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how old is too old?

gentjakk

gentjakk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 23, 2017
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Im new in the mac realm. i had one MacBook Pro and sold it like an idiot and now Im looking for an iMac or Mac Mini or maybe even another book. The main reason for buying is to use Garage Band. Im a musician and I need it for home recording. I know I dont want to go beyond el capiton on os because of other software that comes with my music interface. But I dont want to buy one that cant be updated any farther than that either. I

I see used ones that say "early, mid or late 2009 or 2011" or what ever the year might be.
My question is, whats the oldest model i should get that will have at least 2 or 3 years of upgradability?
Thanks for any advice you may have
 
If you can find a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro that is not a retina model, you could continue to use it for several more years. Those models are fully upgradeable for memory and hard drive. You can even install a SSD. Besides that, they have a built in DVD drive and can run the latest version of macOS. Prices on them vary, so shop around but be careful of eBay and Craig's List.
 
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As for iMacs, I would generally stick to Late 2012 or later, since they will have USB 3. Older iMacs back to let's say early 2009 are entirely usable for a lot of things, especially if upgraded with SSD; but I don't know that they are worth the money to buy (as opposed to keep / upgrade) at this point, unless you get one for close to free.
 
Let's keep in mind that the OP said nothing about Apple support, only "upgradeability". Audio doesn't pose nearly the problems that video does, and while I'm no musician, I rather suspect that a decent CPU and USB 3 will handle the OP's needs. A late 2012+ iMac or late 2012+ mac mini ought to suffice.
 
I think the OP needs to state what they might want to upgrade...hardware (memory or storage), OS software, or Garage Band updates.
 
If you're going to be recording in a "home studio" environment, get an iMac.
I'd suggest an Apple-refurbished 2015 model with a 27" display.
Get either a 2tb fusion drive or a "straight SSD" inside.
You don't want the 1tb fusion version.
 
If you go for a MacBook Pro, IMO you should look at the mid-2012 and newer.
 
A few things to keep in mind:
- 2013 was the first year of the last generation of MBPs (Mac laptops). Lighter, thinner, no internal DVD. Memory is soldered to the board. All storage is SSD, which uses a harder to upgrade interface (it can be upgraded internally, it's just more expensive, and it's not Apple).
- MBPs max out for memory at 16GB. That was true in 2011 and is true today. So if you come across a system with 16GB, it cannot be upgraded further.
- Replacing an HDD in a 2012 or earlier is easy, and the SATA-3 interface is the same as other laptops. Doing this makes these machines run better than new. If you find a system with an original HDD, you should replace it anyway - it's at end of life.
- External storage can be either Thunderbolt (fast and expensive), Firewire (on 2012 - legacy) or USB3 (cheap and ubiquitous). You can burn DVDs with virtually any USB3 burner made for PCs. We use a $30 LG.
- As you come across people with images of Mac OS that you might need, get them and store them away. Sometimes app software requires "not the latest," and Apple doesn't really encourage this. Stated another way: If you come across someone with 10.12, get it. It's unlikely you could get this from Apple if/when you want to upgrade.
- Audacity on the Mac is nice, and I use it for quick edits before and after using Audition and GB. And GB, as you probably know, offers an additional 5GB of loops which can be freely downloaded from within the app.
 
gentjakk said:
Im new in the mac realm. i had one MacBook Pro and sold it like an idiot and now Im looking for an iMac or Mac Mini or maybe even another book. The main reason for buying is to use Garage Band. Im a musician and I need it for home recording. I know I dont want to go beyond el capiton on os because of other software that comes with my music interface. But I dont want to buy one that cant be updated any farther than that either. I

I see used ones that say "early, mid or late 2009 or 2011" or what ever the year might be.
My question is, whats the oldest model i should get that will have at least 2 or 3 years of upgradability?
Thanks for any advice you may have
Click to expand...

I guess the question is rather "how important is support/software or ease of upgradability"?

Since your into music, you may not really mind that much about upgrading later on or the fact u don't have Retina,

I wouldn't go too old, but maybe few years from current. Price will be the biggest factor... the older the machine,, chances are the cheaper it would be. 2007 or newer on Elcap...

since not all features would work on older macs, that may not be an issue either.
 
Tech198 said:
guess the question is rather "how important is support/software or ease of upgradability"?
Click to expand...
A good point. The current GB requires Mac OS X 10.11. I suspect at some point a new version of GB will require a newer version of Mac OS X.
 
Do not buy older than a mid 2010 Mac if you plan to operate the latest version of Mac OS. I would recommend at oldest a mid 2012 Mac. With the graphics card they have, they will last for at least a couple more years still. Also, I do recording on my Mac and I would definitely recommend purchasing Logic Pro from the App Store . It will take you much further than Garage Band is able to. It comes with an endless arsenal of sounds (vsts). Cheers.
 
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