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Looking to buy a Early 2011 Macbook pro 15

R

rhetorique

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2011
20
0
The asking price is 500 $ The guy says he bought it in 2010 but here are the specs : 2,3 ghz, 4GB ram et 500 HDD . From what I could gather on everymac.com it corresponds to a 2011 model ...
 
Dark Void

Dark Void

macrumors 68030
Jun 1, 2011
2,614
479
rhetorique said:
The asking price is 500 $ The guy says he bought it in 2010 but here are the specs : 2,3 ghz, 4GB ram et 500 HDD . From what I could gather on everymac.com it corresponds to a 2011 model ...
Click to expand...

Well if it's a 2011 model that the seller claims to have purchased in 2010 there is your first issue.
 
R

rhetorique

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2011
20
0
well the guy is not very computer-savvy, and after 4-5 years you might not remember the exact year you bought a unit. In any case, i'd like to know more about those graphics failure and other details i should be aware of.
 
Dark Void

Dark Void

macrumors 68030
Jun 1, 2011
2,614
479
rhetorique said:
well the guy is not very computer-savvy, and after 4-5 years you might not remember the exact year you bought a unit. In any case, i'd like to know more about those graphics failure and other details i should be aware of.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't make excuses for the seller in that regard. It's easy to get scammed. I'd be sure about what computer it actually is before going forward. It's very easy for the seller to find out and take a photograph. I would ask more questions about it.

Knowing more about graphics failure issues and their possibilities means we would have to know what the computer is. 2010 MacBook Pros aren't prone to these failures and didn't have replacement programs initiated for them like the 2011 models did.
 
ipooed

ipooed

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2014
638
271
rhetorique said:
Hi guys

I saw a nice offer for a macbook pro 15 inch !

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-15-early-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html

I have got some questions for you guys :
- Is this a reliable model ? What should i look for in terms of problem for this specific model ?
- How would you proceed when going to see the buyer in a coffee shop ? Should i perform a Apple hardware test ? If so how ?

Thanks guys !
Click to expand...
Avoid it! Save up a few more bucks and go with a newer model (second hand if you like) I was also thinking of purchasing a 2011 MacBook Pro but after extensive research I decided that year models are lemons.
 
R

rhetorique

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2011
20
0
500$ at best, right now i have a mid 2009 white macbook, so even a macbook pro 15 2010 would be a substantial gain in performance. Just to give you an idea, white macbook still go between 250 and 400 in my city in classified ads.
 
R

rhetorique

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2011
20
0
Are all macbook pro 15 inch prone to gpu failures, i previously had a macbook pro with the 8600m (2008) and the gpu failed on me, so this issue still plagues 15 inch macbook pro ? I can't afford a 2012, what's my best bet ?
 
O

OrangeInc

macrumors regular
Jul 31, 2013
110
30
rhetorique said:
Are all macbook pro 15 inch prone to gpu failures, i previously had a macbook pro with the 8600m (2008) and the gpu failed on me, so this issue still plagues 15 inch macbook pro ? I can't afford a 2012, what's my best bet ?
Click to expand...

15" and 17" MBP from 2011-2013 have the GPU issue. The GPU will eventually fail. I would stay away from those. Since you only have a $500 budget I think it's best to go with a 13" or 11" MBA or MBP. Make sure it's an i-core version (2011-present). The core 2 duo's are incredibly slow and have a terrible integrated graphics card which won't fail but you'll barely be able to watch HD video with them. People will try and pass the core 2 duo versions for the newer i-core versions. Also regarding lack of USB3, the thunderbolt ports on the 2011+ unibody's have more bandwidth than USB3 (it's faster) so you can just get an adapter if you really need to move some serious files back and forth.
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
rhetorique said:
Are all macbook pro 15 inch prone to gpu failures, i previously had a macbook pro with the 8600m (2008) and the gpu failed on me, so this issue still plagues 15 inch macbook pro ? I can't afford a 2012, what's my best bet ?
Click to expand...
2008, 2010, 2011 cMBPs are prone to GPU failures. And so are mid-2012 and early-2013 retina MBPs.

In the case of Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge MBPs, GPU failures are currently covered under a repair program.
 
R

rhetorique

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2011
20
0
I could buy this model for around 600 bucks. HEre is the full description.

Excellent condition, 15’’ screen Core i7 2,66GHZ processor, 500GB Hard disk and 4 GB RAM.
Has very slight scratches from normal use not catchable by camera.
Battery has been change by a new one and as you can see the system report in picture shows it has only 3 charging cycles. The bottom plate has been change because it was scratched and missing a rubber pad.

Thoughts on this model ? GPU ?
I would swap on a sata III drive, this has only a sata II port, would it work in SATA III ? ( I currently have a white macbook 2009 and the nvidia chipset reduces the speed to SATA I)

Thanks guys for your answers so far !
 
S

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
Sata 3 is back compatible but you get about half the max speed out of an ssd if thats what you are using (it makes no difference for an HDD).

Unless we know the year or the GPU it's difficult to say. That looks to be this 2010 model.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-2.66-aluminum-15-mid-2010-unibody-specs.html

The Nividia 330M GPU also has issues and also had a replacement program that has finished, so you buy at your own risk.

At least the 2011 GPU issue si still covered by apple to be fixed until feb 2016.
 
R

RUGGLES99

macrumors 6502
Feb 9, 2015
409
99
I bought a used 2010 15" mbp i5 on ebay from a very honest brick and mortar retail store. It was in mint condition and covered for 90 days. All went well, but eventually i began getting kernel panic crashes, restarts, etc. The gpu kept jumping back and forth from one to another. I knew it had failed. I took it into the genius and was quoted over $500 if they did it in-house or $300 if sent out for repair. I contacted the seller and theyvery generously paid half of the $300. I paid $750 for the compute, and now it'll cost me another $150 to get it fixed. Ugh!
 
tombiscuit

tombiscuit

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2015
84
67
UK
rhetorique said:
Hi guys

I saw a nice offer for a macbook pro 15 inch !

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-15-early-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html

I have got some questions for you guys :
- Is this a reliable model ? What should i look for in terms of problem for this specific model ?
- How would you proceed when going to see the buyer in a coffee shop ? Should i perform a Apple hardware test ? If so how ?

Thanks guys !
Click to expand...

An ultrasimple hardware test to find out if the CPU is prone to overheating (i.e. whether the fan is working correctly) is to open a Terminal window and type the following:

yes > /dev/null

I'm not sure how many cores the 2011 MacBook Pro has but you need to do this for every core AND every thread in a new tab within Terminal at the same time as the existing test -- on my MBP 2015 model I need to do this eight times (four cores each with two threads).

The fans will spin up. Leave it for around five minutes. If nothing crashes then you're OK. The Mac will get hot though.

Also, I wrote about upgrading old Macs so they have cutting edge new. It was for MacWorld -- see http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/upgrade-old-mac-more-power-create-frankenmac-3600300/
 
R

rhetorique

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2011
20
0
Tom, I'll check out that method and thanks for your input ruggless99.

Well yesterday, I went and bought a 13 inch macbook pro mid 2012 ( 4gb ram, battery still at 85 % capacity) for 650 $, which I believe is a good price. The macbook pro is in pristine condition. Everything works perfectly (108 cycles on the battery.)

However, i saw this 15inch today and I was wondering if I made the right choice. I know you guys warned me about the 15 inch model but I would just have loved to have a dedicated gpu for occasional gaming.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-portables/vi...011-2-2-ghz-i7-16-go-ram-suite-cs6/1089350936

It specifically says that the guy got problem with the video card.... so i'm guessing this could happen again.

What do you guys think ? Please make me feel like I made the right choice. (also could not have known that this would come the next day.
 
ApolloBoy

ApolloBoy

macrumors 6502a
Apr 16, 2015
778
305
San Jose, CA
rhetorique said:
Well yesterday, I went and bought a 13 inch macbook pro mid 2012 ( 4gb ram, battery still at 85 % capacity) for 650 $, which I believe is a good price. The macbook pro is in pristine condition. Everything works perfectly (108 cycles on the battery.)
Click to expand...
I have one of those as well, it's a very nice model and with an SSD it flies.
 
M

mnstrchld

macrumors newbie
Jul 23, 2015
1
0
United Kingdom
ive had this machine for the last few years and it is a great piece of kit.

i7 2.3ghz, 16gb ram and a 960gb SSD - it flies! the only thing is it is pretty heavy. i'm always eyeing up the latest rMBPs with envy!
 
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