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Thinking about buying my friends old Macbook Pro?

S

seeforyourself

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 1, 2014
400
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Ok, so my friend has a 2009 Macbook Pro 2.26 core 2 duo with 250GB 4gb ram.

It is so slow and she will be purchasing a new 15" macbook pro retina (base).

I currently have a 15" retina 2.8GHz I7 quadcore with 1tb SSD (top of the end of late 2014 model). The problem is that this laptop was well over $3,000 after taxes. I just have this laptop hooked up to my monitor and use it as a desktop. I currently just use my macbook pro for gaming. My friend will sell her laptop for $200 (or maybe $150).

I told her that she can reinstall everything to see if it goes faster but she wants a new laptop. I go to college and I am always very paranoid with my macbook pro so I would love to have a beater laptop to bring to school and just do school work on (but that defeats my macbook pro retina's use!).

Should I just buy hers and reinstall everything and replace the battery and use that and sell my 15" and buy a imac for cheaper and have a bit better specs?

What will be a good idea?
 
Stick a SSD in it and you should be good for general school work.
The Oem drive is most likely 5400 rpm unit.
Also the drive may be dying as that would make it perform slower.

If it functions well $150 I would do it in your shoes and $200 is frankly not bad.
 
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adam9c1 said:
Stick a SSD in it and you should be good for general school work.
The Oem drive is most likely 5400 rpm unit.
Also the drive may be dying as that would make it perform slower.

If it functions well $150 I would do it in your shoes and $200 is frankly not bad.
Click to expand...

I was just reading up putting a SSD in it will boost the speed up and save battery so I'll definitely do that if I decide to buy it
 
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If you can get a good working unit go for it. If you know it's stable ie no video motherboard etc problems go do it.

Upgrade to ssd and fresh install. Later if you have funds buy more ram if you'd like.

This machine should last you few years for basic tasks.

Exactly what the doctor ordered.

Treat your Mbp to iMac switch as another transaction.

Once you are happy with the performance for the portable use then look into switching your fast Mbp to iMac.

It sounds like a great deal.
 
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As long as its in working condition with no defects, to max out that 2009 MBP:
Friend's MBP = $200
New 512gb SSD = $230
Battery replacement = $130
8gb RAM kit = $40
Yosemite = free
TOTAL = $600
Less than half the price of a new MBP 13. Your choice.
 
Don't buy a 512gb ssd.
240gb = 70

Or buy a used 30-60. This is not a machine for storage but to type papers and look up stuff...
 
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makinao said:
As long as its in working condition with no defects, to max out that 2009 MBP:
Friend's MBP = $200
New 512gb SSD = $230
Battery replacement = $130
8gb RAM kit = $40
Yosemite = free
TOTAL = $600
Less than half the price of a new MBP 13. Your choice.
Click to expand...


I'll put a 120gb SSD , battery replacement and that's it.

This is only going to be used to type papers like Adam said

maybe the SSD will save power and I won't need the battery (she replaced it last year and she says the battery still sucks...
 
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Yep, Some really good advice in this thread. I have a 2006 white macbook that's been handed down three times. I maxed out the memory and put in a cheap SSD several years ago and the machine runs like a champ for browsing, word processing, iTunes, etc.

The great thing about a cheap, beater laptop is that you don't have to worry about it.
 
While this should run Yosemite, I suggest you install Mountain Lion or Mavericks and you may get better speeds.
Again if this machine checks out OK then it's no brainer. If it's flakey then it's a different story.
If it looks good (ie performs normally) buy it, use it for 2 weeks, then get a SSD.
 
seeforyourself said:
I'll put a 120gb SSD , battery replacement and that's it.
This is only going to be used to type papers like Adam said.
maybe the SSD will save power and I won't need the battery (she replaced it last year and she says the battery still sucks...
Click to expand...

Sounds good if your needs are modest.

I wonder what your friend means by sucky battery life though. MacBooks in 2009 didn't have the kind of battery life that current ones do. Apple claimed 7 hours for that model, but you'd need to be in full energy saving mode, running only a couple of apps, no radios on (wifi, bluetooth), and screen brightness set to minimum to get that long. Check the battery health and cycle count before getting a new one. If the health is "good", battery cycles are low (100 or lower), and the capacity is still 90% or better, then keep it and learn to squeeze out as many hours as you can. The SSD will most probably help.

On Yosemite, I have a 2009 White Macbook 13" with 4gb RAM and a 500gb 5400 rpm HD (handed down to my wife) which I just upgraded from Snow Leopard straight to Yosemite 10.10.4. No problems as of now.
 
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it seems like Apple fell in love with 5400 rpm hard drives.
I have a white macbook pre unibody white, upgraded to wd blue, wd black, ssd and each step I felt big improvement in speed and battery life.
after few years the battery finally showed it's age.

dude, if machine is solid get it.
stick in ssd (uber easy to replace)
watch how it goes
if you need more juice get a new batt then

------
I bought a 2010 c2d 2.4 and will be upping the RAM and drive to two SSDs.
future proofing myself.
 
712f0992c0fe80ba898dc17e36b1df38.jpg


The only real damage to this laptop is the hinge. It opens and closes fine but the plastic looks like it had impact damage though she says that she doesn't know how that even happened... Heat damage?
 
seeforyourself said:
712f0992c0fe80ba898dc17e36b1df38.jpg


The only real damage to this laptop is the hinge. It opens and closes fine but the plastic looks like it had impact damage though she says that she doesn't know how that even happened... Heat damage?
Click to expand...
Heat wouldn't do that to plastic.

That computer's been dropped straight onto it.
 
snaky69 said:
Heat wouldn't do that to plastic.

That computer's been dropped straight onto it.
Click to expand...

You would think so? It seems that theres lines running through all over and i can chip it off with my finger nail. My old macbook pro had a crack in the hinge that chipped a piece off meanwhile I never moved my laptop off my desk.
 
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