Older MBP to tinker with?

[Rocko99991]

Can anyone recommend an older MPB to tinker with? Budget would be $300-400. Use would only be browsing and music. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Webster's Mac]

mid-2012 non-retina macbook pro. Great computers, you can replace the battery/ram/hard drive fairly easily if they fail or start to perform below your standards. You should be able to get a decent-nice condition one on eBay for that price.

 

[Rocko99991]

mid-2012 non-retina macbook pro. Great computers, you can replace the battery/ram/hard drive fairly easily if they fail or start to perform below your standards. You should be able to get a decent-nice condition one on eBay for that price.

Awesome. Thank you.

 

[maflynn]

The newer you get the less you'll be able to tinker. The 2012 rMBP has its ram soldered onto the logic board, though the storage can be upgraded. So you'll want a pre-retina model.

 

[Frieg]

Are used MBP's so cheap in the US? In Germany you can get max a late 2011 MBP 13'' for 300-400€, and only if they haven't been upgraded in any way (ssd, more ram).
It's hard to geht a non retina 2012 mbp for under 600€ here...

 

[robvas]

Are used MBP's so cheap in the US? In Germany you can get max a late 2011 MBP 13'' for 300-400€, and only if they haven't been upgraded in any way (ssd, more ram).
It's hard to geht a non retina 2012 mbp for under 600€ here...

I have found 2010's for $200 (even one for $100!) and 2011's for $50-$100 more than that. 2012's can be found cheap but many people still want $400 for them.

 

[Hater]

Awesome. Thank you.

Just make sure it's an Nvidia model (Mid 2012), not an ATi one (Early 2012) (discreet graphics)

The ATi models are prone to logic board failure.

 

[Rocko99991]

Just make sure it's an Nvidia model (Mid 2012), not an ATi one (Early 2012) (discreet graphics)

The ATi models are prone to logic board failure.

Is there a specific way I can tell the difference other than the early/late description?
[doublepost=1530890843][/doublepost]

I have found 2010's for $200 (even one for $100!) and 2011's for $50-$100 more than that. 2012's can be found cheap but many people still want $400 for them.

Is it a huge step up from the 2010/11 to the 2012?

 

[clangers23]

Always tempted to find a 17" quad core on eBay, just a shame they're still out of your budget.

 

[Frieg]

Is there a specific way I can tell the difference other than the early/late description?
[doublepost=1530890843][/doublepost]
Is it a huge step up from the 2010/11 to the 2012?

Yes! Just because all Ports are USB 3.0, huge plus for external storage because everything with Thunderbolt is crazy expensive and sometimes slower than on a usb 3.0 port. Then the Intel HD3000 (late 2011) support has been dropped by all the Adobe software if you plan to use any. The models with dedicated gpu are a no go because they died and still die like flies.
But a late 2011 is still pretty usable, i still use mine (13'' 250 SSD 16 gigs) for almost everything, even final cut pro works pretty decent if you dont' plan to feed it with more than 1080p and can stand the cpu fan yelling at you now and then. The xcode simulator lags like hell tho...
Oh, and handoff with airdrop macbook-iphone doesen't work with the late 2011 because it doesen't have the needed bluetooth 4.0 module

 

[redheeler]

Always tempted to find a 17" quad core on eBay, just a shame they're still out of your budget.

It's possible the price will come down thanks to Apple (prematurely when it comes to the capability of the hardware) dropping support in MacOS Mojave. Running Mojave unsupported is doable on the 17" 2011, but requires disabling the dedicated GPU by setting a (non-permanent) NVRAM variable.

 

[Rocko99991]

Update: Got a late 2011 MBP. 2.4ghz, 4g ram. Replaced the battery, threw in a 500gb Samsung SSD, installed High Sierra. Man, I am really impressed with how well this thing runs for being 7 years old. It's feels almost as fast as my 2017 MBA.

I bough A-Tech 8gb ram chip but it wouldn't work-rebooted constantly, froze up on login so I returned it. I guess I will try Crucial memory-it's just more expensive.

Thanks for everyone's input.