at least until components fail). We are already at 14nm. Even if we get to 7nm, it won't be dramatically faster, and the future of Moore's Law seems uncertain after that. I might be wrong but there's a chance we are reaching the limits of computing power.

 

[kaiju_wars]

I'm hoping my 2015 rMB lasts forever (or at least until components fail). We are already at 14nm. Even if we get to 7nm, it won't be dramatically faster, and the future of Moore's Law seems uncertain after that. I might be wrong but there's a chance we are reaching the limits of computing power.

Speaking of Moore's Law. There's this interesting video by the 8-Bit Guy where he discusses it. His argument is in favor of Moore's Law. By the end he states how it might not be so much as computer hardware is slowing down, but software is getting less and less demanding, meaning less demand to upgrade one's PC.

 

[laudern]

By the end he states how it might not be so much as computer hardware is slowing down, but software is getting less and less demanding, meaning less demand to upgrade one's PC.

This guy has obviously never owned an ios device which is 3 years or more old. Or this could be an entirety different issue....

 

[eyeseeyou]

I guess it depends on what you're going to be using it for. I use my early 2011 macbook and I don't experience any lag after installing an SSD, 8gb of ram, a new battery and this weekend installing a 4.0 bluetooth module.

 

[kaiju_wars]

This guy has obviously never owned an ios device which is 3 years or more old. Or this could be an entirety different issue....

I have an iPhone 5S and it's handled everything I've thrown at it. (For all that you can throw at an iPhone) I think the game changer there was the 64-bit processor. I think mobile software has come to the point that having a 64-bit chip in a smartphone pays off now.

But either way, I recommend checking out his video, it's really informative.
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I guess it depends on what you're going to be using it for. I use my early 2011 macbook and I don't experience any lag after installing an SSD, 8gb of ram, a new battery and this weekend installing a 4.0 bluetooth module.

Same. My 2010 MacBook handles everything. Hell, I run VMs on this thing.