Resolved Pre-Unibody Macbook Pro 15" or 17"?

[robertneville77]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to purchase an older Mac laptop on eBay for an older person. This person's main use for the laptop is essentially Photoshop CS6 with some web browsing. Also, the person's eyes are not the best, so he requested a 15" or 17". The person's budget is around $300. (might be able to bump this up a bit more, but need a really good reason).

So this pretty much leaves me looking around 2007-2008 models (pre-unibody).

So the question is, should I get a 15" or 17"? Besides being pricier, what has me more worried is that I keep hearing about the 17" having GPU issues. Should I stay away from the pre-unibody 17" then?

Also, were there any issues with the 15" that I should be aware of?

Thanks

 

[nufanec]

Regarding the issue you will have heard about with the GPUs both the 15 and 17 were affected. It was to do with the NVIDIA 8600M GT cards that they both used. There was a quality program for quite a while to replace the logic board if they suffered from the issue but all the pre-unibody machines are now vintage and Apple don't repair them any more.

I would see if you could get an early unibody 15. More reliable.

 

[robertneville77]

Regarding the issue you will have heard about with the GPUs both the 15 and 17 were affected. It was to do with the NVIDIA 8600M GT cards that they both used. There was a quality program for quite a while to replace the logic board if they suffered from the issue but all the pre-unibody machines are now vintage and Apple don't repair them any more.

I would see if you could get an early unibody 15. More reliable.

Yeah, this is what I've chosen to do, and if it costs a bit more, it'll be worth it. Thanks for the advice!

 

[theluggage]

QUOTE="nufanec, post: 22450914, member: 57978"]Regarding the issue you will have heard about with the GPUs both the 15 and 17 were affected. It was to do with the NVIDIA 8600M GT cards that they both used.[/QUOTE]

I thought the GPU problem was with the 2011-2013 unibody MBPs (AMD graphics)?

https://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

My 2011 17" MBP failed last year and was fixed under the apple repair extension program. Was there a similar issue with earlier Macs (seems like carelessness)?

Yeah, this is what I've chosen to do, and if it costs a bit more, it'll be worth it. Thanks for the advice!

One other heads up: Some MacBook Pros came with high resolution screens: The 2008 17" was 1680x1050 but there was a 1920x1200 option, which I think was standard by 2011. ISTR there was a higher res option on the 15" as well. These weren't like "retina" displays where everything was scaled to the same size but sharper: the icons, system text, widgets etc. were all slightly smaller c.f. the standard res model. Generally a Good Feature which would command a premium from the younglings, might not be such a clear win if eyesight is an issue.

 

[robertneville77]

One other heads up: Some MacBook Pros came with high resolution screens: The 2008 17" was 1680x1050 but there was a 1920x1200 option, which I think was standard by 2011. ISTR there was a higher res option on the 15" as well. These weren't like "retina" displays where everything was scaled to the same size but sharper: the icons, system text, widgets etc. were all slightly smaller c.f. the standard res model. Generally a Good Feature which would command a premium from the younglings, might not be such a clear win if eyesight is an issue.

I hear you, that higher resolution could be an issue...but I thought you could still change the resolution to a lower setting to make the everything look bigger? Might be a bit "fuzzier" but this older person won't care since they just want to see larger text/buttons/objects.

 

[theluggage]

I hear you, that higher resolution could be an issue...but I thought you could still change the resolution to a lower setting to make the everything look bigger? Might be a bit "fuzzier" but this older person won't care since they just want to see larger text/buttons/objects.

Absolutely - Its not so much a "don't buy" as a "maybe don't pay over the odds for a HD screen". Plus, anything with a zoom function is fine.

However, I wouldn't just assume that someone with eyesight issues would be oblivious to this: its not always a simple case of "can focus" or "can't focus" - when my eyes are tired I find the default font size on my 1920x1200 17" a bit of a strain but I can also see the 'fuzz' at 1680x1050 which doesn't help when trying to focus...