If one has an older MBP, why can't one run Linux on it? If unsure about Linux, would be good install a 250GB-500GB HD or SSD and do a fresh OS install. Can always reinstall original hard drive/SSD if Linux does not float your boat. Minor sweat equity investment, minimal financial hit, no burnt bridges.
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Is MBP worth it for long-term use?
- Thread starter Torty
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What is not acceptable? That apple drops support?
I think there needs to be a differentiation of what is to be expected. Worth it for usage, and worth it due to Apple not supporting it for extended period of time.
Macs are most definitely worth it for long term use. While I no longer use it, my 2012 Retina MBP still works, and depending on a persons needs could be a great computer for them - that's computer is 10 years old. A while back, I tried booting up a 10+ year old windows laptop that I had buried in my closet. It booted, yaay, but it was in no way usable boo.
The other side of the coin is apple dropping support quicker then windows drops support. I'm not bothered by apple dropping support for legacy products and I think by and large (depending on usage), you can live with using an old mac running an older OS. My 10 year old MBP doesn't need to run Ventura. I picked the version that offered the best combination of performance and features. I stopped upgrading that Mac, long before apple dropped support. Likewise my 2015 iMac.
1100€ in 2012 are ~ 1300€ today. Mac’s were always more expensive in Europe and Germany than in the US and that won’t change.
The M1 MacBook Air starts at 1400€ in Germany. Just for context.
my now 12 years old Windows 7 laptop runs great for basic stuff like web browsing, text or spread sheet editing, albeit very noisy even just for that.
in fact, i'd say that "old crutch" is often actually faster than my 16" M1 MBP since macOS is really slow when it comes to loading apps.
of course other than that, it's way outdated. not sure if it could even handle 4K video playback without stuttering
Fair enough, for me, the difference between an old windows laptop vs. an old MBP was stark enough, that it was quite clear that the Windows machine was not able to even the most basic tasks, where as my 2012 MBP is still a viable product even in 2022 as with everything however YMMV
If prices seem overwhelming, maybe it's time to reevaluate what you actually need.
For example, right now, you're using a 2012 Macbook Pro. Upgrading to even the M1 Macbook Air is already leaps and bounds more powerful than that machine. Do you really need the 16" Macbook Pro? Do you even need 32GB RAM and 2TB of SSD? What's the RAM and storage of your current Macbook Pro? If it fits your needs for the last 10 years, I doubt that your requirements would dramatically increase in the next 10 years.
Apple has moved the 14-16" Macbook Pro to workstation class machines, with matching prices. Regular consumers and even casual pros probably don't really need those.
One thing to note is that even after a computer is dropped from the latest macOS support, you can simply use the latest alternate browser. Most today's security risks are mostly the browser, or via phishing attacks. Direct attacks have largely "gone" in consumer world thanks to NAT routers. Majority of infections come from user errors. As long as you are careful and use an up-to-date browser, you will largely be fine.
If you are still keen of upgrading to the 16" Macbook Pro, I would wait since Apple is likely to refresh them to M2 versions by early next year. Spend your money wisely.
Step 1: what do you actually use your Mac for? Browse internet and write emails only or photo and video production or app development or… [e.g. I use mine for a bit of browsing and emails, photo work, and games development]
Step 2: check what reviewers with a similar workflow recommend. Easier said than done… but you can also ask on these forums. There seem to be capable answers from just about any workflow to be found here. [e.g. for my uses an M1Pro would likely be sufficient but it would run out of capability years earlier than the M1Max I went with]
Step 3: budget and decide. [e.g. I chose a 16” MBPro but when I next buy a new Mac it will almost definitely be a Mac Studio. This will save me a lot of money (bought today, the equivalent laptop ($6384) and desktop configurations ($4801) would have a price difference of $1583 CAD, taxes included) and I already know that I will not miss the portability of the laptop…
The article covers everything. People are not excited about new OS releases like early days, in-fact they are getting annoyed because of the habit of using multiple devices. (Think updating macOS, iPadOS, iOS, watchOS.... Sure not everyone is having all of them, but most of the folks are having 2 devices at-lease). The worst part is the new update is unreliable and causing more and more issues most of the time. "It just works" days are gone.
The question:
"Is MBP worth it for long-term use?"
If you have the money to buy one, then YES.
If you don't have the money to buy one, then...???
(this is intended to be a 100% serious reply)
"Is MBP worth it for long-term use?"
If you have the money to buy one, then YES.
If you don't have the money to buy one, then...???
(this is intended to be a 100% serious reply)
Rumors are rampant that in 2023, we'll be facing even higher prices for the M2,so if you can swing it now then you may be better off.
“I use my MBP to 99% in clam shell mode at home connected to external display.”
that’s your problem right there…, buy a desktop computer. Cheaper, and better performance.
that’s your problem right there…, buy a desktop computer. Cheaper, and better performance.
My 2008 Dell XPS Studio runs Windows 10 just fine. The Geekbench 5 multicore score is 2,000 which is fine for office use. It has 48 GB of RAM and an SSD and USB 3. So Windows can support some really old hardware. I have run macOS on this system as well, and used it for several years as a Linux development server.
So Windows systems can last a long time but it really helps if you pick good components.
"Just for fun" last night I hooked up my 2012 15" Macbook Pro to a new (new to me) external apple LED Cinema Display monitor and got online for a bit. My 2012 has been upgraded with an SSD and 16 gigs of memory. Honestly, it was just fine without any issues. I was running Mojave, Catalina and Windows 10 with it, triple boot, and was able to update to the latest versions of Skype, Zoom, Firefox, OpenLibre Office, Keka, and Thunderbird in each OS and everything was nice and fast...I literally had zero issues in any of the three operating systems I ran.
I could easily use this plugged into a monitor as my main machine without "feeling like it was holding me back" for what I do. Maybe you need a speed demon of a machine for some weird esoteric work you do for for daily normal uses you don't.
MY definition of "it's too old to be usable" is when Firefox and Thunderbird are no longer officially supported with updates to the current version, and this model is still fully supported by both of them. Web browsing and e-mail has really become most average peoples usage of a computer I'd argue.
I guess it depends on what you want to use your machine for but unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket or like to upgrade for the hell of it, what's the big deal with your current setup?
The longer you wait to upgrade the newer and faster of a machine you'll eventually get!
Good luck!
I could easily use this plugged into a monitor as my main machine without "feeling like it was holding me back" for what I do. Maybe you need a speed demon of a machine for some weird esoteric work you do for for daily normal uses you don't.
MY definition of "it's too old to be usable" is when Firefox and Thunderbird are no longer officially supported with updates to the current version, and this model is still fully supported by both of them. Web browsing and e-mail has really become most average peoples usage of a computer I'd argue.
I guess it depends on what you want to use your machine for but unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket or like to upgrade for the hell of it, what's the big deal with your current setup?
The longer you wait to upgrade the newer and faster of a machine you'll eventually get!
Good luck!
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Mine tend to only last a couple of years due to the amount of times the case gets kicked when windows ****s up.
You are right I am only doing light stuff like web browsing some office work. MBA would be very fine performance wise. I don’t know if Apple will give less support to the air line.
After getting the iPad Air 3 I was disappointed cause the air was only a crippled down “cheap” pro with way inferior user experience (sound comes only from one side in horizontal mode)
Don’t know if this is also valid for the MacBooks.
But this experience makes me not feel comfortable buying “air” devices.
Not acceptable could become acceptable when a new mini will be released and I get longest possible support.
If macOS is outdated you feel it on your iOS devices. E.g. the open tabs from safari are not shown on iOS devices.
Or “Notizen” “notices” app? Is not working with full functionality,
iMovie not updated, photos app doesn’t show raw photos etc
So the ecosystem works less and less over time if macOS isn’t updated anymore.
Very often it’s not the question if you have the money but if you are willing to spend the money.
IMO if you need to ask yourself the question if you have enough money for something you don’t need to make money, don’t buy it.
Yes Mac Mini could be a solution if we will see an updated model. A few months after I bought the MBP back then I got an iPad as present for Christmas. Since than the iPad became my preferred mobile device.
I'm not really sure what you mean Not acceptable could become acceptable?
From googling around, apple seems to stop allowing Macs to get a new version of macos after 5 years - give or take. Apple also has terms like vintage and obsolete. Basically around the 7 year mark, you may not get any parts.
Is this unacceptable?
No it doesn't. If you can do x things on your computer today, it won't do less then X over time if you don't update macOS. What you can do today, you'll be able to do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.
Wow 2008 and 48 GB RAM, nice! 🤯 great points although I’d say your efforts are an anomaly / exception to the rule, however, impressive, and a good reminder that that is possible with effort and some good luck thrown in.
Interesting, as I write this from an iPad myself… I would suggest not stressing about the “updated model” to come or not, even though it’s a fair point that they (Mac Minis) don’t get updated nearly as predictably as other products, it comes down to the old adage “If you need it now buy it now” aka, if you can wait a year or so, perhaps you can find an updated Mac mini next fall, but 50/50 chance they’ll wait longer, so … if you’re fine with iPad then by all means, wait however long you can/want, but if you need a desktop option for some work as I do, I’d personally jump on whatever $1000 or $1500 (or euro equivalent) Macbook I could find.
It was a refurb system and cost $576. The main reason I got it is that our work development servers only gave us 80 GB HDD and 4 GB of RAM and we were mainly running Oracle Enterprise Linux which had relatively limited hardware support. So I had to make sure that all of the components were supported. The NIC wasn't so I had to use a PCIe card that was supported.
This was one of those rare generations where Intel supported triple-channel memory; I think that they went back to dual-channel shortly thereafter. The Windows world is like the Mac world in that you can find great old hardware if you know the vendor and the components. I know which years to avoid in the Mac world and can figure it out in the Windows world too.
So you are deliberately killing one of advantages. This hardware keeps significant fracture of its price for long time.
The other way of thinking, as I was taught, is the old saying "More money than brains".
Spending widely, (not wisely,) does not make one a professor, nor a professional.
It remains to be seen how Apple will treat Apple Silicon Macs once they approach the 5-6 year of age after release, when they tend to start excluding things from new software support.
With Intel Macs, the rules for "supported vs not supported" were sometimes very arbitrary and not explained at all, like they stopped supporting the 2013 Trashcan Mac Pro, which could run circles around a 2017 MacBook 12" in terms of performance, which is still supported.
It has nothing to do with performance.
With Intel Macs, the rules for "supported vs not supported" were sometimes very arbitrary and not explained at all, like they stopped supporting the 2013 Trashcan Mac Pro, which could run circles around a 2017 MacBook 12" in terms of performance, which is still supported.
It has nothing to do with performance.