my mid-2009 13" now has an SSD and is still happily humming along running Catalina (courtesy of dosdude's patches) - not as fast as the M1 Mini, but still reasonable for a 12 year old machine.
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The oldest MBP in active service.
- Thread starter EuroChilli
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Still run a 2008 MacBook (not pro), runs fine, I'm on a MBA M1 right now and have an iPad Pro 12.9, big difference with these 2, the 2008 has been an absolute war horse, super impressive unit.
I did a few upgrades similar to OP, RAM upgrade and SSD.
I'm 52 now, have worked for Apple and my first computer was an Apple II, the first unibody MacBook was one of the best ever.
I did a few upgrades similar to OP, RAM upgrade and SSD.
I'm 52 now, have worked for Apple and my first computer was an Apple II, the first unibody MacBook was one of the best ever.
Yeah, that's the spirit! Doing the same with my 2007 MBP 3,1 which thankfully has a revised GPU.
I had a 17" 2010 that I absolutely loved, and it still worked great (just a little sluggish), but 2 years ago, I spilled a drink on it and fried the motherboard. But in the days where I'd switch off between my 2015 15" MBP and the old 17", it always blew me away how much nicer the 17" screen was.
My daughter is still using her 2010 15" Macbook Pro for EVERYTHING. I keep asking if she'd like a new one, but she's fine with it - school, gaming, you name it. I got a 2018 Mac Mini as an emergency backup, but she almost exclusively uses her 2010.
My daughter is still using her 2010 15" Macbook Pro for EVERYTHING. I keep asking if she'd like a new one, but she's fine with it - school, gaming, you name it. I got a 2018 Mac Mini as an emergency backup, but she almost exclusively uses her 2010.
Funny story about my 17" 2010 - it had the NVIDIA discrete GPU in it, and while this wasn't in any of the specs, I was shocked to find it actually supported 4K output! (It was only at 24-30 Hz, but that was more than fine!). Sadly, I loved seeing 4K out of it so much that I used it all the time. After only a month of doing that, the GPU burnt up and I had to replace it. The repair shop said that they could no longer get any of the original NVIDIA chips to replace it with - that Apple has "respun" a new version of the old part to fix some "bugs" in it back around 2013. I got the new NVIDIA chip, and then, sure enough, it couldn't do 4K output anymore. But it could always do 2,560 x 1,600, which is still a great resolution. All those 2010 machines were absolute tanks - I'm convinced mine would still be working fine today, like my daughters, had I not totalled it.
I am using a mid-2010 15" MBP, memory at its max with 8gigs and HD replaced with a 1Tb SSD. It still serves me well and I would not be replacing it except for the software which is showing its age. I can subscribe to any streaming services (using a Chrome browser - an "update" broke Safari's ability to stream) except for Apple+. I find it ironic that the only streaming service I can't get on my 11 year old Apple MBP is Apple's own streaming service.
Even my 2006 MBP with the ATI Radeon X1600 can do 4K at 30 Hz. So that's nothing special.
Would still be using my 2011 MBP if it weren't for the GPU fail...only reason I bought the 2017 model. Whole issue still has a very sour taste....I'm beginning to think I have one of the oldest MBP's still in daily use.
Now when I say 'active service / daily use', I am still using my Late 2011 MBP running High Sierra for all daily activities; web design, web browsing, Netflix, Spotify etc etc, I don't have another computer. However, I think this dear old machine of mine is starting to show its age, in very subtle ways, like Bluetooth dropping out every now and again. There are also some newer apps I thought to try out such as those from Adobe, but they have refused to run/open. I'm still using iPhoto and Aperture.
What I have done to this machine over the years is to open it myself with a screw driver and to replace the factory fitted 500GB HD with a 1TB Seagate hybrid drive. I have also swapped out the original 4GB RAM with 16GB, and after 2000 cycles the other month, the battery too. As it is right now, this thing of beauty still boots up and does its job, for the most part, but for security among a few other reasons I think its time to get something new for my daily stuff. I have no intention of getting rid of this old dinosaur as I plan to keep using it for my carefully curated decade old 180GB iTunes library.
I guess my question is who here has an older machine as your daily? Are you like me now considering an upgrade? What to? I have seriously got my eyes on the latest M1 MacBook Air, 8GB RAM 256GB storage. I have well over 10TB worth of portable external drives lying around, and from what I read, 8 RAM is plenty for what I do, and then some. I only have 16GB in this oldie because the price difference between 8 & 16 was about 20 bucks, but with the new Air, we are looking at a difference of around $300.
Oddly enough, this 2kg cinder block on my lap is starting to feel even heavier as I write this....10 years for a computer, what an innings
I daily an early 2011 13" MBP (8,1).
Upgrades:
* 80gb HD -> 120gb SSD
* 4gb -> 16gb ram
* Catalina (dosdude1)
* DVD -> Bluray (why not)
* wifi/bt from a 2012 (for AirDrop)
It runs great, as long as you don't ask it to decode 4K video. Steam in-home streaming works perfectly if I wanna game from the sofa or something.
Upgrades:
* 80gb HD -> 120gb SSD
* 4gb -> 16gb ram
* Catalina (dosdude1)
* DVD -> Bluray (why not)
* wifi/bt from a 2012 (for AirDrop)
It runs great, as long as you don't ask it to decode 4K video.
Steam in-home streaming works perfectly if I wanna game from the sofa or something.I'm still using a mid-2010, 13-inch, MBP running macOS 10.13.6 here. It's my only Mac at the moment. It's noticeably slow for basic websurfing and whatnot, but it gets the basic jobs done. I'm definitely planning on replacing it this year with a 2021 MBP, whenever that might be announced.
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I have a 2011 Macbook Air 13". It still works fine. THe only problem we have been having is with updates to MS Office. The office updater wants the OS updated which Apple of course stopped doing. I upgraded the SSD to a 512 gb about 4 years ago. I handed it down to my wife who uses it daily, but is now considering an upgrade because MS office is where her company uses a lot of MS software. She is considering an M1 Macbook Pro but really wants a bigger screen. I told her I think the M1 would be more future proof as far as the Intel processors. It seems like they get more sluggish as the years go on in Intel CPU's laptops. Plus they are less expensive.
A Late 2011 running 10.12 is my web/mail/personal data go-to machine. It has seen two memory upgrades, two GPU repairs (exclusively running on iGPU for 6 years now), a move from various hard drive models to SSD and a swap of the fans. I was ready to upgrade from it about five years ago but they stopped coming out with upgradeable machines around that point. I kept hoping for better times, still kinda am I suppose.
Were it not for the current shortage of chips it would by now have been replaced with an AMD powered laptop. Given the current situation I might keep it running through 2021.
The replacement will not be running macOS however. That's the single biggest reason I held out for so long (that and I have other machines for work requiring performance - I'm totally off the laptop-that-does-it-all train).
Were it not for the current shortage of chips it would by now have been replaced with an AMD powered laptop. Given the current situation I might keep it running through 2021.
The replacement will not be running macOS however. That's the single biggest reason I held out for so long (that and I have other machines for work requiring performance - I'm totally off the laptop-that-does-it-all train).
She could do what I am doing. I have a M1 MacBook Air, and a 24 inch Samsung display on my desk
The battery is the biggest pain point for me. On my Early 2011 MBP, the stock battery swelled, so I bought an eBay replacement. That failed within a month so they sent another. That failed a few months after that. Then I bought a used but lowish cycle OEM battery from a parts machine and that's going strong. Currently 249 cycles.
This time I put Charge Limiter on there and set it to max at 80%. Hopefully the wear will be minimal and it'll last me until I finally let go of the machine (out of my cold, dead hands).
I arrived late to this post but I still use a macbook pro early 2011 13 "i5. but last year I improved it with a change of thermal paste, cleaner the piezes, install two ssd at 2tb, I replaced the ram from 4 to 16gb. the performance changed for the better But when trying to user apps video editor applications the fan goes crazy, and that was trying to occupy fcp 10.0.3 and now the imovie 10.0.6 happens to me the same thing. I have as a last alternative to install the adobe creative suite 6 that came out in the 2012, but I don't want to install something that may not work well ..... Has anyone managed to get adobe cs 6 working well on this mbp?
I’m studying for my software development masters with my trusty mid 2009 MacBook Pro running El Capitan. New battery installed this year and a 275 gb SSD installed a couple of years ago. Everything else still working perfectly and is being retired when the 14” MacBook Pro’s drop (fingers crossed next month.
I still use my 2006 macPro 1.1 as a bit of a server as it runs in safe mode due to the graphics card failing last year. All that shiny engineered aluminium and I can’t bring myself to bin it lol.
I think I need to really let go and break out the credit card😀
I still use my 2006 macPro 1.1 as a bit of a server as it runs in safe mode due to the graphics card failing last year. All that shiny engineered aluminium and I can’t bring myself to bin it lol.
I think I need to really let go and break out the credit card😀
2006 15" MacBook Pro (I put an SSD in it, and had its logic board replaced due to 'bumpgate'), that I gave to my parents when I got my 2011 17" MBP.
Then my 2011 MBP's GPU went bad ('bumpgate' vol. 2), so I bought a 2018 15", and did the firmware fix to disable it in the meantime.
So my parents have in the last few months started to use the 2011 (which sat in a bag for years), however it also has a dead battery so is hamstrung by severe throttling, and is therefore not much better than the 2006.
End result is both a 2006 15" MBP and a 2011 17" MBP in active service today. I'm planning on getting a 16" Apple Silicon MBP, and will likely gift them my current 2018. Hopefully that will convince them to put both old computers out of their misery.
Then my 2011 MBP's GPU went bad ('bumpgate' vol. 2), so I bought a 2018 15", and did the firmware fix to disable it in the meantime.
So my parents have in the last few months started to use the 2011 (which sat in a bag for years), however it also has a dead battery so is hamstrung by severe throttling, and is therefore not much better than the 2006.
End result is both a 2006 15" MBP and a 2011 17" MBP in active service today. I'm planning on getting a 16" Apple Silicon MBP, and will likely gift them my current 2018. Hopefully that will convince them to put both old computers out of their misery.