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Upgrade or sell 2007 Macbook Pro

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Planner Dude

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 31, 2006
262
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So I have a mid 2007 macbook pro. The GPU/logic board died last year and apple promptly replaced! The battery will hold a 5-minute charge

My question is should I try to hold onto it longer,perhaps upgrading the HD and RAM or should I get rid of it--in a way I feel it's still a ticking time bomb. How much could a 5-year old mbp fetch?

I also thought about getting a desktop to keep all my keepsakes--pictures, movies, music, and keeping this mbp for surfing and other light stuff.


Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
 
Between a a new battery, HDD and RAM you could very easily be looking at spending $250-$300.

Depending on what you use the computer for you could look to get a nice refurbished Air or something like that for a couple hundred more, but overall much faster computer.
 
Normally, I would suggest maxing out the ram and a faster HDD or even finding out a good deal on an SSD to try to get the most useage you can out of your MBP if you're not doing anything too intensive with it.

BUT....you've got a nvidia 8600 discrete graphics card, right? The reason why apple replaced the board is that there was a manufacturing defect with those GPU's, which caused the boards to prematurely fail. I'm presuming that's why apple replaced the cpu/gpu, since you weren't within extended applecare coverage:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/515067/

mac2sell.net roughly places your value at $470 with a 120 gb HD, best buy trade in should offer you $385 if it's in 'good' condition. I don't think a 5 minute battery is 'good' condition, Fair is worth $288.

Your options:
1. Roll the dice. I.E., keep the machine. Hopefully nvidia finally got their :censored: together and finally made decent replacement gpus. (This was a manufacturing defect, not a design flaw, on these GPU's.) If you try this option, you can continue using your MBP as a desktop (and with a five minute battery, you presumably are anyway). You can elect to max the ram to 6 GB (which you won't be able to use on a new machine and try an SSD (which you can move to the new machine).

2. Take a bath, part 1. Put it on CL and see if someone wanting a cheap mac will give you $4-500 for it, and walk away feeling sorry for the poor schmuck who does.

3. Take a bath part 2. Take it to your closest Best Buy and see if they offer you $385 or something close to it as a trade in, and use it to help buy a new (or last year's, or open box) mac. And walk away snickering to yourself if they do.

You've got some tough choices to make no matter which way you go. Good luck!
 
Planner Dude said:
So I have a mid 2007 macbook pro. The GPU/logic board died last year and apple promptly replaced! The battery will hold a 5-minute charge

My question is should I try to hold onto it longer,perhaps upgrading the HD and RAM or should I get rid of it--in a way I feel it's still a ticking time bomb. How much could a 5-year old mbp fetch?

I also thought about getting a desktop to keep all my keepsakes--pictures, movies, music, and keeping this mbp for surfing and other light stuff.
R

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Click to expand...

How come you have 2007 mid when you saying 2.2 cpu?
I have mid 2007 an have 2.4 cpu..
Jeez how many versions are thete ?? Gosh
 
bought a working 2007 MBP and went to Apple Store they decided to replace the logic board even thought it was still working and it is still free..lucky me and upgraded SSD hoping to sell more value in few months. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks everyone

So does anyone know if other owners of this particular mbp have had problems, even after a replaced logicboard and GPU?
 
Planner Dude said:
Thanks everyone

So does anyone know if other owners of this particular mbp have had problems, even after a replaced logicboard and GPU?
Click to expand...

I had with an Early 2008 model. Had my logic board replaced for free. I would sell that machine right away. I did sell mine after it was fixed. Got around $800 for it with a 750Gb drive and 4Gbs of ram...
 
I was one of the first people to have the logic board issue; Happened right after I started my 6 month trip to Japan in June 2008, about a day after the warranty expired...

Japan's Apple service was amazing, they replaced my cd drive from dropping the comp and quickly did something to fix it (not sure if they replaced the logic board the first time). I ended up having it happen again 2 more times, but Apple service took it in and fixed it both times no problem. They never charged, while as the forums discussion was growing I read about people in the states that were being forced to pay $400 without applecare. After the 3rd repair it worked for over a year. By that time (around early 2010) the problem had finally gained some attention, with Nvidia finally admitting their fault and the replacement being publicized. I took mine in a final time for a replacement.

I assume that after Nvidia announced the problem and took the blame, and after Apple finally acknowledged this and started doing replacements, that the logic boards being used to replace will not have the same solder issue. I've been using mine hard a good 2 years since that last replace.

There are other issues that can arise on this comp though...An issue with the ribbon connecting the trackpad/keyboard was pretty widespread as well (FYI if you have this issue, you can put some material between your battery and the orange ribbon underneath it where it crosses the case, to put pressure on it). And your case fans can go bad and start making noise; not sure if it will be easy to buy replacements for those anymore (I got a refurbished one when I had the issue).

In the end, after all the hard times mine has gone through, I plan to buy 8 GB of memory for it to handle more programs running. I already have an SSD in it.
 
Last edited:
I have a 2007 17" MBP Core Duo 2.2 GHz w/ 2 GB RAM. The machine is practically unusable under Lion, I haven't even tried it under ML. Constant beachballs in Photoshop and when loading some web pages, spotlight really bogs things down sometimes, and doing any type of software install or repair permissions task requires a coffee break. HD checks out fine as does everything else. I'm convinced it's a memory issue, but since that generation can only recognize a maximum of 3 GB, it's pretty much worthless putting a 4 GB memory upgrade into it.

Everything on my new RMBP happens almost instantaneously. I'm chucking my old MacBook Pro.
 
AZREOSpecialist said:
I have a 2007 17" MBP Core Duo 2.2 GHz w/ 2 GB RAM. The machine is practically unusable under Lion, I haven't even tried it under ML. Constant beachballs in Photoshop and when loading some web pages, spotlight really bogs things down sometimes, and doing any type of software install or repair permissions task requires a coffee break. HD checks out fine as does everything else. I'm convinced it's a memory issue, but since that generation can only recognize a maximum of 3 GB, it's pretty much worthless putting a 4 GB memory upgrade into it.

Everything on my new RMBP happens almost instantaneously. I'm chucking my old MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

Technically, it will take and use up to 3.33 gb. But maxing out the ram and putting in a faster HD would make it an ideal secondary or 'granny' computer.
 
Just upgraded macbook pro mid 2007 to 6gb and probably will be upgrading to 8gb .. overclocking cpu and gpu
 
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