HS student looking for advice.

[gpsmith01]

I Am currently in my second year of homeschool high school. I do a dvd based schooling program and am looking to get some device to play DVDs. I can only afford cheap laptops or old MacBooks and since I like OS X, I thought I'd look around. I have 220$ and am only looking to smoothly run basic tasks like



watching dvds

surfing the web

writing papers

watching YouTube videos

keeping a calendar

etc



and was looking at either a MacBook Pro 2006, or MacBook 2008 plastic white finish. I only need it to work for about 2 1/2 years before I go to college where I will get a better one. Will one of those computers supply my needs, do I need to get a Windows laptop, or should I look for a different MacBook?



thanks so much for the help!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

DVD players tend to be the first component to fail in a computer (of any brand). So, the older the computer you buy, the more likely you'll need to replace it during the next 2.5 years.

It is cheaper to buy an external DVD drive than it is to pay a shop to replace an internal DVD drive.

Also, you're looking at MacBooks that cannot run run any version of OS X since Lion (10.7.x). If, say, you get a new iPhone or iPad, it won't be able to run the version of iTunes you need to sync that iPhone/iPad (iTunes 12.3.x requires OS X 10.8.5 or newer). There will be issues with web sites that require browser plug-ins that your machine can't run...

Overall, while those machines may still be running in 2.5 years, you may not be able to get all the use from those machine that you may hope.

 

[Tomorrow]

surfing the web

writing papers

watching YouTube videos

keeping a calendar

etc

Your budget is going to be a bit of an obstacle, but fortunately, you can accomplish all these tasks pretty easily with just about any computer, including a netbook. YouTube might be a bit of a challenge for older hardware if you use it extensively and watch a lot of HD video.

Just a thought, have you considered just getting a tablet for these tasks?

 

[CooperBox]

Imho the white polycarbonate 2008 MacBook 2008 would be a great choice, and would suit your needs. I have one it's highly recommended. I'm still running Snow Leopard on it which I prefer to the later Lion. Don't be concerned about not running current El Capitan - many would say (myself included) that could be blessing.........