This is very helpful and interesting. How does the FTC vote from this summer fit into this? Is the hope that Apple products will be moving back toward the more repair-able setups like the 2008-2015 models in the future?
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Late 2008 MacBook - upgrade? replace? Please help!
- Thread starter TricksyFox
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This is very helpful and interesting. How does the FTC vote from this summer fit into this? Is the hope that Apple products will be moving back toward the more repair-able setups like the 2008-2015 models in the future?
Well, I think by putting this in Early Intel Macs you are going to get a certain type of response. So I’m going to try and make a case for a more radical upgrade, to an M1 MacBook Air 16 GB Ram / 256 SSD.
First of all, Intel macs are not going to be supported forever, and even if you bought a 2015 MBP for not much money in a few years you would be in the same situation that you are in now. You’d have to ask whether it’s a good use of your limited budget.
Second, an upgrade to High Sierra or another of the more recent macOS versions is going to add technical complexity to the task, and result in a slower computer, and it’s only going to be a stopgap. It does however have the benefit of leaving you with cash in hand.
Third, why spend on 16 GB of ram and not on storage? Simple, you can buy a 2 TB external SSD for much less than it costs to upgrade the internal, while the ram cannot be upgraded after buying and so spending a little more there to future-proof seems to make sense.
Fourth, why the MacBook Air and not a Pro? Well, the Air represents tremendous value. You now get a Retina screen and the same M1 processor for significantly less money. It’s a real sweet spot of thin, light, fast, cool, quiet, fantastic build quality, and with great battery life. You will have more cpu power than you know what to do with, they’re great machines.
Fifth, with a new M1 Mac you will be assured of at least five years of OS updates and three years of security patches. There’s every chance that you will be fine for ten years before needing to upgrade again.
First of all, Intel macs are not going to be supported forever, and even if you bought a 2015 MBP for not much money in a few years you would be in the same situation that you are in now. You’d have to ask whether it’s a good use of your limited budget.
Second, an upgrade to High Sierra or another of the more recent macOS versions is going to add technical complexity to the task, and result in a slower computer, and it’s only going to be a stopgap. It does however have the benefit of leaving you with cash in hand.
Third, why spend on 16 GB of ram and not on storage? Simple, you can buy a 2 TB external SSD for much less than it costs to upgrade the internal, while the ram cannot be upgraded after buying and so spending a little more there to future-proof seems to make sense.
Fourth, why the MacBook Air and not a Pro? Well, the Air represents tremendous value. You now get a Retina screen and the same M1 processor for significantly less money. It’s a real sweet spot of thin, light, fast, cool, quiet, fantastic build quality, and with great battery life. You will have more cpu power than you know what to do with, they’re great machines.
Fifth, with a new M1 Mac you will be assured of at least five years of OS updates and three years of security patches. There’s every chance that you will be fine for ten years before needing to upgrade again.
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To make a long story short: "Buy a new Mac!" Great - insanely news to this sub-forum.
Please add a fair overall-cost comparison between early intel vs. M1 Mac. That's kind of interesting.
Just going to address some of your points. You aren't wrong, it's just a matter of perspective.
PowerPC Macs can run InDesign CS4. That means I can swap files with Adobe CC2021 and CS4 on a PowerPC Mac. Photoshop PSDs and Illustrator EPS/AI open the same on CS4 on PowerPC.
What about a Word doc, or a Powerpoint? Excel? Office 2008 writes .docx, .pptx, and .xlsx. All files you can open on an M1 Mac.
Why am I talking about PowerPC when you mentioned Intel? To show you that just because Intel isn't going to be supported forever, it does not mean they won't be usable for a very long time still. And my proof is that PowerPC Macs can still do these same things while Apple ditched PowerPC 15 years ago. How much more then will Intel still be relevant? Especially when older Intel Macs can go beyond their 'max' OS.
I think this really only matters based on what you do. I'm a graphic designer. If I sent you a PDF would you truly care what type of computer and OS I designed that PDF on?
PowerPC Macs can run InDesign CS4. That means I can swap files with Adobe CC2021 and CS4 on a PowerPC Mac. Photoshop PSDs and Illustrator EPS/AI open the same on CS4 on PowerPC.
What about a Word doc, or a Powerpoint? Excel? Office 2008 writes .docx, .pptx, and .xlsx. All files you can open on an M1 Mac.
Why am I talking about PowerPC when you mentioned Intel? To show you that just because Intel isn't going to be supported forever, it does not mean they won't be usable for a very long time still. And my proof is that PowerPC Macs can still do these same things while Apple ditched PowerPC 15 years ago. How much more then will Intel still be relevant? Especially when older Intel Macs can go beyond their 'max' OS.
I have a 2008 MBP running on Catalina with 4GB ram and a 500GB SSD. It's not slow.
Your statement implies that security is the important thing here. Security is important, but a lot of us have other concerns where being fully updated isn't part of the picture.
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I’m not saying that a new Mac is the only way forward, it just depends on how much time he wants to spend on getting an old machine to run for a while longer. I assumed that staying functional and free of error messages is important, since the issue with certificates was what motivated him to post.
Old macs have their charm, I still use my MacBook Air 2011 running High Sierra fairly regularly, and I even still have a 2006 Mac Pro lying around. It’s fun to play with and experiment with from time to time.
For most users though it’s a good thing to stay current, and after the Apple Silicon transition seems like a good time to upgrade to an up-to-date machine.
Old macs have their charm, I still use my MacBook Air 2011 running High Sierra fairly regularly, and I even still have a 2006 Mac Pro lying around. It’s fun to play with and experiment with from time to time.
For most users though it’s a good thing to stay current, and after the Apple Silicon transition seems like a good time to upgrade to an up-to-date machine.
Catching up now, but just wanted to clarify that I actually posted this in "Mac Basics, Help and Buying Advice" - I mentioned that somewhere earlier but I believe it's been buried in the comments.