Not looking for a fight, just a genuine question.

[Freyqq]

Soldered down does mean that fixes are more expensive, as you have to replace everything. But, only one extra component is soldered in compared to other laptops - the ram. I honestly can't remember a single time that ram has failed on me outside of a year warranty. It either is a good stick of ram or a bad stick of ram, and it is pretty apparent when it is a bad stick of ram. They don't really break over time.

 

[BoneDaddy]

Also, keep in mind an older Mac will not have thunderbolt 2.0 and and most won't have USB 3.0. You may not really need it, but it something you probably want to know.